The FIDE Grand Prix 2017 was a series of four chess tournaments that formed part of the qualification cycle for the World Chess Championship 2018. The top two finishers, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Alexander Grischuk, qualified to the 2018 Candidates Tournament.

FIDE Grand Prix Series 2017
FIDE Grand Prix 2017 winner Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Tournament information
SportChess
LocationUnited Arab Emirates Sharjah
Russia Moscow
Switzerland Geneva
Spain Palma de Mallorca
Dates18 February 2017–
25 November 2017
AdministratorFIDE
Tournament
format(s)
Series of Swiss-system tournaments
Final positions
ChampionAzerbaijan Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Runner-upRussia Alexander Grischuk

Format

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There were four tournaments in the cycle; each consisted of 18 players. 24 players were selected to compete in the tournaments, and each player competed in three of the four tournaments.[1]

In contrast to the previous editions where players played a full round-robin, each tournament was an 18-player, nine-round Swiss system tournament. In each round players scored 1 point for a win, ½ point for a draw and 0 for a loss. Grand Prix points were then allocated according to each player's standing in the tournament, as shown in the table below.

Players

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The Grand Prix consists of 24 players. Two players qualified to be among the 24 by being finalists in the World Chess Championship 2016 match; four players qualified by reaching the semifinals of the Chess World Cup 2015, eight players will qualify based on their ratings; one player will qualify by participation in the Association of Chess Professionals, and finally nine players rated at least 2700 (or 2600 for former men and women national or world champions) will be nominated by Agon and FIDE.[2]

In an interview with Chessdom (Aug 2016), Zurab Azmaiparashvili (president of the European Chess Union) indicated various plusses and minuses with the new system, particularly that the nine "wild card" entries were less expensive than in previous versions.[3] However, with few details currently available and maybe questions unanswered, he also was unsure of the professionality of Agon's approach.[3]

At the FIDE General Assembly in September, Agon presented Vladimir Kramnik as having Russia as a national sponsor, which if true would have been the first time that he participated in the FIDE Grand Prix.[4]

Any player who declines to participate in the Grand Prix will be replaced by another player who is rated over 2700. Players who held an entry spot but did not enter the Grand Prix were: Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin from the World Chess Championship 2016, Fabiano Caruana, Viswanathan Anand, Veselin Topalov, Vladimir Kramnik, Wesley So from the rating list.[5]

Invitee Country Qualifying method
Peter Svidler   Russia Chess World Cup 2015 runner-up
Pavel Eljanov   Ukraine Chess World Cup 2015 semi-finalists
Anish Giri   Netherlands
Hikaru Nakamura   United States FIDE rating list (from June 2015 to May 2016)[6]
Levon Aronian   Armenia
Ding Liren   China
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave   France
Alexander Grischuk   Russia
Li Chao   China
Pentala Harikrishna   India
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov   Azerbaijan
Dmitry Jakovenko   Russia
Boris Gelfand   Israel
Michael Adams   England
Evgeny Tomashevsky   Russia ACP Tour ranking
Teimour Radjabov   Azerbaijan organiser's nominees
Ernesto Inarkiev   Russia
Francisco Vallejo Pons   Spain
Salem Saleh   United Arab Emirates
Hou Yifan   China
Jon Ludvig Hammer   Norway
Ian Nepomniachtchi   Russia
Alexander Riazantsev   Russia
Richárd Rapport   Hungary

Prize money and Grand Prix points

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The total prize money is €130,000 per single Grand Prix, or €520,000 for the total Grand Prix series. This money is allocated based on ranking in each individual tournament.[7]

Additionally, each player who can recruit a sponsor will receive €20,000.

Place Single Grand Prix event Grand Prix points
1 €20,000 170
2 €15,000 140
3 €12,000 110
4 €11,000 90
5 €10,000 80
6 €9,000 70
7 €8,000 60
8 €7,000 50
9 €6,000 40
10 €5,000 30
11 €4,250 20
12 €4,000 10
13 €3,750 8
14 €3,500 6
15 €3,250 4
16 €3,000 3
17 €2,750 2
18 €2,500 1

Tie breaks

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With the objective of determining qualifiers to play in the Candidates 2018, and in the case that two or more players have equal cumulative points at the top, the following criteria were utilized to decide the overall Series winner and other overall placings:[7]

  1. Number of actual game result points scored in the three tournaments entered.
  2. Number of games played with black.
  3. Number of wins.
  4. Number of black wins.
  5. Drawing of lots.

