The 2022 FIDE Candidates Tournament in Spain is drawing to a close and it seems unlikely that Russian Grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi will be toppled from his perch at the top. He leads the eight-player field by a 2½ points margin with three games remaining (a win = 1 point, a draw = ½ point and a loss = 0). He scored five victories in the 14-game, round-robin tournament, while his closest rivals, Americans Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura, have three each to their credit. The Candidates Tournament is the ultimate qualifier for the World Chess Championship Match. The winner will challenge World Champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway in a 12-game match in November.
held a successful dinner last Saturday evening at the Princess Hotel. It was a fundraising effort to assist the Olympiad team with expenses for travel to India. (Photo: Nicola Sutherland)
Nepomniachtchi opposed Carlsen for the title two years ago and lost. Carlsen had played undefeated scoring 7½ points to Nepomniachtchi’s 3½ points. He had said earlier that his preferred opponent for the 2022 World Championship Match was Alireza Firouzja, making him one of the favourites. However, after 11 rounds, Firouzja could only squeeze out a win against Richard Rapport and is now simply out of the running.
Candidates’ grandmasters are the strongest and most effective worldwide. They each had to earn their places through winning one or more prized tournaments during the last two years. Nepomniachtchi emerged victorious in the last Candidates Tournament and it seems he will do so again.
In Guyana, the Grands Prix, the Men and Women’s Qualifiers, the Junior Championships and the National Championships are some of the biggest tournaments. However, I am not in agreement with top senior players turning up for tournaments once in a while and qualifying for overseas competitions. We need our top players to practise with others so we can improve our proficiency at chess. The most successful chess playing nations improved their skills through encouraging competition among their people until a star was created.
