The international 2020 FIDE Candidates Chess Tournament began on Tuesday amid some unprecedented measures related to the coronavirus pandemic. For the participating eight players from China, France, the Netherlands, Russia and the USA, it is the most important tournament of their careers and the most important tournament for the World Chess Federation (FIDE).
The winner will qualify to play world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway for the illustrious title.
The Candidates Tournament is taking place in Yekaterinburg, Russia, and lasts until April 3. Fourteen rounds will be contested in the round-robin (all-play-all) affair.
The tournament began with each player striving for victory bearing in mind the nature of the prize. The two Chinese participants, Ding Liren (2805) and Wang Hao (2762), prepared the stage for what is to follow when they clashed in the opening round. Hao, the lower FIDE rated player (stronger signals a higher rating number), defeated his erstwhile compatriot in 46 moves. In extreme time pressure Liren misplayed his 40th move that could have equalled the position.
In the other decisive game of the first round, Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi (2774) beat the Netherlands’s Anish Giri (2763). Giri, often lionized throughout the chess world as the “drawing master”, was
outplayed by the Russian grandmaster. Against Carlsen, the highest ranked player worldwide, Giri possesses a record of one win against four victories and 20 draws in classical games, the longer version of the game.
The field of the candidates is a formidable one and each person qualified for the tournament through various mechanisms:
1. Fabiano Caruana, 2822, USA – lost the previous World Chess Championship match
2. Ding Liren, 2802, China – World Cup runner-up
3. Alexander Grischuk, 2777, Russia – World Cup winner
4. Ian Nepomniachtchi, 2774, Russia – Grand Prix runner-up
5. Anish Giri, 2769, Netherlands – Best rating average of 2019
6. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, 2767, France – Replacement for Teimour Radjabov who withdrew from the tournament
7. Wang Hao, 2756, China – Grand Swiss winner
8. Kirill Alekseenko, 2704, Russia – Wildcard
Owing to the coronavirus, a number of preventive measures were put in place for the 2020 Candidates Tournament. These included a checkpoint with a trained nurse that was set up for all participants in the tournament, as well as for all officials and visitors to the auditorium, hand disinfectants containing alcohol and face masks available at all times, the mandatory shaking of hands before and after the game is not required among other things.
On the home front, the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) has postponed all activities relating to chess. The GCF trusts chess activities would be normalized soonest.
