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The time control in the GP tournaments is 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, 50 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move one.
The first leg, in Sharjah, will be held February 18 - 27 (with a rest day on the 23rd) at the Sharjah Cultural & Chess Club. The first prize is €20,000; the total prize fund is is €130,000.
2017 Grand Prix Participants
|
# |
Name |
Elo |
Rank |
| 1 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave |
2796 |
5 |
| 2 | Levon Aronian |
2785 |
7 |
| 3 | Hikaru Nakamura |
2785 |
8 |
| 4 | Anish Giri |
2769 |
10 |
| 5 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov |
2766 |
11 |
| 6 | Ding Liren |
2760 |
12 |
| 7 | Pavel Eljanov |
2759 |
13 |
| 8 | Pentala Harikrishna |
2758 |
14 |
| 9 | Michael Adams |
2751 |
16 |
| 10 | Ian Nepomniachtchi |
2749 |
17 |
| 11 | Peter Svidler |
2748 |
18 |
| 12 | Alexander Grischuk |
2742 |
20 |
| 13 | Ernesto Inarkiev |
2723 |
28 |
| 14 | Boris Gelfand |
2721 |
29 |
| 15 | Li Chao |
2720 |
30 |
| 16 | Evgeny Tomashevsky |
2711 |
34 |
| 17 | Teimour Radjabov |
2710 |
35 |
| 18 | Dmitry Jakovenko |
2709 |
36 |
| 19 | Francisco Vallejo Pons |
2709 |
38 |
| 20 | Richard Rapport |
2692 |
50 |
| 21 | Alexander Riazantsev |
2671 |
77 |
| 22 | Salem Saleh |
2656 |
99 |
| 23 | Hou Yifan |
2651 |
105 |
| 24 | Jon Ludvig Hammer |
2628 |
128 |
Each leg will see 18 of the 24 participants playing. The 18 who will feature in Sharjah are:
2017 Sharjah GP Participants
|
# |
Name |
Elo |
Rank |
| 1 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave |
2796 |
5 |
| 2 | Levon Aronian |
2785 |
7 |
| 3 | Hikaru Nakamura |
2785 |
8 |
| 4 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov |
2766 |
11 |
| 5 | Ding Liren |
2760 |
12 |
| 6 | Pavel Eljanov |
2759 |
13 |
| 7 | Michael Adams |
2751 |
16 |
| 8 | Ian Nepomniachtchi |
2749 |
17 |
| 9 | Alexander Grischuk |
2742 |
20 |
| 10 | Li Chao |
2720 |
30 |
| 11 | Evgeny Tomashevsky |
2711 |
34 |
| 12 | Dmitry Jakovenko |
2709 |
36 |
| 13 | Francisco Vallejo Pons |
2709 |
38 |
| 14 | Richard Rapport |
2692 |
50 |
| 15 | Alexander Riazantsev |
2671 |
77 |
| 16 | Salem Saleh |
2656 |
99 |
| 17 | Hou Yifan |
2651 |
105 |
| 18 | Jon Ludvig Hammer |
2628 |
128 |
Sharjah is the third largest and third most populous city in the United Arab Emirates and alone contributes 7.4% of the GDP of the United Arab Emirates. The 2016 edition of QS Best Student Cities ranked Sharjah as the 68th best city in the world to be a university student. In fact, aside from the prominent University of Sharjah, which offers 15 masters degrees and four PhD degrees, it is home also to the American University of Sharjah, with degrees that are also accredited in the United States through the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. Sharjah is also regarded as the cultural capital of the UAE.
Needless to say, temperatures there can reach extreme highs, with a peak average of 42 C. (108 F.) in July. However in February, it is nowhere near this, and is the coolest period of the year, with a much more palatable average high of around 25 C. (77 F.).
In spite of these excellent cultural credentials, readers may wonder whether there is any direct connection with chess. Indeed there is. In 2013, The Sharjah Cultural and Chess Club was established by Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, the ruler of Sharjah, and was officially opened on March 28, 2013. It is in fact the largest chess club in the world.
If you'd like to read more on it, be sure to check out the article we published in 2014 by Anastasiya Karlovich.
 |
The largest chess club in the world7/27/2014 – The United Arab Emirates has many landmarks that are famous around the world, including the tallest man-made structure, the Burj Khalifa, the world's biggest mall, the Dubai Mall, and the JW Marriott Marquis, the world's tallest hotel. Therefore it should come as a no big surprise that it is now home to the largest chess club in the world. Big illustrated report. |
The opening ceremony was attended by Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, head of the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Social Development, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, FIDE President, Al Sheikh Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Mualla, Sharjah Cultural & Chess Club Chairman, Ilya Merenzon, CEO of World Chess, representatives of the sponsors, Sharjah Chess Club VIP guests, Sharjah Chess Club members and the large number of media.
FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov explains his goal of one billion chess players
The ceremony was attended numerous dignitaries
Finally the players were brought on stage
Jon Hammer, Alexander Grischuk and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave chat while they wait
As the highest rated player in the group, Maxime was selected to choose the color. He chose white.
There then followed a variety of cultural acts
One of the most intriguing and entertaining was a man who came on stage doing finger painting
He painted four canvases with odd black shapes that seemed to have no purpose
When he was done, this is what the audience saw. He then proceeded to the back.
He moved the four pieces around, and suddenly they formed a puzzle in a portrait of Magnus!
The result of the drawing of lots yielded the first round pairings below:
| Bo | No | Ti. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Ti | Name | Rtg | No |
| 1 | 1 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave M. | 2796 | 0 | 0 | GM | Li Chao B | 2720 | 10 | |
| 2 | 11 | GM | Tomashevsky Evgeny | 2711 | 0 | 0 | GM | Aronian Levon | 2785 | 2 | |
| 3 | 3 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | 2785 | 0 | 0 | GM | Jakovenko Dmitry | 2709 | 12 | |
| 4 | 13 | GM | Vallejo Pons Francisco | 2709 | 0 | 0 | GM | Mamedyarov Shak | 2766 | 4 | |
| 5 | 5 | GM | Ding Liren | 2760 | 0 | 0 | GM | Rapport Richard | 2692 | 14 | |
| 6 | 15 | GM | Riazantsev Alexander | 2671 | 0 | 0 | GM | Eljanov Pavel | 2759 | 6 | |
| 7 | 7 | GM | Adams Michael | 2751 | 0 | 0 | GM | Salem A.R. Saleh | 2656 | 16 | |
| 8 | 17 | GM | Hou Yifan | 2651 | 0 | 0 | GM | Nepomniachtchi Ian | 2749 | 8 | |
| 9 | 9 | GM | Grischuk Alexander | 2742 | 0 | 0 | GM | Hammer Jon Ludvig | 2628 | 18 |
AGON is offering exclusive pay-per-view video of the games and live commentary. It comes in three packages: a one-time $10 fee just for Sharjah GP, a full package of all the events in the World Championship cycle for $30, and a $250 package, which is the same as the $30 Base but comes with signed posters from each event.
For more information, see the widget on the main page.
