While the Norway Chess 2025 is catching all the attention mainly due to glamourous presence of Magnus Carlsen, the 2025 Grand Chess Tour is going a bit unnoticed.
The Grand Chess Tour 2025 includes two 10-player Round Robin Tournaments played at a Classical time control, three 10-player Round Robin Tournaments played at both Rapid and Blitz time controls, and 4-player single-elimination Grand Finals played at all three time controls.
The prize fund of 1.6 million USD is provided by the major sponsors Superbet Foundation and Saint Louis Chess Club, both non-profit organizations that support Chess education and the mission to expand the game of chess to a worldwide audience.
The six tournaments in the Grand Chess Tour 2025 are as follows:
- Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland: April 24-May 1, 2025 in Warsaw, Poland
- Superbet Chess Classic Romania: May 5-17, 2025 in Bucharest, Romania
- SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia: June 30-July 7, 2025 in Zagreb, Croatia
- Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz: August 9-16 in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
- Sinquefield Cup: August 16-29, 2025 in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
- GCT Finals: September 26-October 4, 2025 in São Paulo, Brazil
The first leg was won by Vladimir Vasilyevich Fedoseev followed by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave as runners up and India’s R Praggnanandhaa coming third.
The second leg of the tour had a special significance as it was the first classical tournament of the series. With the World Champion D Gukesh as the top seed, the tournament saw ten strong Grandmasters fighting for the top honours. As there was a three way tie for the top position, the tie was resolved by a Blitz double round robin tournament.
Praggnanandhaa emerged the champion of the tournament after the tie-break against Maxime Vachier Lagrave and Alreza Firouzja in Blitz format.