Schedule

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Originally the first event was to take place in October 2016, but this has been moved to November 2017, with the other dates mostly the same.[8][9]

No. Host city Date Winners Points (win/draw/loss)
1   Sharjah 18 – 27 February 2017   Alexander Grischuk (RUS)
  Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)
  Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)
5½/9 (+2=7–0)
5½/9 (+2=7–0)
5½/9 (+3=5–1)
2   Moscow 12 – 21 May 2017   Ding Liren (CHN) 6/9 (+3=6–0)
3   Geneva 6 – 15 July 2017   Teimour Radjabov (AZE) 6/9 (+3=6-0)
4   Palma, Majorca 16 – 25 November 2017   Levon Aronian (ARM)
  Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS)
5½/9 (+2=7–0)
5½/9 (+2=7–0)

Originally the 3rd Grand Prix (now the 2nd) was to conflict with the World Team Chess Championship, but now that event has been moved to July where it instead conflicts with the Grand Chess Tour events and Norway Chess.

Broadcasting boycott

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FIDE Grand Prix broadcasting right belongs to Agon, which, in previous tournaments, had sued other websites to restrict their rights on relaying chess moves. In protest, chess24 refuses to relay or mention the Grand Prix starting from Moscow 2017.[citation needed]

Events crosstables

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The notation in the crosstable is the number of the opponent, color of pieces, and score. For example, in the top-left hand corner of the Sharjah 2017 crosstable, 16w½ indicates that in round 1, Grischuk played player 16 (Jon Ludvig Hammer) with the white pieces, and the game ended in a draw. The player numbers do not exactly correspond to finishing position; for instance Grischuk, Vachier-Lagrave and Mamedyarov all finished equal first, but are allocated numbers 1, 2 and 3 for convenience of notation.

Sharjah 2017

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1st stage, Sharjah, UAE, 18–27 February 2017[10]
Player Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total RC Blacks Wins BW TPR GP
1   Alexander Grischuk (RUS) 2742 16w½ 6b½ 13w½ 8b½ 10w1 7b½ 5w½ 3w1 2b½ +11 4 2 0 2828 140
2   Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) 2796 11w1 9b1 3w½ 7b½ 13w½ 5b½ 6w½ 8b½ 1w½ +4 4 2 1 2824 140
3   Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE) 2766 12b½ 17w1 2b½ 5w1 7w½ 6b½ 8w½ 1b0 14w1 +6 4 3 0 2814 140
4   Ding Liren (CHN) 2760 9w0 15b1 16w½ 6b½ 8w½ 14b½ 7w½ 11b½ 13w1 5 -2 4 2 1 2751 70
5   Michael Adams (ENG) 2751 15w1 13b½ 10w½ 3b0 16w1 2w½ 1b½ 6b½ 7b½ 5 +3 5 2 0 2779 70
6   Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS) 2709 7b½ 1w½ 14b½ 4w½ 18b1 3w½ 2b½ 5w½ 8w½ 5 +9 4 1 1 2784 70
7   Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2785 6w½ 16b½ 9w1 2w½ 3b½ 1w½ 4b½ 13b½ 5w½ 5 -1 4 1 0 2780 70
8   Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS) 2749 14b½ 18w½ 12b½ 1w½ 4b½ 11w1 3b½ 2w½ 6b½ 5 +2 5 1 0 2768 70
9   Richárd Rapport (HUN) 2692 4b1 2w0 7b0 15w½ 17b½ 18w1 13w½ 14b½ 11w½ +4 4 2 1 2726 25
10   Pavel Eljanov (UKR) 2759 18b½ 12w½ 5b½ 14w½ 1b0 17w½ 11b0 16b1 15w1 -8 5 2 1 2693 25
11   Li Chao (CHN) 2720 2b0 14w½ 18b½ 17w1 12b½ 8b0 10w1 4w½ 9b½ +0 5 2 0 2722 25
12   Francisco Vallejo Pons (ESP) 2709 3w½ 10b½ 8w½ 16b½ 11w½ 13b½ 14w½ 15b½ 17w½ +1 4 0 0 2714 25
13   Levon Aronian (ARM) 2785 17b½ 5w½ 1b½ 18w½ 2b½ 12w½ 9b½ 7w½ 4b0 4 -11 5 0 0 2692 7
14   Hou Yifan (CHN) 2651 8w½ 11b½ 6w½ 10b½ 15b½ 4w½ 12b½ 9w½ 3b0 4 +4 5 0 0 2681 7
15   Salem Saleh (UAE) 2656 5b0 4w0 17b½ 9b½ 14w½ 16b½ 18w1 12w½ 10b0 -4 5 1 0 2624 3
16   Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR) 2628 1b½ 7w½ 4b½ 12w½ 5b0 15w½ 17b½ 10w0 18b½ +2 5 0 0 2647 3
17   Evgeny Tomashevsky (RUS) 2711 13w½ 3b0 15w½ 11b0 9w½ 10b½ 16w½ 18b½ 12b½ -10 5 0 0 2630 3
18   Alexander Riazantsev (RUS) 2671 10w½ 8b½ 11w½ 13b½ 6w0 9b0 15b0 17w½ 16w½ 3 -10 4 0 0 2587 1

