Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa to compete in 2025 Grand Chess Tour

India's Gukesh Dommaraju and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu have accepted the invite to play in the 2025 Grand Chess Tour, the organisers announced on Monday.

Both Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa have been extended invitations for the full 2025 Grand Chess Tour, which includes six different tournaments throughout the year, culminating the GCT Finals.

Gukesh, ranked third in the world, is the top seed among the nine players who were extended the invites.

The world's top two ranked players – Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura – won't be a full time part of the tour and may compete in individual events as wildcards.

This is a massive jump for Gukesh, who was the eighth seed out of nine players, when he competed in the previous edition of the tournament last year.

Praggnanandhaa, meanwhile, is the fourth seed.

The other seven players in contention include GM Alireza Firouzja, GM Fabiano Caruana, GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov, GM Wesley So, GM Levon Aronian, GM Jan-Krysztof Duda, and GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

Firouzja, Caruana, and Vachier-Lagrave qualified for the competition on the basis of their top-three finish last year, while the others were extended an invite.

World No 5 from India – Arjun Erigaisi – will not be in action on the tour full-time.

The full-time Tour members will have to compete in two classical events and two of the three rapid and blitz events this season before the Grand Chess Tour Final in September-October 2025.

The tour will kick off with the Superbet Rapid and Blitz in Poland, from 24 April to 1 May, 2025.