The Your Next Move Grand Chess Tour is being held in the historic Town Hall of Leuven, Belgium from 12-16 June.

The first stage of the 2018 Grand Chess Tour sees Caruana, Nakamura, So, MVL, Anand, Aronian, Grischuk, Mamedyarov, Karjakin and wild card Giri compete for a $150,000 prize fund.

2017 saw World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen ease to a comfortable victory but there will definitely be a new champion this year as Magnus is not returning to defend his chess title.

9 rounds of rapid chess (25 minutes with a 10-second delay) are played on the first 3 days, with wins worth 2 points. 18 rounds of blitz (5 minutes with a 3-second delay) follow on the final 2 days, with wins worth 1 point.

The event is sponsored by Your Next Move, a non-profit organisation promoting chess as an educational tool.

Tags: ,