5/10/2021 – The Candidates Tournament 2020/2021 brought a wealth of interesting games and interesting novelties. After all, the players had more than one year to prepare for seven games. In his two-part reflection on the Candidates the Canadian FM Joshua Doknjas takes a close look at the most important theoretical developments in the Candidates and discusses various strategies of preparation. | Photo: Tournament winner Ian Nepomniachtchi | Photo: Lennart Ootes

5/6/2021 – Ian Nepomniachtchi won the Candidates Tournament 2020/2021, and in November he will play against Magnus Carlsen for the world title. In an extensive interview with Eteri Kublashvili after the Candidates, Nepomniachtchi talked about his preparations for the second part of the Candidates and revealed why he once was so frustrated during his preparations that he threw his "iPhone into the wall". He also talked about his key to success, Magnus Carlsen - "a very nice dude" - and why "there is never enough time to prepare". | Photo: Lennart Ootes

5/4/2021 – The 2020-21 FIDE Candidates Tournament concluded on April 27, 2021 with Ian Nepomniachtchi (pictured) emerging victorious from a close race in the second half of the event, ahead of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Anish Giri, and Fabiano Caruana. In a two-part reflection on the Candidates the Canadian FM Joshua Doknjas aims to provide readers with a glimpse into the preparation of the world’s best players and showcase some of their brilliant ideas that were hidden beneath the surface. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

5/1/2021 – In the last episode about the Candidates Tournament 202X, Eric van Reem (pictured), host of the "Let's talk about chess" podcast, talks (again) to GM Jon Tisdall. They discuss the Candidates Tournament 202X, the winner with the unspeakable name, the right format to qualify, wildcards, the retirement of GM Wang Hao, GM Peter Leko being the decisive factor in the Candidates and the upcoming World Championship in Dubai. And yes, they managed to pronounce the name of the winner, GM Yan Nepomniachtchi! Enjoy!| Photo: Eric van Reem

4/27/2021 – There is still one round to go at the Candidates Tournament but Ian Nepomniachtchi is sure to be the winner, and in November he will play Magnus Carlsen for the World Championship. In the press conference after the 13th round Nepomniachtchi said that he was very happy about the win but also revealed that he felt tired after more than a year of preparation. | Photo: Alina l'Ami (Archive)

4/20/2021 – Fabiano Caruana had a lot of time to prepare for his game against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in round 8 of the Candidates, and he used it to find a new and dangerous idea in the Poisoned Pawn variation of the Najdorf, a favourite of the French player. "MVL" survived the opening and escaped into an endgame that objectively was a draw but difficult to defend. Karsten Müller took a closer look.

4/13/2021 – 13 April 2021, six days before the resumption of the FIDE Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg, the FIDE organised a press conference on the FIDE Candidates Tournament in Moscow, at the Rossiyskaya Gazeta Media Center. The speakers answered questions of journalists from all parts of the world, who were attending the event online. A press release by the FIDE has some details.

4/13/2021 – Probably the Candidates Tournament 2020-21 will go down in history as the longest over-the-board chess tournament of all time. It started on 17 March 2020 and was interrupted for more than a year after the outbreak of the Corona pandemic. Now, it is scheduled to resume next Monday, 19 April 2021, in Yekaterinburg, Russia.