The top two finishers here formed two of the eight players who played in the 2012 Candidates Tournament to determine the challenger for the world champion.

[1] On November 25, 2008, FIDE announced major changes, with the winner and runner-up qualifying instead for an eight-player Candidates Tournament.

This caused a number of protests, with Magnus Carlsen and Michael Adams withdrawing, and two other players being replaced.

The only draws allowed (except for stalemate) were:[9] Of the original 14 players who qualified, Anand, Kramnik and Topalov (2008/2010 contenders), Shirov (World Cup 2007) and Morozevich (ratings list) were all not taking part.

[12] The only one to publicly give a reason was Alexander Morozevich, who announced that he was boycotting the Grand Prix, saying the process was too long, unwieldy and disorganised.

[13] The Week in Chess reported that Kramnik and Topalov were not participating because the event had insufficient prize money.

[12][16] After Doha and Montreux refused to host tournaments, their nominees Al-Modiahki and Pelletier were removed from the series.

These players were replaced by Evgeny Alekseev, Pavel Eljanov, Rustam Kasimdzhanov (from the rating list) and Vladimir Akopian (Jermuk nominee) from the third tournament onwards.

The final crosstable was as follows:[19] The second Grand Prix event began on July 31, 2008 and concluded on August 14, 2008 (Elo average 2708, Cat.

= Qualification: CH = World Championship, CP = World Cup, RL = rating list, RR = reserve rating list, PR = presidential nominee, HC = host city nominee Notes: Gata Kamsky was later granted a place in the 2012 Candidates Tournament as runner-up of the 2009 Challenger Match.

Later Magnus Carlsen withdrew from the Candidates Tournament, and he was replaced by Alexander Grischuk, who took third place in the Grand Prix.