Press release
Hikaru Nakamura won his first Grand Chess Tour with a clutch victory in the last round over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The newly crowned champion earned an additional $120,000 for his efforts, bringing his winnings to a total of $225,000. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave finished second for the second year in the row, picking up a total of $160,000.
Fabiano Caruana defeated Levon Aronian earning the last automatic qualification spot to the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, along with Nakamura and Vachier-Lagrave.
In addition, the Grand Chess Tour made the announcement of the plans of expanding the tour, adding a new classical event in Croatia and two more rapid and blitz events in India and Ivory Coast. The prize fund will be increased to at least $1.5 million, a significant raise from this year’s prize pool of $1,050,000.
The time controls are as follows (NB: delay, not increment is in use!):
Complete LCC regulations (PDF)
In the classical games, players receive 6 points for a win, 3 points for a draw.
GM Yasser Seirawan, WGM Jennifer Shahade, GM Maurice Ashley and GM Alejandro Ramirez
Gawain Jones beat Luke McShane in the second classical game and leads heading into rapid and blitz.
The first three days are held at the London headquarters of Google DeepMind. The final games will take place at the traditional home of the London Chess Classic at the Olympia Conference Centre.
#Londonchessclassic with DeepMind supremo @demishassabis making the first move for @FabianoCaruana. If Fabi wins this game vs @GMHikaru , he will move to the head of the FIDE Rating List ahead of @MagnusCarlsen pic.twitter.com/TDr7QtL9dm
— John Saunders (@johnchess) December 11, 2018