Moscow 2017

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2nd stage, Moscow, Russia, 12–21 May 2017[10]
Player Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total RC Blacks Wins BW TPR GP
1   Ding Liren (CHN) 2773 4b½ 18w1 3b1 5w½ 2b½ 8w½ 7b½ 9w½ 10b1 6 +12 5 3 2 2870 170
2   Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE) 2772 14w½ 10b½ 17w1 16b1 1w½ 4b½ 6w½ 5b½ 8w½ +5 4 2 1 2813 140
3   Hou Yifan (CHN) 2652 15b1 8w½ 1w0 7b½ 6w0 16b½ 13w1 14w½ 18b1 5 +14 4 3 2 2770 71 
4   Teimour Radjabov (AZE) 2710 1w½ 7b½ 6w½ 14b1 5b½ 2w½ 8b½ 10w½ 12b½ 5 +11 5 1 1 2800 71 
5   Peter Svidler (RUS) 2755 11b½ 16w½ 12b1 1b½ 4w½ 6b½ 10w½ 2w½ 7b½ 5 +2 5 1 1 2776 71 
6   Alexander Grischuk (RUS) 2750 16b½ 11w½ 4b½ 8w½ 3b1 5w½ 2b½ 7w½ 9b½ 5 +3 5 1 1 2775 71 
7   Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2786 18b½ 4w½ 11b½ 3w½ 9b½ 15w1 1w½ 6b½ 5w½ 5 -1 4 1 0 2776 71 
8   Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) 2795 17w½ 3b½ 10w½ 6b½ 16w1 1b½ 4w½ 11b½ 2b½ 5 -5 5 1 0 2760 71 
9   Anish Giri (NED) 2785 10w½ 17b½ 14w½ 13b½ 7w½ 11b½ 16w1 1b½ 6w½ 5 -3 4 1 0 2759 71 
10   Boris Gelfand (ISR) 2724 9b½ 2w½ 8b½ 11w½ 15b½ 12w1 5b½ 4b½ 1w0 +4 5 1 0 2754 20
11   Evgeny Tomashevsky (RUS) 2696 5w½ 6b½ 7w½ 10b½ 13w½ 9w½ 12b½ 8w½ 17b½ +6 4 0 0 2746 20
12   Pentala Harikrishna (IND) 2750 13w½ 14b½ 5w0 18b½ 17w1 10b0 11w½ 15b1 4w½ -4 4 2 1 2716 20
13   Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR) 2621 12b½ 15w0 18b1 9w½ 11b½ 14w½ 3b0 17w½ 16b½ 4 +7 5 1 1 2674 7
14   Francisco Vallejo Pons (ESP) 2710 2b½ 12w½ 9b½ 4w0 18w½ 13b½ 17w½ 3b½ 15w½ 4 -3 4 0 0 2681 7
15   Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS) 2751 3w0 13b1 16w0 17b1 10w½ 7b0 18b½ 12w0 14b½ -16 5 2 2 2626 3
16   Salem Saleh (UAE) 2633 6w½ 5b½ 15b1 2w0 8b0 3w½ 9b0 18w½ 13w½ +2 4 1 1 2654 3
17   Michael Adams (ENG) 2747 8b½ 9w½ 2b0 15w0 12b0 18w1 14b½ 13b½ 11w½ -12 5 1 0 2654 3
18   Ernesto Inarkiev (RUS) 2727 7w½ 1b0 13w0 12w½ 14b½ 17b0 15w½ 16b½ 3w0 -22 4 0 0 2548 1

