FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss 2021 starts today
15 Indian players will be seen in action at FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss and Women's Grand Swiss 2021, starting at Riga, Latvia today. Harikrishna, Adhiban and Harika are the players who qualified by average rating criteria between July 2020 and June 2021. Sasikiran, Sethuraman and Vaishali made it from the reserve players list. The remaining nine players are Wild Card entrants - Nihal, Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa, Raunak, Padmini, Vantika and Divya. 107 GMs and an IM from 36 countries with an average rating 2639 are taking part in the Open. The Women's event witnesses 15 GMs, 20 IMs and 9 WGMs from 23 countries across the world with an average rating of 2405 should give you an idea about the strength and importance of the event. Round 1 starts today at 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE
Harikrishna and Harika will lead the Indian charge
FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss and Women's Grand Swiss got an exemption from the new coronavirus restrictions in Latvia. It will proceed with a strict health safety measures. Apart from Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi who have next month's World Championship Match to prepare for, Ding Liren, Anish Giri, Alexander Grischuk and Wesley So are among the world top 10 who are skipping this event. It means Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Alireza Firouzja and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are the only four players among world top 10, who will fight for two direct qualification spot to the FIDE Candidates 2022.
Indian players
Harikrishna, Adhiban, Nihal, Gukesh, Sasikiran, Arjun Erigaisi, Sethuraman, Praggnanandhaa, Surya and Raunak will play in the Open section, FIDE Grand Swiss. IMs Vaishali, Padmini and WGMs Vantika and Divya will play in the Women's section, FIDE Women's Grand Swiss.
SNo | Name | Rtg | FED | Pts. | Rk. | Group | |
7 | GM | Harikrishna Pentala | 2719 | IND | 0,0 | 7 | Open |
25 | GM | Adhiban B. | 2672 | IND | 0,0 | 25 | Open |
41 | GM | Nihal Sarin | 2652 | IND | 0,0 | 41 | Open |
53 | GM | Gukesh D | 2640 | IND | 0,0 | 53 | Open |
54 | GM | Sasikiran Krishnan | 2640 | IND | 0,0 | 54 | Open |
60 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | 2634 | IND | 0,0 | 60 | Open |
79 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | 2620 | IND | 0,0 | 79 | Open |
81 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | 2618 | IND | 0,0 | 81 | Open |
82 | GM | Ganguly Surya Shekhar | 2617 | IND | 0,0 | 82 | Open |
84 | GM | Sadhwani Raunak | 2609 | IND | 0,0 | 84 | Open |
4 | GM | Harika Dronavalli | 2511 | IND | 0,0 | 4 | Women |
25 | WGM | Vaishali R | 2419 | IND | 0,0 | 25 | Women |
40 | IM | Padmini Rout | 2380 | IND | 0,0 | 40 | Women |
46 | WIM | Vantika Agrawal | 2322 | IND | 0,0 | 46 | Women |
47 | WIM | Divya Deshmukh | 2305 | IND | 0,0 | 47 | Women |
Round 1 pairings
The first round 1 has a lot of interesting pairings. The most notable being Arjun Erigaisi facing Andrey Esipenko on board no.6 and Adhiban going against his fellow countryman Sethuraman.
Rd. | Bo. | No. | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | FED | Rtg | No. | ||||
1 | 6 | 60 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | IND | 2634 | 0 | 0 | GM | Esipenko Andrey | RUS | 2720 | 6 | |||
1 | 7 | 7 | GM | Harikrishna Pentala | IND | 2719 | 0 | 0 | GM | Kovalev Vladislav | FID | 2634 | 61 | |||
1 | 25 | 25 | GM | Adhiban B. | IND | 2672 | 0 | 0 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | IND | 2620 | 79 | |||
1 | 27 | 27 | GM | Sargissian Gabriel | ARM | 2664 | 0 | 0 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | IND | 2618 | 81 | |||
1 | 28 | 82 | GM | Ganguly Surya Shekhar | IND | 2617 | 0 | 0 | GM | Sjugirov Sanan | RUS | 2663 | 28 | |||
1 | 30 | 84 | GM | Sadhwani Raunak | IND | 2609 | 0 | 0 | GM | Cheparinov Ivan | BUL | 2659 | 30 | |||
1 | 41 | 41 | GM | Nihal Sarin | IND | 2652 | 0 | 0 | GM | Georgiev Kiril | MKD | 2577 | 95 | |||
1 | 53 | 53 | GM | Gukesh D | IND | 2640 | 0 | 0 | IM | Rakotomaharo Fy Antenaina | MAD | 2484 | 107 | |||
1 | 54 | 108 | GM | Miezis Normunds | LAT | 2467 | 0 | 0 | GM | Sasikiran Krishnan | IND | 2640 | 54 | |||
1 | 4 | 4 | GM | Harika Dronavalli | IND | 2511 | 0 | 0 | IM | Buksa Nataliya | UKR | 2409 | 29 | |||
1 | 15 | 40 | IM | Padmini Rout | IND | 2380 | 0 | 0 | WGM | Zhu Jiner | CHN | 2455 | 15 | |||
1 | 21 | 46 | WIM | Vantika Agrawal | IND | 2322 | 0 | 0 | IM | Munguntuul Batkhuyag | MGL | 2433 | 21 | |||
1 | 22 | 22 | WGM | Zawadzka Jolanta | POL | 2428 | 0 | 0 | WIM | Divya Deshmukh | IND | 2305 | 47 | |||
1 | 25 | 50 | WIM | February Jesse Nikki | RSA | 1857 | 0 | 0 | WGM | Vaishali R | IND | 2419 | 25 |
Complete Round 1 pairings: Open and Women
Schedule
Everyday game starts at 2 p.m. local time (4:30 p.m. IST) between 27th October and 7th November 2021. Rest day is on Tuesday 2nd November 2021.
Time Control
The time control for each game is: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, followed by 15 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1.
Qualification
The top two players in the open event will qualify for the FIDE Candidates 2022. The next six players will earn their spots in the FIDE Grand Prix. The Women's Grand Swiss winner will qualify to the Women's Candidates. The following four best players will qualify for the FIDE Women's Grand Prix.
Prizes
The total prize fund in the Open is US$ 425,000 with the first prize being $70,000. For Women's the total prize fund is $125,000, first prize $20,000. Total numbers of prizes are 60, Open - 40 and Women - 20.
Photo Gallery
Players who announced their withdrawal
Speed King and World no.2 in Blitz, GM Hikaru Nakamura was the first top player to withdraw from the event
World no. 22 and India no.2, GM Vidit Gujrathi also withdrew from the tournament
Indian players' updates from Riga
GM Adhiban Baskaran
GM Sethuraman S P
GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly
GM Raunak Sadhwani
IM Padmini Rout
Links
Tournament Regulations: Open and Women