The second half of the World Chess Federation’s (FIDE) 2020/2021 Candidates Tournament begins on April 19 with seven rounds to go. The first seven were completed by the eight participants in March 2020, but the tournament had to be suspended and rescheduled owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The eight contenders are Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, 29, France; Ian Nepomniachtchi, 29, Russia; Kirill Alekseenko, 22, Russia; Alexander Grischuk, 36, Russia; Fabiano Caruana, 27, USA; Anish Giri, 25, Netherlands; Wang Hao, 30, China; and Ding Liren, 27, China. The winner of the Candidates Tournament will qualify to oppose Norway’s Magnus Carlsen for the World Championship title in November.
In the FIDE calendar of events, the Candidates is the second most influential tournament, surpassed only by the World Championship. After seven games, Vachier-Lagrave and Nepomniachtchi are the leaders with 4½ points each.
The tournament is a double round-robin event with each player opposing the other twice, once with the black pieces and once with white. Because of the importance of the tournament, each move will be assessed around the world.
Caruana won the 2018 Candidates but after the first half of the current tournament, he is a full point behind the leaders. In chess, at the level of the Candidates, it is difficult to make amends or come from behind to win. But even so, with seven rounds to play, it is still anybody’s tournament. Yekaterinburg, Russia, is the host city for the Candidates.
