# FIDE Grand Prix 2022

The FIDE Grand Prix 2022 was a series of three chess tournaments played between 4 February and 4 April 2022. The top two finishers – Hikaru Nakamura (winner) and Richárd Rapport (runner-up) – qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2022, which was the final qualification stage for the World Chess Championship 2023.
The first and last tournament took place in Berlin, Germany, and the second one in Belgrade, Serbia. Each player was scheduled to participate in two of three tournaments. Before the tie-break stage of the last tournament was concluded, Nakamura had already gained the score to win the series, and it was already clear that no other semi-finalist could overtake Rapport for the runner-up position.

## Organization

Due to the travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, all three tournaments were initially to be played in a single city instead of playing in various cities as in previous editions.
The series was organized by World Chess. The company chose Berlin to host most of the series following a popular vote. Later it was announced that two of the three tournaments would be in Berlin, with one in Belgrade, Serbia.

## Players

Twenty-four players were originally invited to the Grand Prix:
* The players who placed third to eighth at the Chess World Cup 2021 who were not World Champion or already qualified for the Candidates. Five out of a possible six players qualified in this way, because World Champion Magnus Carlsen placed third in the World Cup.
* The players who placed third to eighth in the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2021 who were not World Champion or already qualified for the Candidates or Grand Prix. Six players qualified in this way.
* Hikaru Nakamura, nominee of the FIDE president.
* Daniil Dubov, organizer's nominee.
* The remaining eleven places were filled by the top players in the December 2021 rating list so long as they had participated in the FIDE World Cup 2021 or played at least nine games which counted in the FIDE rating lists from February to December 2021. This meant Viswanathan Anand, Wang Hao, and Veselin Topalov were not eligible because of inactivity. The list originally went down to #23 in the world, though after Wei Yi withdrew, world #25 Pentala Harikrishna also qualified this way.
Ding Liren and Dmitry Andreikin were unable to compete in the first tournament due to visa and health issues respectively, and were replaced in the first tournament by Andrey Esipenko and Radosław Wojtaszek. Ding was also unable to play in the second tournament, and Andreikin took his place. Due to personal reasons, Andreikin also withdrew from the third tournament, and was replaced by Esipenko. The replacements Esipenko and Wojtaszek were eligible to qualify for the Candidates.
The table below shows the players who qualified for the Grand Prix:
| Seeding | Name | Qualifying method | Rating (December 2021) | World rank (December 2021) |
| 1 | Ding Liren | Rating list (3rd) | 2799 | 3 |
| 2 | Levon Aronian | Rating list (6th) | 2772 | 6 |
| 3 | Anish Giri | Rating list (7th) | 2772 | 7 |
| 4 | Wesley So | Rating list (8th) | 2772 | 8 |
| 5 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | Rating list (9th) | 2767 | 9 |
| 6 | Alexander Grischuk | Rating list (10th) | 2764 | 10 |
| 7 | Richárd Rapport | Rating list (11th) | 2763 | 11 |
| 8 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | Grand Swiss (6th) | 2761 | 12 |
| 9 | Leinier Domínguez | Rating list (15th) | 2752 | 15 |
| 10 | Hikaru Nakamura | Presidential nominee | 2736 | – |
| 11 | Nikita Vitiugov | Rating list (19th) | 2731 | 19 |
| 12 | Vidit Gujrathi | World Cup (5th-8th) | 2727 | 22 |
| 13 | Dmitry Andreikin | Rating list (23rd) | 2724 | 23 |
| 14 | Daniil Dubov | Organizer's nominee | 2720 | 24 |
| 15 | Pentala Harikrishna | Rating list (25th) | 2717 | 25 |
| – | Andrey Esipenko | Presidential nominee | 2714 | 26 |
| 16 | Yu Yangyi | Grand Swiss (4th) | 2713 | 27 |
| 17 | Sam Shankland | World Cup (5th-8th) | 2708 | 29 |
| 18 | Alexei Shirov | Grand Swiss (8th) | 2704 | 31 |
| 19 | Vladimir Fedoseev | World Cup (4th) | 2704 | 32 |
| – | Radosław Wojtaszek | Presidential nominee | 2686 | 45 |
| 20 | Alexandr Predke | Grand Swiss (7th) | 2682 | 52 |
| 21 | Grigoriy Oparin | Grand Swiss (3rd) | 2681 | 55 |
| 22 | Vincent Keymer | Grand Swiss (5th) | 2664 | 74 |
| 23 | Amin Tabatabaei | World Cup (5th-8th) | 2643 | 108 |
| 24 | Étienne Bacrot | World Cup (5th-8th) | 2642 | 111 |

## Format

Each player will play in two out of three of the tournaments. Each tournament will have 16 players, and have a two-stage format.
* In the first stage, the players are divided into four pools of four, and the players in each pool play a double round-robin mini-tournament. The four winners of the pools progress to the second stage.
* In the second stage, the four pool winners play a knock-out tournament, consisting of semi-finals and a final. Both the semi-finals and final will consist of 2 classical time limit games, plus tie-breaks if required.
Players receive Grand Prix points according to their finishing position in each tournament. The two players with the most Grand Prix points qualify for the Candidates Tournament 2022.

