All systems go for the 2014 Candidates tournament

by ChessBase
3/12/2014 – The players have arrived and settled down in Khanty-Mansiysk, the technical meeting and the opening ceremony were conducted on Wednesday, the first round begins on Thursday, at 3 p.m. local time (10 a.m. Europe, 5 a.m. New York). The eight players are vying for the challenger slot to challenge reigning champion Magnus Carlsen later this year. Pictures and full tournament details.

ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024 ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024

It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.

More...

Candidates Tournament 2014 in Khanty-Mansiysk

The FIDE Candidates Tournament is taking place in Khanty-Mansiysk (Russia). The first round will start on Thursday, March 13 at 3 p.m. local time, the final round is on Sunday, March 30, 2014. The event is a double round robin (14 rounds). The time control is 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 and 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 61.

The tournament will determine the challenger who will face the reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a title match later this year. The prize fund is 600,000 Euros (= US $832,000), the first place 135,000 and last (8th) place 25,000 Euros.

The eight candidates, sorted by their March 2014 rankings, are:

# Candidate Country
rating
w-rank
1 Levon Aronian Armenia
2830
2
2 Vladimir Kramnik Russia
2787
3
3 Veselin Topalov Bulgaria
2785
4
4 Viswanathan Anand India
2770
8
5 Sergey Karjakin Russia
2766
9
6 Peter Svidler Russia
2758
11
7 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov Azerbaijan
2757
13
8 Dmitry Andreikin Russia
2709
42

The average rating of this event is 2770. If you are missing players like Fabiano Caruana, Alexander Grischuk, Hikaru Nakamura (numbers 5–7 in the world rankings) they you should know that the qualification for the Candidates was not based on rating but on other criteria: Anand qualified by virtue of being the loser of the 2013 World Championship match; Kramnik and Andreikin by being the two top finishers in the World Cup 2013; Topalov and Mamedyarov by being the top two finishers of the FIDE Grand Prix 2012/13; Aronian and Karjakin on the basis of rating; and Svidler as the organizing committee's wild card.

The venue

The Candidates Tournament 2014 are be held in the modern building of the Ugra Chess Academy, which is located in the city center of Khanty-Mansiysk.

Khanty-Mansiysk is an oil boom town, located on the eastern bank of the Irtysh River, 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) from its confluence with the Ob. Population: 80,000.

The Ugra Chess Academy (6a Loparev St., Khanty-Mansiysk) is a unique three-level building with no sharp edges, designed by the famous Dutch architect Erick Van Egeraat and constructed using modern energy conserving technologies. The games will be held in the tournament hall on the first floor.

The hall, in which numerous international congresses and forums take place, can be transformed and changed in size due to the innovative construction. Apart from the tournament hall the Ugra Chess Academy consists of classrooms for children who are keen on chess, computer classrooms for holding the Internet tournaments, a cozy café and a hall decorated with pieces of art regarding chess.

The official tournament hotel is the four-star Hotel «Taray» (64, Lenin St. Khanty-Mansiysk)

The technical meeting

Chief arbiter Panagiotis Nikolopoulos, with Chairman of Events Commission
Boris Kutin and press officer Anastasiya Karlovich

Second seed, former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik and top seed Levon Aronian

Third seed Veselin Topalov, former FIDE world champion from Bulgaria

Seventh seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azeribaijan

Former World Champion and fourth seed Viswanathan Anand from India

Sixth seed Peter Svidler from Russia

Opening ceremony

The festive opening ceremony of the 2014 Candidates Tournament in Khanty-Mansiysk

FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov with the Governor of Khanty-Mansiysk Natalya Komarova

Unveiling the chess board ...

... which is touched by the muse

The muse for the white pieces

A big recital on a magnificent organ


Schedule and results

Note: the games are played at 3 p.m. local time, which is 10 a.m. CET (Paris) and 5 a.m. EST (New York). Click here if you are uncertain what that means for your local time.

