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24 players qualified for the Grand Prix, and each player will compete in two of three 16-player tournaments.
In the first stage of all three tournaments, the players are divided into four pools of four. The four players in each pool play a double round-robin mini-tournament, and the four winners of each pool progress to the second stage.
In the second stage, the four pool winners play a knock-out tournament. The players receive Grand Prix points according to their finishing position in each tournament, and the two players with the most Grand Prix points qualify for the Candidates Tournament 2022, which is scheduled to take place in the summer of 2022.
| Player | Qualifying method | Rating (December 2021) |
|---|---|---|
 Ding Liren |
Rating list (3rd) | 2799 |
 Levon Aronian |
Rating list (6th) | 2772 |
 Anish Giri |
Rating list (7th) | 2772 |
| Wesley So |
Rating list (8th) | 2772 |
 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov |
Rating list (9th) | 2767 |
 Alexander Grischuk |
Rating list (10th) | 2764 |
 Richárd Rapport |
Rating list (11th) | 2763 |
 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave |
Grand Swiss (6th) | 2761 |
| Leinier Domínguez |
Rating list (15th) | 2752 |
| Hikaru Nakamura |
Presidential nominee | 2736 |
| Nikita Vitiugov |
Rating list (19th) | 2731 |
| Wei Yi |
Rating list (21st) | 2729 |
 Vidit Gujrathi |
World Cup (5th-8th) | 2727 |
| Dmitry Andreikin |
Rating list (23rd) | 2724 |
| Daniil Dubov |
Organizer's nominee | 2720 |
| Yu Yangyi |
Grand Swiss (4th) | 2713 |
| Sam Shankland |
World Cup (5th-8th) | 2708 |
 Alexei Shirov |
Grand Swiss (8th) | 2704 |
| Vladimir Fedoseev |
World Cup (4th) | 2704 |
| Alexandr Predke |
Grand Swiss (7th) | 2682 |
| Grigoriy Oparin |
Grand Swiss (3rd) | 2681 |
 Vincent Keymer |
Grand Swiss (5th) | 2664 |
 Amin Tabatabaei |
World Cup (5th-8th) | 2643 |
| Étienne Bacrot |
World Cup (5th-8th) | 2642 |
FIDE Press Release 20 December 2022
Hikaru Nakamura has been selected as the Presidential nominee to be one of the 24 participants in the FIDE Grand Prix, organized by World Chess. The series will take place in February — April of 2022 and will consist of three tournaments: two in Berlin and one in Belgrade.
Not having played any official rated game since December 2019, Hikaru failed to qualify for the current world championship cycle. "Travel restrictions affecting US players, and his activity as one of the most popular streamers in the world, prevented him from taking part in key events. Nevertheless, he remains very active in online tournaments, where he consistently shows he is in top shape and among the best in the world", explains the FIDE President, Arkady Dvorkovich. "Very strong and experienced, and popular among the fans, I believe he deserves a chance to fight. The chess community will be delighted to see him sitting at the chess board again".
Prior to the Grand Prix, Hikaru will also take part in the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship in Warsaw, breaking a two-year-long impasse without playing over the board competitions.
Having recently turned 34 years old, Hikaru is currently ranked #21 in the world, with a rating of 2736. That would make him the 10th top seed in the Grand Prix series 2022, behind Ding Liren, Levon Aronian, Anish Giri, Wesley So, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Alexander Grischuk, Richard Rapport, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Lenier Dominguez.