### Time controls and tie-breaks

The time control for classical games is 90 minutes for 40 moves, plus an extra 30 minutes after move 40. There is also an increment of 30 seconds per move from move 1.
In the pool stage, if there is a tie for first, the tied players play tie-breaks. In the knockout stage, tie-breaks are played if the match is tied after the 2 regular time limit games. In both stages, two-way or three-way tie-breaks take the following format:
* Players play two rapid chess games at 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move. In the case of a three-way tie, a single round-robin is played.
* If players are still tied, they play two blitz chess games at 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move. In the case of a three-way tie, a single round-robin is played.
* If players are still tied, a single armageddon chess game is played to decide the winner, in which black is declared the winner if the game is drawn. The time limit is 5 minutes for white, 4 minutes for black, and a 2 second per move increment from move 61. In the case of a three-way tie, lots are drawn to determine the players, and the loser of the lot shares second place with the loser of the Armageddon game.
In the case of a four-way tie, the players are randomly divided into pairs by drawing of lots and each pair plays a two-player tie-break by the above method. The two tie-break winners then play a tie-break by the above method, while the losers share third and fourth place in the pool.

### Grand Prix points

Grand Prix points were awarded as follows:
| Round | Grand Prix points |
| Winner | 13 |
| Runner-Up | 10 |
| Semi-final loser | 7 |
| 2nd in pool | 4 |
| 3rd in pool | 2 |
| 4th in pool | 0 |
In other words, the top three players in each pool earn 7, 4, and 2 points, respectively, and 3 additional points are awarded for winning a semifinal or final.
The Grand Prix points for pool placings take into account tie-breaks played to determine first place. Players tied for other places, including players who are still tied after tie-breaks have decided first place, share Grand Prix points.
If players finish tied on Grand Prix points, then the following tie-breaks are applied, in order:
* number of tournament first-place finishes;
* number of tournament second-place finishes;
* number of points scored in regular time limit games;
* number of wins in regular time limit games;
* drawing of lots.

### Prize money

The prize money for each event is €150,000 which will be awarded as follows:
| Round | Prize money |
| Winner | €24,000 |
| Runner-Up | €18,000 |
| Semi-finalist | €12,000 |
| 2nd in pools | €9,000 |
| 3rd in pools | €7,000 |
| 4th in pools | €5,000 |
In other words, each player receives €5,000, Grand Prix points earned in the pool are worth an additional €1,000, and Grand Prix points earned in a semi-final or final are worth an additional €2,000.

## Tournament 1 - Berlin, Germany

The first tournament was held in Berlin, Germany from 4 February to 17. Due to health and visa issues, Dmitry Andreikin and Ding Liren were replaced with Andrey Esipenko and Radoslaw Wojtaszek, respectively. Hikaru Nakamura won the first leg with Levon Aronian as the runner-up.

### Round-robin stage

The double round-robin stage had the six rounds of standard time control games on 4–7, 9, and 10 February with tie-breaks on 11 February. Players in bold advanced to the knockout stage.

#### Pool A

    Rank Player Rating December 2021 NAK ESI GRI BAC Total Points 1 Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2736 1½ 1½ ½½ 4 2 Andrey Esipenko (RUS) 2714 ½0 ½½ 11 3.5 3 Alexander Grischuk (RUS) 2764 ½0 ½½ 1½ 3 4 Étienne Bacrot (FRA) 2642 ½½ 00 ½0 1.5

#### Pool B

    Rank Player Rating December 2021 RAP WOJ FED OPA Total Points R1 R2 Tiebreak Points 1 Richárd Rapport (HUN) 2763 ½0 11 ½½ 3.5 1 ½ 1.5 2 Radosław Wojtaszek (POL) 2686 1½ ½½ ½½ 3.5 0 ½ 0.5 3 Vladimir Fedoseev (RUS) 2704 00 ½½ 11 3 - - 4 Grigoriy Oparin (RUS) 2681 ½½ ½½ 00 2 - -

