Halfway through the 14-round chess Candidates and there has been a change at the top as France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave defeated Round Six leader Ian Nepomniachtchi in a direct duel for first place. Both players are now on 4.5 points after seven games and leading. A group of four players, all on 3.5 points, follow them. The race is now wide open again as at least six players have solid chances to fight for the first…
Today, FIDE announced that it was forced to stop the Candidates after seven rounds following the decision of Russian Federation to ban all outbound air travel. According to a statement from FIDE, the Tournament will resume from round 8, all results are valid.
Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi increased his lead at the 2020 Candidates to a whole point, after defeating China’s Ding Liren. With 4,5 points, the 29-year-old goes into the rest day with three plusses after the first six rounds and is now the very strong favorite to become the challenger to Magnus Carlsen for the title of the world champion in chess. Behind him, with 3,5 points, is Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who is followed by a pack of…
After five rounds of play, Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi emerged as the clear leader in the 8-player 2020 chess Candidates, having defeated the Chinese underdog Wang Hao. With 3.5 points, he is half a point ahead of second-placed Maxime Vachier-Lagrave who drew with Russian wild-card Kirill Alekseenko in a game full of sharp lines and tactics. On other boards, American Fabiano Caruana was lucky to escape with a draw against Anish Giri, while the game between…
There has been no breakthrough at the 2020 Candidates Tournament as all four games of Round Four ended in a draw. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France was closest to making a break but he missed his chances against Alexander Grischuk, despite the Russian being severely pressed for time. The longest game of the day was between American Fabiano Caruana and Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi. Despite threats on both sides, it too ended in a draw. Altogether, there…
In a duel between the two favorites to win the Candidates, China’s Ding Liren – who started with two losses – made a comeback in the third round and defeated World #2 chess player, American Fabiano Caruana. This was the only game with a decisive outcome on the third day of the 2020 Candidates and it made the tournament wide open again.A day before the first break at the eight-player 2020 Candidates Tournament, there are…
Four players are in the lead after the second day of the 2020 Candidates tournament in Yekaterinburg. Fabiano Caruana, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Wang Hao are all on 1.5/2, followed by Alexander Grischuk with one point, and Alekseenko and Giri with half a point. In the last place, alone, is one of the favorites to win the tournament, Ding Liren, who lost again today. Pavel Datsyuk, a Russian professional ice hockey player, opened the…
The Chinese underdog Wang Hao, playing with black pieces, defeated his compatriot –and one of the favourites- Ding Liren, in a game followed by more than a million people online. The second decisive game was between Anish Giri who lost as white to local player Ian Nepomniachtchi. The 2020 Candidates Tournament is probably the only high-profile sporting event taking place in the world. In light of the concerns regarding the coronavirus, various measures have been…
How do you keep the world’s chess elite safe while they are taking part in the most important tournament in their careers in a country where all sports events are put on hold amid the coronavirus scare? You keep them isolated as much as possible. World Chess, a media company and an official partner of FIDE, the chess governing body, developed an innovative way to supplement the event’s coverage without putting the players at risk: Ken…
The opening press conference for the 2020 Candidates took place on Monday at the Sverdlovsk Journalists’ Union, where the organizers, local officials, the public and Russian media were introduced to the program and the organization of the upcoming tournament.Present at the conference were the Sverdlovsk Region Deputy Governor Alexey Orlov, the president of the International Chess Federation Arkady Dvorkovich, the former World Champion Anatoly Karpov and the head of Sverdlovsk Chess Andrey Simanovsky. They were…