Grand Chess Tour 2018 Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz Betting Odds
–Chess is a surprisingly popular game among bettors–particularly in Europe.
–Levon Aronian dominated in 2017 to claim the overall tournament title.
–The tournament runs August 10 through 16 in Saint Louis, Missouri.
The 2018 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz Chess Tournament is the next event on the 2018 Grand Chess Tour. The Grand Chess Tour is explained in this blurb from their website:
We plan and execute the best chess events in the world. From superior organization and amenities to a full-blown spectator experience, we show professional chess as it’s meant to be enjoyed. Watch your favorites battle it out over the coming months. Paris, Leuven, Saint Louis and London… Chess has arrived.
The Grand Chess Tour brings 23 of the world’s strongest chess professionals together through a cycle of five international tournaments, each representing the new gold standard for professional chess. Every pivotal move will be broadcast live alongside world-class grandmaster commentary, watching the world’s best players compete for lucrative tournament prize funds and race for the additional Tour prize.
Last year, the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz event came immediately after the Sinquefield Cup, a $300,000 event featuring ten of the best chess players on the planet. This year, the schedule has been reversed with the $150,000 Rapid & Blitz event being held first followed by the Sinquefield Cup which runs at the Saint Louis Chess Club August 17-28.
RAPID AND BLITZ RULES
Most competitive chess tournaments are contested under ‘standard’ rules contested under ‘classical’ time controls. This tournament will feature ‘rapid’ and ‘blitz’ rules. The difference is the amount of time allotted for the players to study the board and make their moves. For major international tournaments FIDE regulations stipulate “90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an addition of 30 seconds per move starting from move one.” Last year’s World Chess Championship had the following time control: “100 minutes for the first 40 moves, 50 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 1.” In other words, players have two hours or more to contemplate and execute their strategy.
Rapid and Blitz–as the names suggest–give players less time to make their moves. The FIDE Rapid rules are as follows:
A ‘Rapidplay’ game is one where either all the moves must be completed in a fixed time of more than 10 minutes but less than 60 minutes for each player; or the time allotted plus 60 times any increment is of more than 10 minutes but less than 60 minutes for each player.
The FIDE Blitz rules:
A ‘blitz’ game’ is one where all the moves must be completed in a fixed time of 10 minutes or less for each player; or the allotted time plus 60 times any increment is 10 minutes or less.
Making things more interesting–while a good chess player can be effective at any variation at the highest level there is some differentiation in the standard, rapid and blitz rankings. You’ll see reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen at the top of all three variations but the rest of the standings show a significant degree of difference.
Here are the odds to win the Grand Chess Tour Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz tournament including overall winner, Blitz winner and Rapid winner:
GRAND CHESS TOUR 2018 SAINT LOUIS RAPID & BLITZ BETTING ODDS
ODDS TO WIN GRAND CHESS TOUR 2018 SAINT LOUIS RAPID & BLITZ TOURNAMENT OVERALL
Hikaru Nakamura: +300
Sergey Karjakin: +500
Levon Aronian: +500
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave: +500
Wesley So: +750
Alexander Grischuk: +750
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov: +1250
Viswanathan Anand: +1250
Leinier Dominguez: +1250
Fabiano Caruana: +2000
Player with the highest combined score after 18 Blitz games and 9 Rapid games will be graded the winner of this event. Information from the Grand Chess Tour official website will be used for grading.
ODDS TO WIN GRAND CHESS TOUR 2018 SAINT LOUIS RAPID EVENT
Wesley So: +375
Hikaru Nakamura: +500
Sergey Karjakin: +500
Levon Aronian: +750
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov: +750
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave: +750
Viswanathan Anand: +1000
Alexander Grischuk: +1000
Leinier Dominguez: +1000
Fabiano Caruana: +1000
Player with the highest score after 9 Rapid games will be graded the winner of this event. Information from the Grand Chess Tour official website will be used for grading.
ODDS TO WIN GRAND CHESS TOUR 2018 SAINT LOUIS BLITZ EVENT
Hikaru Nakamura: +300
Sergey Karjakin: +300
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave: +600
Levon Aronian: +600
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov: +950
Alexander Grischuk: +950
Wesley So: +1250
Viswanathan Anand: +1250
Leinier Dominguez: +1250
Fabiano Caruana: +1500
Player with the highest score after 18 Blitz games will be graded the winner of this event. Information from the Grand Chess Tour official website will be used for grading.
ODDS TO FINISH TOP TWO GRAND CHESS TOUR 2018 SAINT LOUIS RAPID & BLITZ TOURNAMENT OVERALL
Hikaru Nakamura: +150
Sergey Karjakin: +250
Levon Aronian: +250
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave: +250
Wesley So: +450
Alexander Grischuk: +450
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov: +750
Viswanathan Anand: +750
Leinier Dominguez: +750
Fabiano Caruana: +1000
Players with the two highest combined scores after 18 Blitz games and 9 Rapid games will be graded the winners of this event. Information from the Grand Chess Tour official website will be used for grading.
ODDS TO FINISH TOP TWO GRAND CHESS TOUR 2018 SAINT LOUIS RAPID EVENT
Hikaru Nakamura: +150
Sergey Karjakin: +150
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave: +300
Levon Aronian: +300
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov: +500
Alexander Grischuk: +500
Wesley So: +600
Viswanathan Anand: +600
Leinier Dominguez: +600
Fabiano Caruana: +750
Players with the two highest scores after 9 Rapid games will be graded the winners of this event. Information from the Grand Chess Tour official website will be used for grading.
ODDS TO FINISH TOP TWO GRAND CHESS TOUR 2018 SAINT LOUIS BLITZ EVENT
Hikaru Nakamura: +150
Sergey Karjakin: +150
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave: +350
Levon Aronian: +350
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov: +500
Alexander Grischuk: +500
Wesley So: +750
Viswanathan Anand: +750
Leinier Dominguez: +750
Fabiano Caruana: +950
Player with the two highest scores after 18 Blitz games will be graded the winners of this event. Information from the Grand Chess Tour official website will be used for grading.