#### Pool C

    Rank Player Rating December 2021 ARO GUJ DUB KEY Total Points 1 Levon Aronian (USA) 2772 1½ ½½ 11 4.5 =2 Vidit Gujrathi (IND) 2727 ½0 1½ ½½ 3 =2 Daniil Dubov (RUS) 2720 ½½ ½0 1½ 3 4 Vincent Keymer (GER) 2664 00 ½½ ½0 1.5

#### Pool D

    Rank Player Rating December 2021 DOM WSO HAR SHI Total Points R1 R2 Tiebreak Points 1 Leinier Domínguez (USA) 2752 0½ ½1 11 4 ½ 1 1.5 2 Wesley So (USA) 2772 ½1 ½½ 1½ 4 ½ 0 0.5 3 Pentala Harikrishna (IND) 2717 0½ ½½ ½½ 2.5 - - 4 Alexei Shirov (ESP) 2704 00 ½0 ½½ 1.5 - -

### Knockout stage

| Semi-finals (February 12–13) | Semi-finals (February 12–13) | Semi-finals (February 12–13) | Final (February 15–17) | Final (February 15–17) | Final (February 15–17) |
| 10 | Hikaru Nakamura (USA) | 1½ | | | |
| 7 | Richárd Rapport (HUN) | ½ | | | |
| 7 | Richárd Rapport (HUN) | ½ | 10 | Hikaru Nakamura (USA) | 3 |
| | | | 2 | Levon Aronian (USA) | 1 |
| 2 | Levon Aronian (USA) | 1½ | 2 | Levon Aronian (USA) | 1 |
| 9 | Leinier Domínguez (USA) | ½ | | | |

#### Semi-final 1

    SeedNameDecember 2021 rating12Total Points 10  Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2736 1 ½ 1.5 7  Richárd Rapport (HUN) 2763 0 ½ 0.5

#### Semi-final 2

    SeedNameDecember 2021 rating12Total Points 2  Levon Aronian (USA) 2772 1 ½ 1.5 9  Leinier Domínguez (USA) 2752 0 ½ 0.5

#### Final

    SeedNameDecember 2021 rating12R1R2Total Points 10  Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2736 ½ ½ 1 1 3 2  Levon Aronian (USA) 2772 ½ ½ 0 0 1

## Tournament 2 - Belgrade, Serbia

The second tournament was held in Belgrade, Serbia from 1 to 14 March. Russian players' flags are displayed as the FIDE flag due to FIDE's decision to ban Russian and Belarusian flags from being displayed at FIDE-rated events in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Richárd Rapport won the second leg of the 2022 Grand Prix with Dmitry Andreikin as the runner-up.

### Round-robin stage

The double round-robin stage had six rounds of standard time control games on 1–4, 6, and 7 March with tie-breaks on 8 March. Players in bold advanced to the knockout stage.

#### Pool A

    Rank Player Rating March 2022 AND SHA BAC GRI Total Points 1 Dmitry Andreikin (FIDE) 2724 ½½ 1½ ½1 4 2 Sam Shankland (USA) 2704 ½½ ½½ 1½ 3.5 3 Étienne Bacrot (FRA) 2635 ½0 ½½ ½½ 2.5 4 Alexander Grischuk (FIDE) 2758 0½ ½0 ½½ 2

#### Pool B

    Rank Player Rating March 2022 GIR VIT TAB HAR Total Points 1 Anish Giri (NED) 2771 1½ 1½ ½½ 4 =2 Nikita Vitiugov (FIDE) 2726 ½0 ½½ ½1 3 =2 Amin Tabatabaei (IRI) 2623 ½0 ½½ ½1 3 4 Pentala Harikrishna (IND) 2716 ½½ 0½ 0½ 2

#### Pool C

    Rank Player Rating March 2022 RAP GUJ SHI FED Total Points 1 Richárd Rapport (HUN) 2762 11 ½½ ½½ 4 2 Vidit Gujrathi (IND) 2723 00 1½ 1½ 3 =3 Alexei Shirov (ESP) 2691 ½½ ½0 10 2.5 =3 Vladimir Fedoseev (FIDE) 2704 ½½ ½0 10 2.5

#### Pool D

    Rank Player Rating March 2022 MVL MAM PRE YAN Total Points 1 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) 2761 ½½ ½1 ½½ 3.5 =2 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE) 2776 ½½ ½½ ½½ 3 =2 Alexandr Predke (FIDE) 2682 0½ ½½ ½1 3 4 Yu Yangyi (CHN) 2713 ½½ ½½ 0½ 2.5

