Negotiations between the organisers of major tournaments M-Tel Masters, Tata Steel Chess Tournament and Linares began in March 2006, seeking to create a cycle of tournaments to raise the popularity of chess and attract increased sponsorship for major events. Several rounds of talks took place over the next 14 months. The GSCA was established on 17 January 2007, and the first edition of the series for 2008 announced in May, with Mexico City added to the list and Bilbao confirmed as Masters Final hosts. Due to problems raising funding for the tournament, it was announced on 16 May 2008 that Mexico City was cancelled. On 16 March 2009, the members of the GSCA Presidential Board was published, confirming the addition of Pearl Spring in Nanjing, China as Grand Slam hosts as well as interest from San Luis, Argentina and London. The M-Tel Masters was held for the last time during this series. During the 2010 series, marking the last edition of Linares due to financial problems and the cancellation of M-Tel Masters due to the World Chess Championship, held in Sofia that year, it was agreed that Kings Tournament held in Medias, Romania would join the 2011 edition. For the Bilbao Chess Masters Final 2010, the qualifiers were Magnus Carlsen and Veselin Topalov. Because the M-Tel Masters was cancelled in 2010 due to the World Chess Championship 2010, the winner of the World Chess Championship, Viswanathan Anand was named an automatic qualifier. After Topalov withdrew from the final, the remaining two places were decided during a preliminary tournament in China in early September involving Vladimir Kramnik, Levon Aronian, Alexei Shirov and Wang Hao. Shirov and Kramnik qualified for the final. The final was the strongest tournament in chess history, and it was won by Kramnik, followed by Anand, Carlsen and Shirov. For the 2011 Grand Slam final, the qualifiers to date are Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Sergey Karjakin, World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand and Levon Aronian. The remaining place has yet to be determined. Karjakin didn't participate. Ivanchuk replaced him. Vallejo Pons, host player, was the last. At the end of the 2012 edition of Tata Steel the rest of the 2012 series was confirmed and announced that the 2011 winners of Tal Memorial and London Chess Classic qualified for the 2012 Bilbao Final. This would be the last Grand Slam cycle, later editions composed of invitees by the Bilbao Masters organising committee.
