The Candidates during halftime

An unprecedented hiatus

The much anticipated 2020 edition of the Candidates Tournament kicked off amid controversies, with Teimour Radjabov declining to participate due to the worldwide health crisis. Although FIDE tried to keep the tournament going until the end, it was inevitable to interrupt the event after seven rounds.

Much can be discussed regarding the socio-political circumstances surrounding the tournament, but we should not forget that the main goal of the event is to decide who will be the fourth player to challenge Magnus Carlsen in the next World Championship match — Vishy Anand, Sergey Karjakin and Fabiano Caruana have already failed to dethrone the Norwegian. 

How did the participants perform while waiting for the second half of such an important tournament? Let us recap the results achieved by the eight Candidates in the last 11 months.

A typical pose of Nepomniachtchi’s during the first half | Photo: Lennart Ootes / FIDE

Ian Nepomniachtchi

Crushing Isolated Queen's Pawn Tactics

The aim of this DVD is to offer the viewer tactical exercises that also illustrate the attacking prospects within IQP positions. The content of the DVD emphasizes the importance of understanding this type of pawn structure.

‘Nepo’ was the most active of all the Candidates, having participated in 12 tournaments throughout the year. His one appearance in a classical event was very successful as he won the Russian National Championship in December, finishing with a remarkable 7½/11 score after winning 5 games and losing to Daniil Dubov.

The Russian star obtained mixed results in online tournaments, with his last appearance — at the Opera Euro Rapid — being rather disappointing. He, nevertheless, finished second in the Legends of Chess tournament and obtained an impressive 6½/8 in the Online Olympiad.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

For the most part it has not been a good year for Vachier-Lagrave, as he has not obtained great results in the online series of tournaments. However, he did have a strong performance in classical chess at the German League, scoring 4/5 points for Baden-Baden.

The Frenchman also played in Wijk aan Zee, where he had a subpar 5/13 performance.  As pointed out by Fiona Steil-Antoni, however, Sergey Karjakin and Fabiano Caruana both qualified to face Carlsen in a World Championship match after having disappointing showings in Wijk aan Zee. Only time will tell if the story repeats itself.

Fabiano Caruana

Navigating the Ruy Lopez Vol.1-3

The Ruy Lopez is one of the oldest openings which continues to enjoy high popularity from club level to the absolute world top. In this video series, American super GM Fabiano Caruana, talking to IM Oliver Reeh, presents a complete repertoire for White.

The latest challenger for the world title has played more classical chess than any of the Candidates, as he played in the Bundesliga, the Altibox Norway Chess tournament and the Tata Steel Chess event. The American obtained good results consistently in over-the-board competitions.

In the online world, Caruana has also been consistent, with his 7½/9 at the inaugural Nations Cup a remarkable achievement.

Anish Giri

Although he was not as consistent as Caruana or as active as Nepomniachtchi, Giri will enter the second half of the Candidates with perhaps the strongest momentum. The Dutchman’s showing in Wijk was very impressive, as he only failed to win the tournament in tiebreaks against his compatriot Jorden van Foreest.

Furthermore, Giri has also shown brilliant play at times in the series of elite online tournaments, getting to beat Carlsen a couple of times throughout the year. 

Alexander Grischuk

Master Class Vol.11: Vladimir Kramnik

This DVD allows you to learn from the example of one of the best players in the history of chess and from the explanations of the authors (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) how to successfully organise your games strategically, consequently how to keep y

None of the remaining Candidates — excluding the four mentioned above — have played classical chess since March last year. Grischuk, particularly, has mostly played blitz, and has not obtained good results of late.

His best performances were seen at the “Play for Russia” charity tournament and at the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz event.

Wang Hao

Unless we are missing some Chinese tournament we are not aware about, Wang Hao has only played in the Nations Cup and in the Danzhou Masters tournament. The Chinese grandmaster did not have good performances in these events.

Ding Liren

A Black Repertoire against Offbeat Openings

Many club players have their favourite pet opening variations which aren’t necessarily main lines. It’s important to know how to handle these variations as your opponent will likely know his systems well. In this DVD, GM Nicholas Pert provides a detailed Black repertoire against many of these Offbeat Opening choices.

Except for the Danzhou Masters — when the Chinese representatives played online all together from a hotel — Ding has only played tournaments from home during the last 11 months. In Danzhou, China’s top player finished in second place with 8½/14 points — curiously, Ding defeated all three fellow Candidates participating in that event, Giri, Grischuk and Wang.

Regarding the two series organized by the Play Magnus Group, the inaugural Magnus Carlsen Tour was much more successful for Ding, who was knocked out in the semifinals in 4 out of 5 events. 

Kirill Alekseenko

The lowest-rated Candidate is also the one that has been the least active during the hiatus. According to our database, Alekseenko has played plenty of “Titled Tuesday” blitz tournaments on chess.com and a couple of games in a Moscow v Saint Petersburg online match, but nothing more.

Before the 2020 Candidates Tournament began, Alekseenko was interviewed by the sports.ru website. According to an English translation of that interview, Alekseenko said, “I am satisfied with the role of a ‘dark horse’ in this tournament, no one expects great results from me and there is no additional pressure”.

Links

• FIDE resumes the Candidates Tournament
• Round 1: Wang stuns Ding, Nepomniachtchi beats Giri
• Round 2: Caruana and Vachier-Lagrave score
• Round 3: Ding bounces back, beats Caruana
• Round 4: Draws
• Round 5: Nepomniachtchi takes the lead
• Round 6: Nepomniachtchi wins again, widens the gap