The inaugural Freestyle Chess Grand Slam continues its exciting journey with the fourth leg taking place from July 16 to 20 at the Pavillon Chesnaie du Roy in Las Vegas. This event follows the earlier legs held in Weissenhaus, Paris, and Karlsruhe, each featuring different tournament structures.
The Las Vegas leg of the series has expanded its format, welcoming 16 players — the largest closed event field in the Grand Slam so far. Featuring a robust lineup of US chess talent, eight of the top nine US Grandmasters (GMs) are set to compete, including prominent names like Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana, who are currently ranked world number two and three, respectively.
Alongside Nakamura and Caruana, other notable US GMs in the lineup include Wesley So, Levon Aronian, Leinier Dominguez, Hans Niemann, Ray Robson, and Sam Sevian. The competition will also highlight several international chess stars, spearheaded by the reigning world champion, Magnus Carlsen. India’s representation comes from GMs Arjun Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, and Vidit Gujrathi, while other international talents include Germany’s Vincent Keymer, Uzbek GMs Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Javokhir Sindarov, and Kazakh GM-elect Bibisara Assaubayeva, who is just 21 years old.
The tournament faced some changes earlier, including the replacement of Iranian GM Parham Maghsoodloo due to visa issues, with Ray Robson stepping in for him. Similarly, GM Ian Nepomniachtchi had to withdraw for personal family reasons and was replaced by Sam Sevian.
This exciting tournament structure is divided into two main phases: a group stage followed by a knockout phase. The initial phase is composed of two round-robin groups, dubbed White and Black, each consisting of eight players.
With a time control set to 10 minutes plus a 10-second increment for each move, the competition includes several tiebreak criteria. These criteria are head-to-head results, the number of wins, and the Sonneborn-Berger score.
The top four players from each group will advance to the Upper Bracket knockout phase (positions 1 to 8), while the bottom four players will find themselves in the Lower Bracket (positions 9 to 16).
In the Upper Bracket quarterfinals, the first-place finisher from Group White will have the privilege of choosing an opponent from the third or fourth place in Group Black for Match A. The same selection process applies for the first-place finisher from Group Black in Match B. Meanwhile, the second-place finishers from both groups will choose opponents from the remaining third or fourth place players in the respective opposite groups for Matches C and D.
In the Lower Bracket, the fifth-place players from each group will choose opponents from the seventh or eighth placed competitors from the opposite group for Matches E and F. Matches G and H will feature the sixth-place players against the remaining seventh or eighth placed players.
Players eliminated in Matches E to H will be ranked in a tie for 13th place, and it is expected they will contribute to the tournament through commentary or content creation, which includes a 50% prize reduction if they do not comply.
As the competition progresses to the Upper Bracket semifinals, the four quarterfinal winners will advance. The pairings include Winner A facing Winner D (Match SFA) and Winner B facing Winner C (Match SFB).
The Intermediate Matches RED stage will showcase the four Upper Bracket quarterfinal losers alongside the four winners from the Lower Bracket. Each of the first three losers will select an opponent from the four Lower Bracket winners, while the fourth match will feature the two remaining players.
Losers from these matches will be ranked 9th to 12th and will be expected to help with event coverage as well.
After that, the winners from the RED stage will face off in the Intermediate Matches GREEN. Pairings for these two matches will be drawn randomly, with a time control similar to previous stages: 10 minutes plus a 10-second increment.
Moving deeper into the competitive setting, the Lower Bracket semifinals will see the two losers from Matches A and B vie against the winners from Matches GREEN. These pairings will have the first loser from Match A face the winner of SF2B, and the first loser from Match B confront the winner of SF2A.
The grand finale features several concluding matches offering intense prize stakes. The Grand Final (Final 1) will determine the first and second place winners as the finalists of Matches A and B from the Upper Bracket semifinals face each other.
Final 2 will see the winners of the Lower Bracket semifinals battling for third and fourth place. Meanwhile, Final 3 will establish the fifth and sixth place winners among the losers of the Lower Bracket semifinals, and Final 4 will showcase the players from the Intermediate Matches GREEN contending for seventh and eighth place.
The match format includes standard time controls of 30 minutes plus a 30-second increment for most knockout rounds. However, Matches taking place on Day 4 and Finals 3 and 4 will revert back to the quicker 10-minute plus 10-second time control.
Each match will consist of two games, one with White and one with Black for each player, with color allocation determined by round-robin rankings and alternation rules.
In instances where there is a 1-1 draw after the two standard games, tie-break procedures dictate rapid games, blitz games, and potentially an Armageddon game using secret bidding as the final method of resolution. The player bidding lower in the Armageddon game will play Black and only needs a draw, while White must win.
With an exhilarating format and world-class talent, the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in Las Vegas is set to deliver five days of intense action and captivating chess battles.
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