Fabiano Caruana (left) and Jan Nepomnjaschtschi are the two participants in Madrid who have already won a Candidates Tournament.
Photo: imago/Newspix
Just seven months ago, Norway’s chess star Magnus Carlsen successfully defended his world title against Jan Nepomnjaschtschi. After the previous corona break, however, the world chess association Fide wants to return to its normal rhythm, so it is already looking for Carlsen’s next challenger for the World Cup in early 2023. From this Friday until July 7, chess fans are therefore looking forward to Madrid, where eight candidates look for the best among themselves. Only the tournament winner gets the right to challenge Carlsen. The nd candidate check:
Jan-Krzysztof Duda
The Pole is only 16th in the world with an Elo rating of 2750 points, but he won the World Cup 2021, first defeating Carlsen in the semifinals and then his ex-challenger Sergei Karjakin, which qualified Duda for Madrid. In October 2020, he also ended Carlsen’s previous streak of 125 classical games unbeaten. Nevertheless, the 24-year-old is more of an outsider.
Teymur Rajabov
It is probably the last chance for the title for the 35-year-old Azerbaijani (Elo 2753, world ranking 13th). He had canceled his participation in the 2020 Candidates Tournament due to health concerns amid the pandemic, after which a place in Madrid was reserved for him. He, too, is given little chance of winning.
Hikaru Nakamura
The 34-year-old American is a favorite of all those fans who have come to chess during the pandemic. The blitz chess expert surprised by winning the Grand Prix in Berlin in early 2022 and climbed to eleventh place in the world (Elo: 2760). Hardly anyone expected this, as Nakamura had withdrawn from analogue tournament sports in order to become the most successful chess streamer in the world instead. Until the beginning of May he was online for up to ten hours a day, but recently he can hardly be seen live. Apparently he’s taking preparation for the Candidates Tournament more seriously than he’s been willing to admit. However, the Weltmeister label would also give its somewhat falling access numbers a new boost. While Nakamura has the most experience at the board, modern chess tends to be won by preparing on the supercomputer that calculates the best opening moves. Nakamura hardly took the time to do this.
Fabiano Caruana
His compatriot Caruana is the complete opposite. The theoretician spends hours studying thousands of move sequences and surprising alternatives with the help of fast computers. That brought the world number four (2783) all the way to the World Championships in 2018, where he remained the only challenger not to lose a classical game to Carlsen. But since he didn’t win either and then lost in three rapid chess games in the jump-off, the title stayed with the Norwegian. For many experts, Caruana is a co-favorite.
Jan Nepomnjaschtschi
As the loser of the last World Cup, the seventh in the world rankings (2766) is automatically included. Because of the ban resulting from the war in Ukraine, however, he is not allowed to compete for his home country Russia. Instead, he starts under the Fide flag. In the duel with Carlsen he broke down in the second half, which is why the fast thinker from Bryansk is denied by observers the stamina for the long tournament in Madrid.
Richard Rapport
The 26-year-old number eight (2764) is a favorite of many commentators because of his ingenuity on the board. He himself recently complained in Berlin that he would be happier (and probably also richer) if he hadn’t put all his time into chess. Because he hardly received any support in Hungary, Rapport switched to the Romanian association a good two weeks ago. The mandatory two-year break from the tournament was avoided by a fixed fee of 50,000 euros to Hungary’s association, which apparently came up with a rich Romanian bookmaker. It was still unclear under which flag the report in Madrid would take place, because a protest by the Hungarians was expected.
Alireza Firouzja
The shooting star, who was born in Iran, has also changed nations. The third in the world rankings, who at the age of 18 was the youngest chess player to break the Elo barrier of 2800, has been playing for France since July 2021. Currently, his level has dropped to 2793, but that doesn’t have to mean much since the candidates prefer to keep their best openers a secret with such an important tournament coming up.
Ding Liren
Because originally you could only get to Madrid by participating in tournaments, the Chinese were not initially intended for Madrid, as he was hardly able to leave his homeland in the two-year pandemic. After statements glorifying the war, however, the Russian Sergei Karjakin was banned, and the best-placed in the world rankings should move up. With 2806 Elo points, that’s a thing, but instead of the required 30 classic games, he only played four in twelve months. So by the end of April, China’s federation had created several tournaments in which Ding played 28 times in one month. He won 13 games and drew 15 times. There was controversy in the outside world as to whether Ding’s compatriots, under the pressure to qualify, even had permission to win. In the meantime, however, everyone has come to terms with it, because at least Ding had not overtaken anyone in the rankings.
The mode
14 rounds are pending. Everyone plays against everyone, once with the white pieces and once with black. The classic format has three hours for the first 60 moves and 15 minutes for the rest, with a 30-second bonus for each subsequent move on top. One point is awarded for a win, shared in the event of a draw. If several players are at the top at the end of the tournament, rapid and blitz chess games decide the winner.
The defending champion
Whether Magnus Carlsen will actually go to the board next year is still in the stars. “If anyone other than Firouzja wins, it’s unlikely I’ll play,” the world champion announced in December 2021. Five months later, he even repeated the sentence without the exception for the young French star. Nevertheless, an opponent is first sought. And if the five-time title holder does not compete, the two best-placed teams from Madrid will play against each other for the crown.
