The FIDE Candidates Chess 2022 was announced in late December last year, with the dates, place and the sponsor. FIDE disclosed the event will take place in Madrid, June 16 – July 7 The Candidates Chess 2022 is an 8 player double round robin tournament with some of the world’s top Grandmasters. As the players are qualifying for the Candidates Tournament through the other FIDE events such as Grand Swiss, World Cup and Grand Prix, the participants of the event are usually known by the end of these tournaments.
FIDE held a drawing of lots ceremony during the FIDE Council Meeting in Abu Dhabi, announcing the starting numbers for the eight participants and the pairings. Follow Candidates chess day 1 live blog here
Live video: GM Polgar and GM Gustafsson / GM Daniil Yuffa and WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni / GM Benjamin Bok and team Hikaru / Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal / GM Naroditsky and WGM Skripchenko
Candidates Chess 2022 starting list:
- Jan-Krzystof Duda – World Cup winner
- Ding Liren – highest rating + 30 games , substitute of Sergey Karjakin
- Fabiano Caruana – Grand Swiss runner-up
- Teimour Radjabov – Wild Card
- Alireza Firouzja – Grand Swiss winner
- Hikaru Nakamura – Grand Prix winner
- Ian Nepomniachtchi – 2021 World Chess Champion Match runner-up
- Richard Rapport – Grand Prix runner-up
Candidates Chess Round 1, June 17
Duda – Rapport
Ding Liren – Nepomniachtchi
Caruana – Nakamura
Radjabov – Firouzja
Candidates Chess Round 2, June 18
Rapport – Firouzja
Nakamura – Radjabov
Nepomniachtchi – Caruana
Duda – Ding Liren
Candidates Chess Round 3, June 19
Ding Liren – Rapport
Caruana – Duda
Radjabov – Nepomniachtchi
Firouzja – Nakamura
Candidates Chess Round 4, June 21
Rapport – Nakamura
Nepomniachtchi – Firouzja
Duda – Radjabov
Liren – Caruana
Candidates Chess Round 5, June 22
Caruana – Rapport
Radjabov – Ding Liren
Firouzja – Duda
Nakamura – Nepomniachtchi
Candidates Chess Round 6, June 23
Radjabov – Rapport
Firouzja – Caruana
Nakamura – Ding Liren
Nepomniachtchi – Duda
Candidates Chess Round 7, June 25
Rapport – Nepomniachtchi
Duda – Nakamura
Ding Liren – Firouzja
Caruana – Radjabov
Candidates Chess Round 8, June 26
Rapport – Duda
Nepomniachtchi – Ding Liren
Nakamura – Caruana
Firouzja – Radjabov
Candidates Chess Round 9, June 27
Firouzja – Rapport
Radjabov – Nakamura
Caruana – Nepomniachtchi
Ding Liren – Duda
Candidates Chess Round 10, June 29
Rapport – Ding Liren
Duda – Caruana
Nepomniachtchi – Radjabov
Nakamura – Firouzja
Candidates Chess Round 11, June 30
Nakamura – Rapport
Firouzja – Nepomniachtchi
Radjabov – Duda
Caruana – Ding Liren
Candidates Chess Round 12, July 1
Rapport – Caruana
Ding Liren – Radjabov
Duda – Firouzja
Nepomniachtchi – Nakamura
Candidates Chess Round 13, July 3
Nepomniachtchi – Rapport
Nakamura – Duda
Firouzja – Ding Liren
Radjabov – Caruana
Candidates Chess Round 14, July 4
Rapport – Radjabov
Caruana – Firouzja
Ding Liren – Nakamura
Duda – Nepomniachtchi
Ding Liren to substitute Sergey Karjakin
Sergey Karjakin qualified for the event as he was the runner up of the FIDE World Cup 2021. After FIDE’s ban on Sergey Karjakin for 6 months, it became clear that a replacement for the Russian player at the Candiadates Chess 2022 will be needed. By the current regulations, the player to enter the event will be selected by rating – considering the FIDE rating list published on May 1 as the regulations of the Candidates 2022 (full version here) clearly state:
2.3 If any replacement is needed, the highest-rated player in the FIDE May 2022 standard rating list shall be invited, provided he/she has at least 30 standard games rated in the FIDE rating lists from June 2021 to May 2022.
Read more: Anish Giri vigorously criticizes Candidates replacement procedure
As the 3rd player on the FIDE rankings at the time of Karjakin’s ban, Ding Liren was the clear frontrunner in the race to replace Karjakin, but to be eligible for the Candidates spot he needed to play 26 rated classical games as at the moment of Karjakin’s ban he had only played 4 games since June 2021. After series of events organized by the Chinese Chess Federation, now Ding Liren has the required number of classical games and even higher ELO, securing the spot in the Candidates.
Read more: Ding Liren finishes the quest to be eligible for Candidates Tournament / Ding Liren completes 12 games of his Candidates quest, now #2 in the world with 2811 ELO
The winner of the Candidates Chess 2022 will qualify for the World Championship match later this year. The World Championship Match between the reigning World Champion and the Challenger, the winner of the 2022 Candidates Tournament, will consist of 14 games. The player who scores 7.5 points or more wins the Match, and no further games are played. If the score after 14 games is equal, the winner is decided on a tiebreak.
