Côte d’Ivoire Rapid & Blitz

The Côte d’Ivoire Rapid & Blitz is the 1st stage of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, with World Champion Magnus Carlsen heading a 10-player field that features 7 tour regulars and wild cards Wei Yi, Veselin Topalov and Bassem Amin. The event takes place in the Pullman Abidjan Hotel in Abidjan, Ivory Coast from May 8-12 and has a $150,000 prize fund. The rapid section is a single round-robin with 3 rounds each day on the first 3 days. The time control is 25 minutes for all moves and a 10-second delay from move 1. The final 2 days are a blitz double round-robin, with 18 rounds of 5 minutes + 3-second delay blitz. Rapid games count double, with 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw. Official website: grandchesstour.org/2019-grand-chess-tour/2019-Cote-dIvoire-Rapid-Blitz