Round one – 13.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Andreikin Dmitry
-
Kramnik Vladimir
Karjakin Sergey
-
Svidler Peter
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
-
Topalov Veselin
Anand Viswanathan
-
Aronian Levon
Round two – 14.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Kramnik Vladimir
-
Karjakin Sergey
Svidler Peter
-
Andreikin Dmitry
Topalov Veselin
-
Anand Viswanathan
Aronian Levon
-
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
Round three – 15.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Andreikin Dmitry
-
Karjakin Sergey
Svidler Peter
-
Kramnik Vladimir
Topalov Veselin
-
Aronian Levon
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
-
Anand Viswanathan
Round four – 17.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
-
Andreikin Dmitry
Karjakin Sergey
-
Topalov Veselin
Aronian Levon
-
Svidler Peter
Anand Viswanathan
-
Kramnik Vladimir
Round five – 18.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Andreikin Dmitry
-
Anand Viswanathan
Karjakin Sergey
-
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
Svidler Peter
-
Topalov Veselin
Kramnik Vladimir
-
Aronian Levon
Round six – 19.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Aronian Levon
-
Andreikin Dmitry
Anand Viswanathan
-
Karjakin Sergey
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
-
Svidler Peter
Topalov Veselin
-
Kramnik Vladimir
Round seven – 21.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Karjakin Sergey
-
Aronian Levon
Svidler Peter
-
Anand Viswanathan
Kramnik Vladimir
-
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
Andreikin Dmitry
-
Topalov Veselin
Round eight – 22.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Kramnik Vladimir
-
Andreikin Dmitry
Svidler Peter
-
Karjakin Sergey
Topalov Veselin
-
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
Aronian Levon
-
Anand Viswanathan
Round nine – 23.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Karjakin Sergey
-
Kramnik Vladimir
Andreikin Dmitry
-
Svidler Peter
Anand Viswanathan
-
Topalov Veselin
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
-
Aronian Levon
Round ten – 25.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Karjakin Sergey
-
Andreikin Dmitry
Kramnik Vladimir
-
Svidler Peter
Aronian Levon
-
Topalov Veselin
Anand Viswanathan
-
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
Round eleven – 26.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Andreikin Dmitry
-
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
Topalov Veselin
-
Karjakin Sergey
Svidler Peter
-
Aronian Levon
Kramnik Vladimir
-
Anand Viswanathan
Round twelve – 27.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Anand Viswanathan
-
Andreikin Dmitry
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
-
Karjakin Sergey
Topalov Veselin
-
Svidler Peter
Aronian Levon
-
Kramnik Vladimir
Round thirteen – 29.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Andreikin Dmitry
-
Aronian Levon
Karjakin Sergey
-
Anand Viswanathan
Svidler Peter
-
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
Kramnik Vladimir
-
Topalov Veselin
Round fourteen – 30.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Aronian Levon
-
Karjakin Sergey
Anand Viswanathan
-
Svidler Peter
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
-
Kramnik Vladimir
Topalov Veselin
-
Andreikin Dmitry

Playchess commentary

Date Round English commentary German commentary
March 13 Round Simon Williams/Chris Ward Oliver Reeh/Merijn van Delft
March 14 Round 2 Daniel King/Simon Williams Oliver Reeh/Karsten Müller
March 15 Round 3 Simon Williams/Irina Krush Klaus Bischoff
March 17 Round 4 Alejandro Ramirez/Simon Williams Klaus Bischoff
March 18 Round 5 Daniel King/Chris Ward Klaus Bischoff
March 19 Round 6 Alej. Ramirez/Parimarjan Negi Oliver Reeh/Merijn van Delft
March 21 Round 7 Simon Williams/Daniel King Oliver Reeh/Merijn van Delft
March 22 Round 8 Daniel King/Yasser Seirawan Oliver Reeh/Karsten Müller
March 23 Round 9 Simon Williams/Alejandro Ramirez Oliver Reeh/Merijn van Delft
March 25 Round 10 Daniel King/Simon Williams Klaus Bischoff
March 26 Round 11 Alejandro Ramirez/Irina Krush Klaus Bischoff
March 27 Round 12 Daniel King/Yasser Seirawan Klaus Bischoff
March 29 Round 13 Daniel King/Irina Krush Klaus Bischoff
March 30 Round 14 Daniel King/Yasser Seirawan Klaus Bischoff

Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

Reports about chess: tournaments, championships, portraits, interviews, World Championships, product launches and more.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register