Geneva 2017

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3rd stage, Geneva, Switzerland, 6–15 July 2017[10]
Player Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total RC Blacks Wins BW TPR GP
1   Teimour Radjabov (AZE) 2724 5b1 11w1 12b½ 4w½ 10b½ 3b½ 9w1 6w½ 2b½ 6 +18 5 3 1 2877 170
2   Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS) 2742 16b½ 14w½ 11b0 17w1 4b½ 15w1 10b½ 12w1 1w½ +9 4 3 0 2814 125
3   Alexander Grischuk (RUS) 2761 15b½ 16w1 7b½ 12w½ 11b1 1w½ 4b½ 10w½ 5b½ +8 5 2 1 2827 125
4   Pentala Harikrishna (IND) 2737 6b1 7w½ 10w½ 1b½ 2w½ 12b1 3w½ 8b0 13w½ 5 +6 4 2 2 2783 60
5   Anish Giri (NED) 2775 1w0 18b1 8w½ 14b½ 6w½ 13b½ 12w½ 17b1 3w½ 5 -3 4 2 2 2756 60
6   Alexander Riazantsev (RUS) 2654 4w0 17b½ 18w½ 15w½ 5b½ 16b1 8w1 1b½ 7w½ 5 +12 4 2 1 2755 60
7   Michael Adams (ENG) 2736 18w1 4b½ 3w½ 9b0 8w½ 14b½ 13w½ 16b1 6b½ 5 +2 5 2 1 2754 60
8   Li Chao (CHN) 2735 12b½ 9w½ 5b½ 13w½ 7b½ 11w1 6b0 4w1 10b½ 5 +6 5 2 0 2788 60
9   Peter Svidler (RUS) 2749 13w½ 8b½ 14w½ 7w1 12b½ 10w½ 1b0 18b½ 17w1 5 +2 5 2 0 2770 60
10   Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE) 2800 14b½ 15w1 4b½ 11w½ 1w½ 9b½ 2w½ 3b½ 8w½ 5 -3 4 1 0 2779 60
11   Pavel Eljanov (UKR) 2739 17w1 1b0 2w1 10b½ 3w0 8b0 18w1 14b½ 16w½ -2 4 3 0 2721 11
12   Levon Aronian (ARM) 2809 8w½ 13b1 1w½ 3b½ 9w½ 4w0 5b½ 2b0 18w1 -10 4 2 1 2729 11
13   Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS) 2703 9b½ 12w0 16b1 8b½ 14w½ 5w½ 7b½ 15w½ 4b½ +5 5 1 1 2741 11
14   Boris Gelfand (ISR) 2728 10w½ 2b½ 9b½ 5w½ 13b½ 7w½ 17b½ 11w½ 15b½ +1 5 0 0 2735 11
15   Ernesto Inarkiev (RUS) 2707 3w½ 10b0 17w½ 6b½ 18w1 2b0 16w½ 13b½ 14w½ 4 -5 4 1 0 2667 4
16   Richárd Rapport (HUN) 2694 2w½ 3b0 13w0 18b0 17b1 6w0 15b½ 7w0 11b½ -19 5 1 1 2539 2
17   Hou Yifan (CHN) 2666 11b0 6w½ 15b½ 2b0 16w0 18b1 14w½ 5w0 9b0 -14 4 1 1 2548 2
18   Salem Saleh (UAE) 2638 7b0 5w0 6b½ 16w1 15b0 17w0 11b0 9w½ 12b0 2 -14 5 1 0 2505 1

Palma 2017

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Going into the final tournament, only Radjabov and Vachier-Lagrave could overtake Mamedyarov or Grischuk to qualify for the Candidates. (Ding Liren could also finish first or second in the Grand Prix, but had already qualified via the World Cup). Going into the final round of that tournament, both Radjabov and Vachier-Lagrave were equal 2nd-10th, and both would have qualified for the Candidates with a final round win, though neither was able to.

