Recent dramatic history of the Candidates

by Johannes Fischer
3/25/2018 – In 2013 the classical candidates tournaments celebrated a comeback. With success: the Candidate Tournament in London 2013 was exciting, dramatic, and full of brilliant games. It also brought Magnus Carlsen one step closer to the title. The candidate tournaments 2014 and 2016, both held in Russia, were also fantastic. And you'll recognise many familiar names currently battling in Berlin. | Photo: Magnus Carlsen © Ray-Morris Hill

Master Class Vol.8: Magnus Carlsen Master Class Vol.8: Magnus Carlsen

Scarcely any world champion has managed to captivate chess lovers to the extent Carlsen has. The enormously talented Norwegian hasn't been systematically trained within the structures of a major chess-playing nation such as Russia, the Ukraine or China.

More...

Tournaments return: 2013, 2014, and 2016

After the scandal at the candidates tournament 1962 in Curacao, it took 51 years before the FIDE returned to this format to establish the challenger of the world champion. These 51 years saw candidate matches, with rivaling organisations that both organised world championships, a tournament that was called candidates tournament and took place in 1985 in Montpellier, in France, two tournaments, in which the players directly played for the title (San Luis in Argentina, 2005, won by Veselin Topalov, and Mexico City, 2007, won by Viswanathan Anand), but there was no classical candidates tournament, in which the winner gained the right to challenge the reigning world champion.

That is, until March 2013, when an eight-player double-round-robin candidates tournament took place in London. The way this tournament went and the drama of it gave provided supporters of this classical format with good arguments.

Candidates 2013: A nervous Carlsen

Tournament favourite in London was Magnus Carlsen. Since July 2011 Carlsen had been the world's number one and at the start of the tournament he had a rating of 2872 and was leading the world ranking list by a huge margin.

The Norwegian started well. After two draws in the first two rounds he scored two wins (against Boris Gelfand and Alexander Grischuk), followed by a draw in round five and another win in round six (against Peter Svidler). After another draw in round seven, Carlsen finished the first half of the tournament with 5.0 / 7 (+3) and seemed to be well on his way to becoming the challenger of reigning world champion Anand.

But then things started to get difficult. Though Carlsen won a nice game against Gelfand in round ten, he also seemed to get nervous because Vladimir Kramnik was suddenly winning one game after the other.

In the first seven rounds Kramnik had had a couple of good positions but did not win a single game — he started with seven draws. But then he got going and scored 4½ / 5 in rounds 8 to 12. Carlsen, however, lost in round twelve against Vassily Ivanchuk who until then had played rather erratically.

Aronian vs Kramnik

Kramnik took the lead in round twelve | Photo: World Chess

With two rounds to go Kramnik was suddenly half a point ahead of Carlsen and new favourite to win the tournament. The finish of the tournament could hardly have been more dramatic: in round 13 Kramnik and Gelfand drew while Carlsen showed against Radjabov why he enjoys the reputation of being able to win endgames that seem to be impossible to win.

 

With one round to go Carlsen and Kramnik both had 8½ /13 and shared the lead. In the last round, Carlsen played with White against Svidler, while Kramnik played with Black against the unpredictable Ivanchuk. Carlsen also had a better tie-break score than Kramnik. The rules stated that if two players had the same number of points after the end of the tournament,  their direct encounters would decide and after that the higher number of wins. Carlsen and Kramnik had drawn both of their games but Carlsen had won more games than Kramnik — though he, of course, also had lost more games than Kramnik, as critics of this tie-break system pointed out.

At any rate, Carlsen could take his fortune into his own hands: he "only" needed to beat Svidler to become the challenger. However, should he draw against Svidler while Kramnik won against Ivanchuk, Kramnik would play another world championship match against Anand.

No wonder Kramnik and Carlsen were both nervous — they simply did not know whether to take risks to win or to play it safe. In the end, they both lost.

 
 

Carlsen vs Radjabov

A remarkable finish to a wild tournament | Photo: Ray Morris-Hill

This made Carlsen tournament winner on tie-break and challenger of Vishy Anand — and in November 2013 Carlsen also became new World Champion.

