Praggnanandhaa set to face Caruana, Sindarov and co. at GCT Super Chess Classic 2026

By admin May 14, 2026 0 comments

The second leg of Grand Chess Tour 2026 is Super Chess Classic. It will take place from 14th to 23rd May at National Bank of Romania Museum in Bucharest, Romania.

Praggnanandhaa is the defending champion

R Praggnanandhaa will be looking forward to defend his crown at this event. Jorden van Foreest (NED) replaced Levon Aronian (USA) at this event due to the latter’s health reasons.

Schedule and Format

Super Chess Classic will have one round per day from 14th to 23rd May. Rest day is on Tuesday 19th May. Each round starts at 4 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST, except the last round which starts at 2 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. It will be a 10-player Round Robin event. Time control will be 40 moves in 90 minutes + 30 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Participants

The lineup includes the World no.3 and Grand Chess Tour 2025 winner – Fabiano Caruana (USA), World no.5 and World Championship Challenger – Javokhir Sindarov (UZB), World no.6 and FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 winner – Anish Giri (NED), World no.7 – Vincent Keymer (GER), World no.8 – Alireza Firouzja (FRA), World no.9 – Wesley So (USA), World no.16 – Jorden van Foreest (NED), World no.17 and the defending champion – R Praggnanandhaa, World Blitz 2021 champion and World no.26 – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA), and Romania no.1 and World no.65 – Deac Bogdan-Daniel.