The Candidates Tournament to select the most suitable chess player to oppose world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway resumes tomorrow. It is the second most important event on the World Chess Federation (FIDE), the first being the actual world championship match.
Millions from the FIDE family of 195 nation will view the games live or replay the moves of the most skilful chess players on the planet later. The 2020 tournament was underway in Yekaterin-burg, Russia, but had to be halted on March 25 last year, owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
Following World War II, FIDE had organized a tournament in 1948 with the five strongest players of the time. Mikhail Botvinnik of Russia won. Naturally, he was considered to be the strongest player then alive.
Another Russian David Bronstein, one of the first 27 players awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1950, met Botvinnik for the world championship title in 1951. After 24 games, the match ended in a draw with them winning 12 games each. As per FIDE’s rules, Botvinnik, who was the champion, retained the title. The most formidable game of tomorrow’s cerebral extravaganza, in my estimation, is between Fabiano Caruana of the USA and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France. Vachier-Lagrave is one point ahead of his opponent. A win for Caruana would equal the score. Of course, that is easier said than done. When the two met in the first round of the 2020 Candidates, the game ended in a draw. Then, the Frenchman had the white pieces, but tomorrow Caruana has white, and it is possible he can cut Vachier-Lagrave’s lead. It will be difficult to accomplish but not impossible.
Of course, one does not obtain a victory easily at the level of the Candidates. But Caruana won the last Candidates in 2018, and if he secures a win tomorrow, he will certainly be back in the race. The other crucial game tomorrow is that between Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi and Netherlands’ Anish Giri. Nepomniachtchi and Vachier-Lagrave top the leaderboard with 4½ points each so a victory for Giri would bring him back into contention. Giri and Caruana are both on 3½ points. It is known that Giri is a draw master but recently he has converted some draws into victories. He hardly ever loses and has been among the world’s top ten chess players for some time now. Tomorrow promises to be interesting.