Carlsen, Topalov Given Grand Chess Tour Wildcards

World number-one Magnus Carlsen will play the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia, while 50-year-old former world number-one Veselin Topalov returns to top-level chess to play the Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland. Other wildcards announced for the first three events of the 2025 Grand Chess Tour include the fast-rising Indian GM Aravindh Chithambaram and GM Anish Giri. 

Earlier this month, the Grand Chess Tour announced the nine regular players for the 2025 season and revealed that for the first time since 2019, a Tour Finals will be held. That's set to take place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from September 25 to October 2.

Now, the wildcards have been announced for the first three events of the season, starting with the opener in Poland.

Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland: Warsaw, April 26-30

There will be no defense of his title for Carlsen, who needed a 10-game winning streak to edge GM Wei Yi into second place in 2024. Carlsen will be getting some rest after playing Freestyle Chess events in Paris and Karlsruhe one after the other. In fact only two players return: Polish number-one GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda and GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, who finished third and fourth in 2024. GM Alireza Firouzja, the defending Tour Champion, does play, however.

There are no less than five wildcards, with Romanian GMs Bodgan-Daniel Deac and David Gavrilescu (the 21-year-old is the reigning Romanian champion) chosen by the Romanian Superbet sponsors. There are new chances to continue their recent revival for GM Vladimir Fedoseev and particularly Aravindh, with the Indian star now up to world number-14 on the live rating list after his latest victory in the Prague Masters. The 25-year-old has picked up an amazing 81 rating points since being rated 2662 in April 2024.

Perhaps the standout name, however, is 50-year-old Topalov, the former world number-one and FIDE world champion. Topalov has been close to retired for a number of years now, and only played two rated games in the whole of 2024, losing 2-0 to GM Vidit Gujrathi on day one of the WR Chess Masters. The Bulgarian star last played in the Grand Chess Tour as a wildcard in Croatia in 2022, so it's going to be a challenge to roll back the years in Warsaw!

Superbet Chess Classic Romania: Bucharest, May 7-16

There's no surprise in the line-up for the Superbet Chess Classic Romania, where GM Fabiano Caruana will aim to win for a third year in a row. The nine full-tour players are all required to play in this event as well as the second classical tournament, the Sinquefield Cup in August. The one wildcard spot again goes to the Romanian number-one, Deac. 

SuperUnited Croatia Rapid & Blitz: Zagreb, July 2-6

There are only three wildcards for Croatia—Croatian number-one GM Ivan Saric, Giri, a tour regular from previous years, and the one who, of course, stands out, Carlsen, who tops a lineup featuring six of the world's top-10. Carlsen is a three-time champion in Zagreb, winning in 2019, 2022, and 2023, with that latter win featuring a perfect 9/9 day of blitz.

Carlsen would have played in 2024 as well, but sadly had to pull out at the last moment to be with his mother when she passed away after a long illness.

There are still wildcard spots to be announced for the St. Louis Rapid & Blitz (August 11-15) and the Sinquefield Cup (August 18-28).