Final standings

Rk. Title Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pts.
1 GM Magnus Carlsen   ½½ ½½ 01 1½ 11 0½ ½1 8.5 / 14
2 GM Vladimir Kramnik ½½   1½ 1½ 1½ ½½ 0½ 1½ 8.5 / 14
3 GM Levon Aronian ½½ 0½   ½0 ½½ 10 11 11 8.0 / 14
4 GM Peter Svidler 10 0½ ½1   ½½ ½½ ½1 ½1 8.0 / 14
5 GM Alexander Grischuk 0½ 0½ ½½ ½½   ½½ 1½ ½½ 6.5 / 14
6 GM Boris Gelfand 00 ½½ 01 ½½ ½½   ½½ ½1 6.5 / 14
7 GM Vassily Ivanchuk 1½ 1½ 00 ½0 0½ ½½   10 6.0 / 14
8 GM Teimour Radjabov ½0 0½ 00 ½0 ½½ ½0 01   4.0 / 14

Candidates 2014: Vishy Anand's convincing comeback

Anand

Vishy Anand | Photo: Amruta Mokal

After Anand had lost the world title a lot of people believed that he would withdraw from tournament chess. But the Indian grandmaster proved them wrong. Though Anand later admitted that he had not been sure whether he should indeed play in the candidates tournament 2014 in Khanty-Mansiysk, he overcame his concerns after some encouragement from his friend and rival Kramnik. The right decision because Anand, to everyone's surprise, won the tournament convincingly. The very first round indicated that the former world champion should not be written off easily. He won a fine game against Levon Aronian, one of the favourites of the tournament, against whom Anand hitherto always had had problems.

 

In round two followed a draw with Black against Topalov and in round three the next win — with Black, against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. After three rounds Anand led the field with 2½ / 3 and in the later course of the tournament he used his vast experience to defend the lead until the end of the tournament. In the entire tournament Anand did not lose a single game and though he managed to win only one more game in the next eleven rounds (against Topalov in round 10) this was enough to become clear first with 8½ / 14.

Final standings

Rk. Title Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pts.
1 GM Viswanathan Anand   ½½ ½1 ½½ ½½ 1½ ½½ 1½ 8.5
2 GM Sergey Karjakin ½½   ½½ 10 ½½ 10 ½1 ½½ 7.5
3 GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov ½0 ½½   0½ ½1 01 1½ ½½ 7.0
4 GM Vladimir Kramnik ½½ 01 1½   ½½ ½½ 0½ 10 7.0
5 GM Dmitry Andreikin ½½ ½½ ½0 ½½   1½ ½0 1½ 7.0
6 GM Levon Aronian 0½ 01 10 ½½ 0½   1½ ½½ 6.5
7 GM Peter Svidler ½½ ½0 0½ 1½ ½1 0½   10 6.5
8 GM Veselin Topalov 0½ ½½ ½½ 01 0½ ½½ 01   6.0

This success gave Anand the right to play another world championship match against Carlsen. But Anand also lost his second match against Carlsen who defended the title for the first time.

Candidates 2016: A defensive artist with strong nerves

The candidates tournament 2016 was played from March 10th-28th, 2016, in Moscow, and was good publicity for chess and this mode of the candidates tournament. It was an eight-player double-round-robin again and exciting to the very end. Before the last round Sergey Karjakin and Fabiano Caruana shared the lead with 7½ / 13, and in the last round, they played each other. In this crucial game Karjakin, who during the course of the tournament had managed to defend a number of precarious positions, once again showed strong nerves and played his best game in the tournament:

 

Sergey Karjakin (left) during the press conference after the last round | Photo: Vladimir Barsky

Final standings

Rk. Title Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pts.
1 GM Sergey Karjakin   ½1 01 ½½ 1½ ½½ ½½ 1½ 8.5 / 14
2 GM Fabiano Caruana ½0   ½1 ½½ 1½ ½½ ½½ ½½ 7.5 / 14
3 GM Viswanathan Anand 10 ½0   1½ ½0 ½½ 1½ 1½ 7.5 / 14
4 GM Levon Aronian ½½ ½½ 0½   1½ ½½ 0½ ½1 7.0 / 14
5 GM Hikaru Nakamura 0½ 0½ ½1 0½   ½½ ½½ 11 7.0 / 14
6 GM Anish Giri ½½ ½½ ½½ ½½ ½½   ½½ ½½ 7.0 / 14
7 GM Peter Svidler ½½ ½½ 0½ 1½ ½½ ½½   ½½ 7.0 / 14
8 GM Veselin Topalov 0½ ½½ 0½ ½0 00 ½½ ½½   4.5 / 14

With this scintillating win, Karjakin gained the right to challenge Carlsen for the world championship in New York 2016. And he came close to becoming the new champion. After 12 games the match ended with a 6-6 tie and went into a four-game rapid tie-break — which, however, was convincingly won by Carlsen.

The reputation of the candidates tournaments 1950 to 1962 always suffered from suspicions of manipulations by the Soviet delegations. But such suspicions never came up in the three "modern" candidates tournaments. Instead, all three tournaments were exciting, dramatic, full of interesting games, and surprises. Will we see history repeat itself in the final rounds of Berlin?

