Five original invitees declined to participate: Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov.

[3] All five Grand Prix replacements were determined by the rating list as per regulations.

[4] Iranian player Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami was replaced by Georgian Baadur Jobava after the third stop was moved from Tehran to Tbilisi.

[5] The prize money is €120,000 per single Grand Prix (down from €170,000) and there is no financial bonus for the overall standings (€420,000 last in 2012–13).

[6] With the objective of determining qualifiers to play in the Candidates 2016, 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:[6] The third stop was initially to be played in Tehran, Iran but a move was announced in October.