Bucharest, the world chess capital this month

Bucharest will become the world chess capital at the end of June and the beginning of July. Ten of the world's best chess players, according to the current FIDE ranking, will perform in Bucharest for the second stage of the international circuit Grand Chess Tour - Superbet Chess Classic Romania 2024, a tournament founded by multiple world champion Garry Kasparov. The Bucharest competition will take place between June 24 and July 6.

The 10 Grandmasters of chess, who will compete in the Superbet Chess Classic Romania, 2024 edition, are: Bogdan Daniel Deac, Romania (22 years old, 42nd place in the world, number 2 in Romania); Fabiano Caruana, USA (31 years old, world No. 2, Grand Chess Tour 2023 winner); Ian Nepomniachtchi, FIDE (33 years old, 4th place in the world); Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Uzbekistan (19 years old, 5th place in the world); Gukesh Dommaraju, India (17 years old, 6th place in the world); Wesley So, USA (30 years old, 9th place in the world); Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, India (18 years old, 14th place in the world); Anish Giri, Netherlands (29 years old, 15th place in the world); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, France (33 years old, 20th place in the world); Alireza Firouzja, France (20 years old, ranked 16th in the world, winner of the Grand Chess Tour 2022).

The competition in Bucharest will be of classic chess, in which the players will play in a closed tournament system, each against each other, and the winner will be decided based on the accumulated points. The Bucharest competition will be open to the general public. Prizes for the Romanian stage reach 350,000 dollars. The prizes for the entire circuit are 1.5 million dollars, of which 350,000 dollars for the classical chess stage and 175,000 dollars for each rapid and blitz chess stage. At the same time, this year's edition will also have a bonus prize fund, worth 275,000 dollars, which will be awarded to the top finishers at the end of the entire tournament. GCT is an international chess circuit, which brings together the best players in the world. The legendary Garry Kasparov, one of the greatest "ambassadors" of chess in the world, inspired the creation of the Grand Chess Tour and also contributed to strengthening the partnership between the organizers.