World number three Ding Liren of China will again be absent from the Grand Prix due to "insurmountable obstacles" relating to travel restrictions, and has been replaced by Russia's Dmitry Andreikin in Pool A.

Andreikin is set to face compatriot Alexander Grischuk - the world number 10 - the United States' Sam Shankland and Etienne Bacrot of France at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Serbia's capital.

The Netherlands' world number seven Anish Giri lines up in Pool B alongside Nikita Vitiugov of Russia, India's Pentala Harikrishna and Amin Tabatabaei of Iran.

After reaching the semi-finals at the first leg of the FIDE Grand Prix in Berlin, Hungary's Richard Rapport is the highest-ranked player in the standings featuring in Belgrade.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan and France's Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, ranked ninth and 12^th in the world respectively, have been allocated to Pool D alongside Yu Yangyi of China and Russia's Alexandr Predke.

The 24 players on the Grand Prix circuit each compete in two of the three events, with the US' Hikaru Nakamura coming out on top at the season opener in Berlin.

Nakamura and second-placed Levon Aronian, also of the US, are not competing at this Grand Prix.

The group stage in Belgrade will consist of four double round-robin tournaments, with the winner of each pool advancing to the knockout semi-finals.

The semi-finals and final will feature two regular time-limit games and tiebreaks if needed.

Competition in Belgrade is due to run from tomorrow until March 14.

The top two finishers in the FIDE Grand Prix will advance to the Candidates Tournament in Madrid, with the winner going on to face Carlsen in the 2023 World Chess Championship.