Last month, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) published the qualification criteria that will be used for entry into the 2022 Candidates Tournament. However, a place has been reserved for the Azerbaijani grandmaster Teimour Radjabov, winner of the 2019 FIDE World Cup, who withdrew from the previous edition, predicting that the coronavirus would become an obstacle for the normal completion of the event.
Assuredly, the 2020 Candidates Tournament had to be postponed and was completed in April 2021, one year after it began. Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi won the event and earned the right to challenge World Champion Magnus Carlsen for that title.