4th stage, Palma de Mallorca, Spain, 16–27 November 2017[11]
Player Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total RC Blacks Wins BW TPR GP
1   Levon Aronian (ARM) 2801 2b½ 12w1 10b½ 13w1 4b½ 5w½ 9b½ 8w½ 3b½ 5 2 0 155
2   Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS) 2721 1w½ 3b½ 16w½ 11b1 5w½ 13b½ 7w½ 9b½ 10b1 5 2 2 155
3   Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2780 11b½ 2w½ 8b½ 6w1 10b½ 4w½ 5b½ 7w½ 1w½ 5 4 1 0 71 
4   Ding Liren (CHN) 2774 15w½ 16b½ 11w½ 12b1 1w½ 3b½ 13w½ 5b½ 8b½ 5 5 1 1 71 
5   Peter Svidler (RUS) 2763 8b½ 11w½ 18b1 10w½ 2b½ 1b½ 3w½ 4w½ 7b½ 5 5 1 1 71 
6   Teimour Radjabov (AZE) 2741 16w½ 15b1 13w½ 3b0 7w½ 8b0 14w1 17b1 9w½ 5 4 3 2 71 
7   Pentala Harikrishna (IND) 2738 18b½ 8w½ 12b½ 15w1 6b½ 10w½ 2b½ 3b½ 5w½ 5 5 1 0 71 
8   Evgeny Tomashevsky (RUS) 2702 5w½ 7b½ 3w½ 16b½ 9w½ 6w1 10b½ 1b½ 4w½ 5 4 1 0 71 
9   Richárd Rapport (HUN) 2692 13b0 17b½ 14w½ 18w1 8b½ 16b1 1w½ 2w½ 6b½ 5 5 2 1 71 
10   Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) 2796 17w1 13b½ 1w½ 5b½ 3w½ 7b½ 8w½ 12b½ 2w0 4 1 0 20
11   Pavel Eljanov (UKR) 2707 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 4 1 0 20
12   Ernesto Inarkiev (RUS) 2683 1 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 4 2 1 20
13   Anish Giri (NED) 2762 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 4 4 1 0 6
14   Li Chao (CHN) 2741 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 4 5 1 0 6
15   Francisco Vallejo Pons (ESP) 2705 ½ 0 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 4 5 1 0 6
16   Alexander Riazantsev (RUS) 2651 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 4 0 0 3
17   Boris Gelfand (ISR) 2719 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 1 0 ½ 3 5 1 1 1 
18   Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR) 2629 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 3 4 0 0 1 

Grand Prix standings

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Grand Prix points in bold indicate a tournament win. Green indicates qualifiers for the 2018 Candidates Tournament. Mamedyarov and Grischuk qualified via the Grand Prix. Ding Liren and Aronian qualified via the Chess World Cup 2017.

Player FIDE rating
February 2017
Sharjah Moscow Geneva Palma Total
1   Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE) 2766 140 140 60 340
2   Alexander Grischuk (RUS) 2742 140 71  125 336 
3   Teimour Radjabov (AZE) 2710 71  170 71  312 
4   Ding Liren (CHN) 2760 70 170 71  311 
5   Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS) 2709 70 11 155 236
6   Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) 2796 140 71  20 231 
7   Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2785 70 71  71  212 
8   Peter Svidler (RUS) 2748 71  60 71  202 
9   Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS) 2749 70 3 125 198
10   Levon Aronian (ARM) 2785 7 11 155 173
11   Pentala Harikrishna (IND) 2758 20 60 71  151 
12   Anish Giri (NED) 2769 71  60 6 137 
13   Michael Adams (ENG) 2751 70 3 60 133
14   Richárd Rapport (HUN) 2692 25 2  71  98 
15   Evgeny Tomashevsky (RUS) 2711 3 20 71  94 
16   Li Chao (CHN) 2720 25 60 6 91
17   Hou Yifan (CHN) 2651 7 71  2  80 
18   Alexander Riazantsev (RUS) 2671 1 60 3 64
19   Pavel Eljanov (UKR) 2759 25 11 20 56
20   Francisco Vallejo Pons (ESP) 2709 25 7 6 38
21   Boris Gelfand (ISR) 2720 20 11 1  32 
22   Ernesto Inarkiev (RUS) 2723 1 4 20 25
23   Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR) 2628 3 7 1  11 
24   Salem Saleh (UAE) 2656 3 3 1 7
  • Wei Yi was replaced by Hou Yifan.[12]

References

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  1. ^ "FIDE Grand Prix Announcement". FIDE. 28 April 2016. Archived from the original on 30 April 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  2. ^ FIDE Grand-Prix 2016-2017 Announcement, fide.com
  3. ^ a b ECU is independent Chessdom interview with Azmaiparashvili
  4. ^ Annex 94, FIDE General Assembly 2016
  5. ^ FIDE Grand-Prix 2017 announcement
  6. ^ "FIDE Grand Prix line-up announced". 16 January 2017.
  7. ^ a b "Regulations for the Grand Prix" (PDF). FIDE. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  8. ^ FIDE Calendar 2017
  9. ^ "Dates And Venues For The 2017 Grand Prix Events Confirmed". Archived from the original on 2016-12-21. Retrieved 2016-12-04.
  10. ^ a b c "FIDE World Chess Grand Prix 2017". worldchess.com. Archived from the original on 2017-02-27.
  11. ^ https://info64.org/fide-grand-prix-series-palma-2017/standings
  12. ^ FIDE Grand Prix Starts New World Champs Cycle
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