{"id":370619,"date":"2026-08-29T16:59:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T11:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=370619"},"modified":"2026-08-29T16:59:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T11:29:02","slug":"grand-chess-tour-gct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/grand-chess-tour-gct\/","title":{"rendered":"Grand Chess Tour (GCT)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"content-box-green\">\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong> Indian Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa became the first Indian to win the prestigious Grand Chess Tour title in 2026.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"red-h2-box\">About Grand Chess Tour (GCT)<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_370621\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-370621\" style=\"width: 235px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-370621\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Source-TH-5.jpg?resize=235%2C182&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Grand Chess Tour (GCT)\" width=\"235\" height=\"182\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Source-TH-5.jpg?resize=300%2C232&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Source-TH-5.jpg?w=661&amp;ssl=1 661w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 235px) 100vw, 235px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-370621\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; TH<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Grand Chess Tour (GCT)<\/strong>\u00a0 is an <strong>international chess circuit<\/strong> featuring <strong>Classical, Rapid and Blitz events.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Founded:<\/strong> The inaugural GCT was <strong>held in 2015<\/strong> with <strong>three<\/strong> <strong>Classical events.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Format:<\/strong> <strong>Rapid and Blitz<\/strong> events were <strong>added to the tour in 2016,<\/strong> expanding it beyond the original Classical format.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Structure:<\/strong> The GCT has <strong>a regular season followed by the GCT Finals<\/strong>, where the leading players compete for the title.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"yellow-h2-box\">Grand Chess Tour (GCT) 2026<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Final venue: <\/strong>The 2026 GCT Finals were held <strong>at the Saint Louis Chess Club, USA,<\/strong> from August 22\u201327, 2026.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Qualification:<\/strong> The <strong>top four players<\/strong> <strong>from the regular season qualified<\/strong> for the GCT Finals.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Finalists:<\/strong> The four finalists were <strong>R. Praggnanandhaa, Wesley So, Fabiano Caruana and Vincent Keymer.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Final format: <\/strong>The Finals were <strong>conducted as a knockout tournament<\/strong> with semifinals, a championship final and a third-place match.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Match format: Each match <\/strong>included <strong>two Classical games, two Rapid games and four Blitz games.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Champion: R. Praggnanandhaa defeated <\/strong>defending<strong> champion Fabiano Caruana 15\u201313 in the final.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>He became the <strong>first Indian to win the Grand Chess Tour title.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>He <strong>also secured a guaranteed spot in the 2027 tour.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Prize money:<\/strong> The total <strong>prize fund was US$450,000.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Prize distribution:<\/strong> <strong>First <\/strong>place received<strong> US$200,000<\/strong>, <strong>second<\/strong> US$125,000, third US$75,000 and fourth US$50,000.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: Indian Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa became the first Indian to win the prestigious Grand Chess Tour title in 2026. About Grand Chess Tour (GCT) Grand Chess Tour (GCT)\u00a0 is an international chess circuit featuring Classical, Rapid and Blitz events. Founded: The inaugural GCT was held in 2015 with three Classical events. Format: Rapid and Blitz&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/grand-chess-tour-gct\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Grand Chess Tour (GCT)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10401,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,12039,7965],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-370619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-knolls","category-miscellaneous-daily-factly-articles","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370619\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}