27 October 2021

FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and Women's Grand Swiss Begin in Riga

The events are qualifications for the Candidates Tournaments.

Photo: Mark Livsitz
Photo: Mark Livsitz


The world’s chess elite gathered in Riga’s Hansas Perons centre for the opening of the 2021 FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and the inaugural Women’s Grand Swiss. Altogether 158 strong players from all over the world are taking part in the event, which will decide two qualifiers for the 2022 Candidates Tournaments. 

FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, FIDE Managing Director Dana Reizniece-Ozola, the Latvian Minister for Education and Science Anita Muižniece, the mayor of Riga Mārtiņš Staķis, and the President of the Latvian Chess Federation Rejs Mundi gave speeches at the opening ceremony. 

The open event is headed by Fabiano Caruana (USA), Levon Aronian (Armenia), Alireza Firouzja, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (both from France), Nikita Vitiugov, Andrey Esipenko (both from Russia), Harikrishna Pentala (India), Daniil Dubov, Kirill Alekseenko, Vladimir Fedoseev (all from Russia), and other well-known grandmasters. The top seeds of the women's tournament are Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine), Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia), Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia), Dronavalli Harika (India), Polina Shuvalova (Russia), and others. 

Both tournaments are part of the qualifications for the 2021-23 World Championship cycle, with the top two players in the open event qualifying for the 2022 Candidates Tournament and the following six securing spots in the Grand Prix. The winner of the Women’s Grand Swiss will qualify directly for the Women Candidates and the four best players will qualify for the next year’s Women’s Grand Prix.

The first round will be played on the 27th of October. The tournaments are 11-round Swiss events, which will finish on the 7th of November. 

Tournament on Chess-Results

Official website