Some statistics

In all three tournaments the winner scored 8½ / 14 (+3) but the drawing ratio was relatively low for such top tournaments. 168 games (56 in each tournament) were played all together, and 105 of these games ended with a draw. But Black has to be careful: 46 of the decisive games were won by White and only 17 by Black. The trend shows the difficulties Black faces in modern chess: in 2013 Black won ten games, 2014 four, and in 2016 only three.

Of the eight participants in 2018, only Ding Liren and Wesley So have never played a candidates tournament before. For Levon Aronian, however, it is the fourth candidates tournament. But has we have seen, experience doesn't always pay off.

Links

Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register

Baneour Baneour 3/29/2018 01:45
@ChessSpawn49 I share your belief that the World Championship could be more popular than it is now. And even more professional. But I'm not sure money alone is the problem. Aren't the financial problems only the symptom of a deeper problem - lack of integrity?

I want chess tournaments to get money for two things: to get prize pools that compensate players for the opportunity cost of professional dedication, and to get venues and organizing staff capable of upholding and honouring the integrity of this prestigious game.

To that end, I don't think ritzy, gilded tournaments are necessary. It may be nice, but it would be purely a stylistic choice. A simple but sincere and focused style would do fine. I think of chess pieces themselves - professional sets are plain compared to some collectible sets, but they reflect their own virtues - integrity, humility, sobriety, which are admirable.

I'm on the side of doubting and frankly disliking the way FIDE has been run recently, but I'm not sure if the chess world would benefit from more fractures and confusion. It's not clear that an unknown billionaire will have more influence and momentum than either Kasparov or Karpov, for instance. Things may need to change slowly, but it seems there is hope for this strategy?
geraldsky geraldsky 3/28/2018 03:25
You will notice that in 2014 candidate, Karjakin was 2nd and in 2016 candidate he was the champion by defeating Caruana (1.5 -0.5) in the final round. In 2016 Caruana was 2nd and today's year he is the champion , but his loss to Karjakin was still (1.5-0.5). Congratulation to Fabiano Caruana for winning this year's candidate. Carlsen is very happy to welcome you in 2800 club and for the for the world championship match !!
rcs784 rcs784 3/27/2018 05:02
Excellent article, but I would like to point out one small inaccuracy. There actually WAS one event between 1962 and 2013 that was, for all intents and purposes, a Candidates Tournament--Dortmund, 2002--as its winner, Peter Leko, was seeded directly into a 2004 title match against the reigning WC, Vladimir Kramnik. Only catch is, it wasn't a FIDE-organized tournament, and the match Leko qualified for wasn't for the FIDE championship. Nevertheless, as I think Mr. Fischer would undoubtedly acknowledge that Kramnik was the legitimate WC in 2002 and Leko his rightful challenger, would he do us all the courtesy of completing his wonderful series on the history of the Candidates Tournament by giving us an article on this event?
macauley macauley 3/27/2018 09:42
@TMMM - Thanks. Fixed.
TMMM TMMM 3/26/2018 01:46
There's a typo just before the 2014 standings: Anand won with 8½/14, not 8½/13.
elmerdssngalang elmerdssngalang 3/26/2018 06:08
I have a copy of the book on the world championship of 2005 in San Luis. Was there a book about the world championship of 2007 in Mexico?
Raymond Labelle Raymond Labelle 3/26/2018 01:58
The last photograph (SK and FC): one image is worth a thousand words.
zedsdeadbaby zedsdeadbaby 3/25/2018 09:41
geok1ng; I never heard this, do you have more details?
ChessSpawn49 ChessSpawn49 3/25/2018 07:30
Drama? Short tournaments to select the challenger? No match play before the WC match? A WC match of 12 games to be decided with Rapid and Blitz games in the event of a tie? Dramatic? I think not.

The selection process and the World Championship have been very much devalued since the days of Fischer, Karpov and Kasparov. Why? In a word--money, or at least the hope of money. Perhaps it's time to create an "Ultimate Classical Championship" independent of FIDE and its promotional minions at Agon, Ltd. or whatever off-shore corporate entity they've sold or assigned rights to.

Money does indeed talk. We need a billionaire to tell FIDE where to go. Put up a substantial prize fund that FIDE could never compete with, take the top eight players in the world and have them play candidates matches to find an ultimate challenger and then stage an Ultimate WC match in a small venue like a hotel ballroom with a gratis pool feed that any web site an use with their own commentators. Let the players stay at the venue gratis or wherever they want to pay for themselves. Let's have a match with the winner being the first player to score twelve wins, not counting draws. Paging Rex.........
geok1ng geok1ng 3/25/2018 06:26
the article was great, but there were many suspicions on Radjabov carlsen
sedarpl sedarpl 3/25/2018 03:15
Very good article, thank you :)
1