### Knockout stage

| Semi-finals (March 9–11) | Semi-finals (March 9–11) | Semi-finals (March 9–11) | Final (March 12–14) | Final (March 12–14) | Final (March 12–14) |
| 13 | Dmitry Andreikin (FIDE) | 2½ | | | |
| 3 | Anish Giri (NED) | 1½ | | | |
| 3 | Anish Giri (NED) | 1½ | 13 | Dmitry Andreikin (FIDE) | ½ |
| | | | 7 | Richárd Rapport (HUN) | 1½ |
| 7 | Richárd Rapport (HUN) | 1½ | 7 | Richárd Rapport (HUN) | 1½ |
| 8 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) | ½ | | | |

#### Semi-final 1

    SeedNameMarch 2022 rating12 R1 R2Total Points 13  Dmitry Andreikin (FIDE) 2724 ½ ½ ½ 1 2.5 3  Anish Giri (NED) 2771 ½ ½ ½ 0 1.5

#### Semi-final 2

    SeedNameMarch 2022 rating12 Total Points 7  Richárd Rapport (HUN) 2762 1 ½ 1.5 8  Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) 2761 0 ½ 0.5

#### Final

    SeedNameMarch 2022 rating12Total Points 13  Dmitry Andreikin (FIDE) 2724 ½ 0 0.5 7  Richárd Rapport (HUN) 2762 ½ 1 1.5

## Tournament 3 - Berlin, Germany

The third tournament was held in Berlin, Germany from 22 March to 4 April. Due to personal reasons, Dmitry Andreikin withdrew from the third leg and was replaced by Andrey Esipenko. Wesley So won the third leg with Hikaru Nakamura as the runner-up.

### Round-robin stage

The double round-robin stage had six rounds of standard time control games on 22–25, 27, and 28 March with tie-breaks on 29 March. Winners advanced to the knockout stage between March 30–April 4, 2022.

#### Pool A

    Rank Player Rating March 2022 NAK OPA ARO ESI Total Points 1 Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2750 1½ 10 ½1 4 2 Grigoriy Oparin (FIDE) 2674 ½0 1½ 1½ 3.5 3 Levon Aronian (USA) 2785 10 ½0 1½ 3 4 Andrey Esipenko (FIDE) 2723 0½ ½0 ½0 1.5

#### Pool B

    Rank Player Rating March 2022 MAM KEY DOM DUB Total Points R1 R2 B1 B2 Tiebreak Points 1 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE) 2776 1½ ½½ ½½ 3.5 1 0 1 1 3 2 Vincent Keymer (GER) 2655 ½0 1½ 1½ 3.5 0 1 0 0 1 3 Leinier Domínguez (USA) 2756 ½½ ½0 ½1 3 - - 4 Daniil Dubov (FIDE) 2711 ½½ ½0 0½ 2 - -

#### Pool C

    Rank Player Rating March 2022 WSO SHA PRE MVL Total Points R1 R2 Tiebreak Points 1 Wesley So (USA) 2778 ½½ ½½ ½1 3.5 1 ½ 1.5 2 Sam Shankland (USA) 2704 ½½ ½1 ½½ 3.5 0 ½ 0.5 =3 Alexandr Predke (FIDE) 2682 ½½ 0½ 10 2.5 - - =3 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) 2761 0½ ½½ 10 2.5 - -

#### Pool D

    Rank Player Rating March 2022 TAB VIT YAN GIR Total Points 1 Amin Tabatabaei (IRI) 2623 10 ½½ ½1 3.5 =2 Nikita Vitiugov (FIDE) 2726 10 ½½ ½½ 3 =2 Yu Yangyi (CHN) 2713 ½½ ½½ ½½ 3 4 Anish Giri (NED) 2771 0½ ½½ ½½ 2.5

### Knockout stage

| Semi-finals (March 30–April 1) | Semi-finals (March 30–April 1) | Semi-finals (March 30–April 1) | Final (April 2–4) | Final (April 2–4) | Final (April 2–4) |
| 10 | Hikaru Nakamura (USA) | 3 | | | |
| 5 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE) | 1 | | | |
| 5 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE) | 1 | 10 | Hikaru Nakamura (USA) | 1½ |
| | | | 4 | Wesley So (USA) | 2½ |
| 4 | Wesley So (USA) | 3 | 4 | Wesley So (USA) | 2½ |
| 23 | Amin Tabatabaei (IRI) | 1 | | | |

