FRESH BOOK TITLES IN THE SHOP

NEW ARRIVALS

Checkout Now!

Books

GCT Finals SF G2: A quick day

by Shahid Ahmed - 30/09/2025

GM R Praggnanandhaa opted for the Caro-Kann with the black pieces in the second Semifinal game of Grand Chess Tour 2025 Finals. The World Blitz 2021 champion got surprised momentarily. However, the game ended in a draw in just 21 moves. The battle between Levon Aronian (USA) and Fabiano Caruana (USA) also ended in a draw. It lasted five more moves than the other game. Both games finished in under two hours. All four players have six points each. Two Rapid and four Blitz games will be played. Semifinal continues today at 3 p.m. local time, 11:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour



Two calm draws in under two hours

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) - R Praggnanandhaa: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Levon Aronian (USA) - Fabiano Caruana (USA): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Guess which player's scoresheet is which one? | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Fabiano Caruana (USA) with his fans | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Score after two Classical games | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Replay live stream

Replay Classical Game 2 live stream by GMs Yasser Seirawan, Cristian Chirila, & Maurice Ashley, IM Nazi Paikidze, and WGM Anastasiya Karlovich | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

Schedule and Format

The GCT Final will take place from 28th September to 3rd October. There is no rest day. Each round starts at 3 p.m. local time, 11:30 p.m. IST. The last day on 3rd October games will start at 1 p.m. local time, 9:30 p.m. IST. Each match will have two Classical, two Rapid and four Blitz games, irrespective of the results, all games will be played. Check the image below for a detailed schedule.

Schedule | Source: Grand Chess Tour

Time control

Classical: 40 moves in 90 minutes + 30 minutes for the remainder + 30-second increment from move no.1

Rapid: 25 minutes + 10 seconds increment

Blitz: 5 minutes + 2 seconds increment

Scoring

● Classical Games: 6 points for a win, 3 points for a draw and 0 points for a loss

● Rapid Games: 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw and 0 points for a loss

● Blitz Games: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss

Each match will therefore be scored out of a total of 28 possible points, with a total of at least 15 points being required to win each match.

Prize

The total prize fund for the Grand Finals is US$ 350000. The prizes are US$ 150000, $100000, $60000 and $40000.

Links

Buy tickets

Official site

Tournament Regulations




Contact Us