The Candidates showdown is upon the chess world, with the open and girls’s tournaments set to start in Toronto, Canada from April 3 to April 22.
The highest eight within the open and girls’s classes went by means of an extended, powerful qualification marketing campaign to achieve, with a number of Indians reaching this stage for the primary time ever: Praggnanandhaa R, Gukesh D, Vidit Gujrathi in open; Vaishali R and Koneru Humpy within the ladies’s.
Why do the Candidates matter?
The Candidates is the largest classical chess competitors organised by the FIDE exterior the World Championship. The winner right here then will get to compete within the World Championship match towards the incumbent world champion in every class.
The present world champions are Ding Liren and Ju Wenjun, each from China.
So, who’re the gamers on this yr’s Candidates and the way did they qualify?
Open:
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Ian Nepomniachtchi from Russia (ranking 2758): certified because the earlier World Championship match runner-up.
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Praggnanandhaa R from India (ranking 2747): certified because the 2023 World Cup runner-up.
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Fabiano Caruana from USA (ranking 2804): certified because the third-place finisher on the 2023 World Cup.
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Nijat Abasov from Azerbaijan (ranking 2632): certified because the fourth-place finisher on the 2023 World Cup after the winner Magnus Carlsen, refused to take part.
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Vidit Gujrathi from India (ranking 2727): certified because the 2023 Grand Swiss winner.
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Hikaru Nakamura from USA (ranking 2789): certified because the 2023 Grand Swiss runner-up.
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Alireza Firouzja from France (ranking 2760): certified as the very best by ranking on January 1, 2024.
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Gukesh D from India (ranking 2743): certified because the 2023 FIDE Circuit winner.
Girls’s:
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Lei Tingjie from China (ranking 2550): certified because the earlier World Championship match runner-up.
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Kateryna Lagno from Russia (ranking 2542): certified because the 2022−23 Girls’s Grand Prix winner.
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Aleksandra Goryachkina from Russia (ranking 2553): certified because the 2022−23 Girls’s Grand Prix runner-up.
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Nurgyul Salimova from Bulgaria (ranking 2426): certified because the 2023 Girls’s World Cup runner-up.
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Anna Muzychuk from Ukraine (ranking 2520): certified because the third-place finisher on the 2023 Girls’s World Cup.
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Vaishali R from India (ranking 2481): certified because the 2023 Girls’s Grand Swiss winner.
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Tan Zhongyi from China (ranking 2521): certified because the 2023 Girls’s Grand Swiss runner-up.
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Humpy Koneru from India (ranking 2546): certified as the very best by ranking on January 1, 2024.
Word: The Russians gamers aren’t allowed to show their flags as a result of FIDE banned Russian and Belarusian flags in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Okay, however the place’s Magnus Carlsen?
Arguably the very best chess participant of all time, Carlsen has determined to skip the occasion regardless of qualifying.
Since he determined to not defend his world title in 2022, Carlsen has not been eager on enjoying classical chess tournaments. “I feel below the present format with the time management that’s, it is extraordinarily unlikely that I’ll compete within the classical world championship once more,” he informed chess.com again in January.
India’s finest on present however what are their possibilities?
Over the previous few years, India have been persistently producing the Grandmasters and by qualifying for the Candidates, these younger prodigies have gone a degree as much as compete with the very best. Gone are the times the place only one or two names (particularly the good Viswanathan Anand) used to showcase the very best of Indian chess on the international degree. Qualification to the Candidates is certainly not simple — gamers needed to win sure tournaments in addition to carry out at a number of others to enhance their scores over the course of many months. The truth that 5 Indians have made it this time reveals the wholesome state of Indian chess and the way it has progressed leaps and bounds.
Among the many 5, solely Humpy (aged 37) has performed within the Candidates earlier than. Gukesh (17), Praggnanandhaa (18) and his sister Vaishali (22), although nonetheless very younger, have loads of expertise of enjoying in massive tournaments towards massive gamers. Vidit, at 29, has a confirmed file of performing main occasions. Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali grew to become the primary brother-sister Grandmasters duo to characteristic within the respective Candidates tournaments.
Nevertheless, the Candidates is a particularly tough event to crack, and the duty is even more durable for debutants. It is a gruelling 14-match affair towards the very best on the planet — the place expertise, focus and revolutionary methods play essential roles.
If scores are thought-about, Indians gamers aren’t favourites in any respect to win it. Praggnanandhaa is the very best ranked Indian at 2747, and within the event, he is the fifth finest adopted by Gukesh at 2743 and Vidit at 2727. Within the ladies’s event, Humpy is world no. 5 with a present ranking of 2546, which makes her third finest within the subject. Vaishali, who achieved the Grandmaster title final December, is at the moment rated 2475.
The favourites
Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura are worlds no. 2 and three respectively and Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi, final yr’s World Championship runner up is ranked seventh finest on the planet. Nepomniachtchi gained the earlier two Candidates tournaments whereas Caruana is simply the second participant after Magnus Carlsen to enter the occasion with a 2800 ranking.
All three are sturdy favourites with a confirmed observe file on the event. That is Caruana’s fifth Candidates occasion and Nakamura is coming into the event with a 46-game unbeaten file in classical format (stat courtesy: chess.com).
Within the ladies’s occasion, the fourth-highest rated girl in chess historical past and the at the moment the very best rated participant on this event is Goryachkina. The subsequent finest in scores is Lei Tingjie, who had misplaced the world championship match final yr towards compatriot Ju Wenjun.
Format and guidelines
Each occasions are in double round-robin format, which implies every participant will face their seven different opponents twice, as soon as with white and as soon as with black items. There might be 14 rounds with 4 relaxation days.
Gamers will get some extent for a win, half some extent for a draw and nil for a loss. The one with most factors after these 14 rounds might be declared the winner of the competitors.
The time management for a match is 120 minutes for the primary 40 strikes after which half-hour for the remainder of the sport. There might be a 30-second increment per transfer ranging from transfer 41.
In case there are two gamers tied in first place, they must play two speedy chess video games. If greater than two gamers are tied at prime, a single round-robin matches must be performed. If any gamers are nonetheless tied on the prime, then they must play blitz matches.
Schedule
[The opening ceremony is scheduled for April 3]
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WOMEN’S CATEGORY