Five Indians will battle Carlsen and the world's best at Aimchess Rapid starting today
The sixth and last Regular event of Meltwater Champions Chess Tour 2022 season is Aimchess Rapid. A total of five Indians will feature in this event. They are - Arjun Erigaisi, Pentala Harikrishna, Vidit Gujrathi, D Gukesh and MPL Indian Chess Tour leg 4 winner, IM Aditya Mittal. The remaining players in the field are - World Champion Magnus Carlsen, World Cup 2021 winner, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Germany no.1 Vincent Keymer, World no.7 Anish Giri, Romania no.1 Richard Rapport, World no.13 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Spain no.4 David Anton Guijarro, reigning World Rapid champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Sweden no.1 Nils Grandelius, Canada no.2 Eric Hansen and celebrated author and commentator Daniel Naroditsky. Round 1 starts tonight at 9:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Champions Chess Tour
Aditya Mittal makes Meltwater Champions Chess Tour debut
Magnus Carlsen is aiming for a hat-trick of MCCT events after winning FTX Road to Miami and FTX Crypto Cup 2022 consecutively. He recently also won an individual Gold medal at European Chess Club Cup 2022.
Schedule
There will be a 4-day preliminary round-robin stage of rapid chess (15+10), before the top eight players advance to the knockout stage. The Quarterfinals and Semifinals match is played in one day with four rapid games each day. Only Finals will last two days, consisting of two matches with four Rapid games each. If the match score is tied, the players will then play two 5+3 blitz games followed by, if needed - Armageddon.
All games will start from 9:30 p.m. IST between 14th and 21st October 2022.
Aimchess Rapid Participants
Magnus Carlsen maintains his lead in the tour standings table with $180,000 earnings so far. Praggnanandhaa moved to the second place with $106,500 earnings. However, he will not be taking part in this tournament as he is currently playing in the Fagernes Autumn GM 2022. Jan-Krzysztof Duda moved one place down to third with $105,000 earnings. They will be joined by Vincent Keymer, Anish Giri, Richard Rapport, Arjun Erigaisi, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, David Anton Guijarro, Pentala Harirkrishna, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Vidit Gujrathi, Nils Grandelius, Eric Hansen, Daniel Naroditsky, D Gukes and MPL Indian Chess Tour leg 4 winner, IM Aditya Mittal.
Prizes
The total prize fund of the Tour is $1,600,000. The prize fund for Aimchess Rapid 2022 is $150,000.
Tour Standings
The Tour Standings are determined by the sum of the prizes earned by each player throughout the season. If two or more players have the same sum of prizes at any stage, the tie shall be resolved according to the following criteria:
1.Number of tournament wins (more is better)
2.Number of events played (less is better)
3.Number of appearances in a final (more is better)
4.Number of appearances in a semi-final (more is better)
5.Number of appearances in a quarter-final (more is better)
If the tie affects qualification for a Tour event, a play-off shall be held between all tied players. The format will be determined in due time, depending on the number of players and the Tour schedule. The Organizer retains the right to forego such play-offs. In that case, ties will be resolved by the criteria above. The Season Bonus Prize Fund will not count towards the Tour Standings.
Time Control
• Rapid - 15 minutes per game + 10-second increment.
• Blitz - 5 minutes per game + 3-second increment.
• Armageddon - White has 5 minutes to Black’s 4, with no increments. If the game is drawn Black wins the match.
No draw offers/agreements are allowed before both sides have completed their 40th move, except in cases prescribed by the Laws of Chess.
