Harikrishna gets wild card for Airthings Masters

India's P. Harikrishna joins World champion Magnus Carlsen, Wesley So, Hikaru Nakamura and eight others in the 12-player elite field.

The Airthings Masters is the second on the $1.5 million Tour, a 10-tournament circuit of rapid online chess, featuring some of the best players in the game.

Former Asian champion P. Harikrishna has gained a wildcard to be part of the $200,000 Airthings Masters online chess tournament beginning on December 26.

Harikrishna joins World champion Magnus Carlsen, current Champions Chess Tour leader Wesley So, World No. 1 blitz player Hikaru Nakamura and eight others in the 12-player elite field.

Dutch No. 1 Anish Giri, Russia No. 1 Ian Nepomiachtchi, Spanish champion David Anton Guijarro, Armenia’s No. 1 Levon Aronian, French No. 1 Maxime Vachier Lagrave and former World Cup winner Azerbaijan's Teimour Radjabov made it after being among the top-eight finishers in the previous event on the Tour.

Former World rapid champion Daniil Dubov is the other wildcard while three-time World blitz champion Russia's Alexander Grischuk made it after winning the popular vote on host broadcaster  chess24.com .

The event is the second on the $1.5 million Tour, a 10-tournament circuit of rapid online chess, featuring some of the best players in the game.

After three days of round-robin league, the top eight players will advance to the knockout quarterfinals.

The quarterfinals, semifinals and the final will be played over two days each, culminating on January 3.