#### Semi-final 1

    SeedNameMarch 2022 rating12 R1 R2Total Points 10  Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2750 ½ ½ 1 1 3 5  Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE) 2776 ½ ½ 0 0 1

#### Semi-final 2

    SeedNameMarch 2022 rating12 R1 R2Total Points 4  Wesley So (USA) 2778 1 0 1 1 3 23  Amin Tabatabaei (IRI) 2623 0 1 0 0 1

#### Final

    SeedNameMarch 2022 rating12 R1 R2Total Points 10  Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2750 ½ ½ ½ 0 1.5 4  Wesley So (USA) 2778 ½ ½ ½ 1 2.5

## Grand Prix standings

The following table shows the overall Grand Prix standings. The top two players qualified for the Candidates Tournament. Tie-breaks, in order, are as follows: tournament first places (TF), tournament second places (TS), game points in standard time control games (GP), and game wins in standard time control games (GW). If a tie persists, the final tiebreaker is drawing of lots.
After the round-robin stage of the third tournament, the top two were confirmed to be Richárd Rapport and Hikaru Nakamura as no other player could score 20 or more Grand Prix points. During the semi-final stage, Nakamura overtook Rapport's score, securing the overall victory.
| Seed | Rank | Player | Berlin | Belgrade | Berlin | Total GP points | TF | TS | GP | GW | Prize money |
| 10 | 1 | Hikaru Nakamura (USA) | 13 | | 10 | 23 | 1 | 1 | 12.5 | 6 | €42,000 |
| 7 | 2 | Richárd Rapport (HUN) | 7 | 13 | | 20 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 6 | €36,000 |
| 4 | 3 | Wesley So (USA) | 4 | | 13 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 9.5 | 4 | €33,000 |
| 2 | 4 | Levon Aronian (USA) | 10 | | 2 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 6 | €25,000 |
| 13 | 5 | Dmitry Andreikin (FIDE) | | 10 | | 10 | 0 | 1 | 5.5 | 2 | €18,000 |
| 23 | 6 | Amin Tabatabaei (IRI) | | 3 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 7.5 | 4 | €20,000 |
| 5 | 7 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE) | | 3 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 7.5 | 1 | €20,000 |
| 9 | 8 | Leinier Domínguez (USA) | 7 | | 2 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 7.5 | 4 | €19,000 |
| 17 | 9 | Sam Shankland (USA) | | 4 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | €18,000 |
| 8 | 10 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) | | 7 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 6.5 | 2 | €18,000 |
| 3 | 11 | Anish Giri (NED) | | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7.5 | 2 | €17,000 |
| 12 | 12 | Vidit Gujrathi (IND) | 3 | 4 | | 7 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | €17,000 |
| 11 | 13 | Nikita Vitiugov (FIDE) | | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | €16,000 |
| 20 | =14 | Alexandr Predke (FIDE) | | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5.5 | 2 | €14,000 |
| 21 | =14 | Grigoriy Oparin (FIDE) | 0 | | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5.5 | 2 | €14,000 |
| – | =16 | Andrey Esipenko (FIDE) | 4 | | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | €14,000 |
| 22 | =16 | Vincent Keymer (GER) | 0 | | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | €14,000 |
| – | 18 | Radosław Wojtaszek (POL) | 4 | | | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3.5 | 1 | €9,000 |
| 19 | 19 | Vladimir Fedoseev (FIDE) | 2 | 1 | | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5.5 | 3 | €13,000 |
| 16 | 20 | Yu Yangyi (CHN) | | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5.5 | 0 | €13,000 |
| 14 | 21 | Daniil Dubov (FIDE) | 3 | | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | €13,000 |
| 6 | 22 | Alexander Grischuk (FIDE) | 2 | 0 | | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | €12,000 |
| 15 | 23 | Pentala Harikrishna (IND) | 2 | 0 | | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4.5 | 0 | €12,000 |
| 24 | 24 | Étienne Bacrot (FRA) | 0 | 2 | | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | €12,000 |
| 18 | 25 | Alexei Shirov (ESP) | 0 | 1 | | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | €11,000 |
| 1 | 26 | Ding Liren (CHN) | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | €0 |
Standings table legend :
| Players | Players | Players | Players | Players | Players | Results | Results | Results | Results | Results | Results | Results | Results | Results | Results |
| | Qualified for the Candidates via the Grand Prix | | Qualified for the Candidates via another path | | Did not qualify for the Candidates | | Did not participate | | Eliminated in group stage | | Lost in the semi-finals | | Runner-Up | | Winner |