Thessaloniki 2013 FIDE Grand Prix
The fourth Grand Prix of the 2012/13 series runs from 21 May - 4 June in Thessaloniki, Greece.
The overall winner and runner-up of the 2012/13 Grand Prix series will qualify for the next Candidates Tournament, expected to be held in March 2014. The first three events were held in London, Tashkent and Zug. The current standings are shown below.
Each tournament is a single round-robin featuring 12 out of the 18 players in the Grand Prix, and each player competes in four of the six events. The best 3 scores of each player count towards their overall score. The official regulations for the 2012/13 FIDE Grand Prix can be found here.
Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand declined to participate in the Grand Prix as they are likely to qualify for the 2014 Candidates by virtue of their high ratings (or status as World Champion).
The line-up for the Thessaloniki Grand Prix
| Name | Fed | Elo | Rank |
| Topalov, Veselin | BUL | 2793 | 4 |
| Grischuk, Alexander | RUS | 2779 | 6 |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2775 | 7 |
| Caruana, Fabiano | ITA | 2774 | 8 |
| Svidler, Peter | RUS | 2769 | 9 |
| Morozevich, Alexander | RUS | 2760 | 11 |
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2755 | 12 |
| Ponomariov, Ruslan | UKR | 2742 | 17 |
| Kamsky, Gata | USA | 2741 | 18 |
| Bacrot, Etienne | FRA | 2725 | 23 |
| Dominguez Perez, Leinier | CUB | 2723 | 25 |
| Kasimdzhanov, Rustam | UZB | 2699 | 48 |
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Teimour Radjabov has withdrawn from the Thessaloniki Grand Prix for personal reasons. He is replaced by Etienne Bacrot of France.
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Grand Prix leader Veselin Topalov
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The Grand Prix standings after 3 of 6 events
| # | Player | Elo | London | Tashkent | Zug | Pts |
| 1 | Veselin Topalov (BUL) | 2752 | 140 | – | 170 | 310 |
| 2 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE) | 2729 | 140 | 80 | 20 | 240 |
| 3 | Alexander Morozevich (RUS) | 2770 | – | 140 | 75 | 215 |
| 4 | Wang Hao (CHN) | 2726 | 70 | 140 | – | 210 |
| 5 | Sergey Karjakin (RUS) | 2785 | – | 140 | 50 | 190 |
| 6 | Fabiano Caruana (ITA) | 2773 | – | 80 | 100 | 180 |
| 7 | Peter Leko (HUN) | 2737 | 80 | 50 | 50 | 180 |
| 8 | Boris Gelfand (ISR) | 2738 | 140 | 30 | – | 170 |
| 9 | Hikaru Nakamura (USA) | 2778 | 15 | – | 140 | 155 |
| 10 | Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR) | 2734 | – | 50 | 100 | 150 |
| 11 | Rustam Kasimdzhanov (UZB) | 2684 | 35 | 80 | 20 | 135 |
| 12 | Alexander Grischuk (RUS) | 2763 | 90 | – | – | 90 |
| 13 | Gata Kamsky (USA) | 2746 | – | 10 | 75 | 85 |
| 14 | Anish Giri (NED) | 2711 | 15 | – | 50 | 65 |
| 15 | Michael Adams (ENG) | 2722 | 55 | – | – | 55 |
| 16 | Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR) | 2769 | 55 | – | – | 55 |
| 17 | Leinier Domínguez (CUB) | 2725 | 35 | 20 | – | 55 |
| 18 | Peter Svidler (RUS) | 2749 | – | 50 | – | 50 |
| 19 | Teimour Radjabov (AZE) | 2788 | – | – | 20 | 20 |
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The schedule for the 2013 Thessaloniki Grand Prix
| 21st May 2013 | Arrival & Opening Ceremony |
| 22nd May 2013 | Round 1 |
| 23rd May 2013 | Round 2 |
| 24th May 2013 | Round 3 |
| 25th May 2013 | Round 4 |
| 26th May 2013 | Free Day |
| 27th May 2013 | Round 5 |
| 28th May 2013 | Round 6 |
| 29th May 2013 | Round 7 |
| 30th May 2013 | Round 8 |
| 31st May 2013 | Free Day |
| 1st June 2013 | Round 9 |
| 2nd June 2013 | Round 10 |
| 3rd June 2013 | Round 11 & Closing Ceremony |
| 4th June 2013 | Departure |
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All rounds start at 14:00 local time (11:00 UTC) except the final round which starts 2 hours earlier. The time control used is 40 moves in 2 hours, followed by 20 moves in 1 hour, then 15 minutes plus a 30 second increment after move 60.
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Information from the Thessaloniki Grand Prix website.
