Gukesh, Arjun and Praggnanandhaa set to face Magnus Carlsen and co. at Superbet Rapid and Blitz 2024
The first event of the Grand Chess Tour 2024 season is Superbet Rapid and Blitz. This will be the first time in GCT history that three Indians - D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa will be taking part. They will battle against Magnus Carlsen (NOR), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB), Wei Yi (CHN), Anish Giri (NED), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL), Vincent Keymer (GER) and Kirill Shevchenko (ROU). Who do you think will this tournament? The tournament takes place at Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, Poland. Round 1 starts today from 1 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour
"...Hopefully I can still teach them a thing or two"
"I am very happy to be the only representative of adults who are 30 years and older. It's going to be an interesting challenge for sure. I played tournaments where there is a mix but I don't think I have played tournaments like this where there is almost exclusively young players, so it's going to be fun. Sometimes it is easy to underestimate younger players because you don't know how quickly they develop, like you expect them to have a certain level and then in the tournament they are actually a bit better. It's going to be super fun and super interesting to see and hopefully I can still teach them a thing or two." - Magnus Carlsen on being the oldest player in the field and about the tournament.
Schedule and Format
Superbet Rapid and Blitz will have three rounds per day in the Rapid portion from 8th to 10 May. The Blitz event will take place on 11th and 12th May. It will be a double round-robin event for the Blitz which means nine rounds will be played on each day. Round 1 starts at 1 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. It will be a 10-player Round Robin event. Time control for Rapid will be 25 minutes + 10 seconds increment.
Participants
The lineup includes the World no.1 - Magnus Carlsen, former World Rapid champion and World no.5 - Nodirbek Abdusattorov, FIDE Candidates 2024 winner and World no.6 - D Gukesh, World no.8 - Arjun Erigaisi, World no.10 - Wei Yi, FIDE World Cup 2023 runner-up and World no.14 - R Praggnanandhaa, World no.15 - Anish Giri, FIDE World Cup 2021 winner and World no.18 - Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Germany no.1 and World no.26 - Vincent Keymer, and Romania no.3 and World no.57 - Kirill Shevchenko.
Prize
The total prize fund for each of the Rapid and Blitz event is US$ 175000.
Magnus Carlsen on playing younger players at Superbet Rapid and Blitz 2024
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