2024 FIDE Candidates Toronto April 3-23

[Mick Norris]

Regulations

Toronto's historic Great Hall (located at 1087 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M6J 1H3) will serve as the battleground for the elite players, engaging in a double round-robin tournament spanning 14 rounds. Spectators will be able to witness the intensity of the matches firsthand and experience the thrill of seeing top world players in person.

Participants:

Open Candidates*:

Ian Nepomniachtchi, 2023 Match Runner-up

R Praggnanandhaa, 2023 World Cup 2nd

Fabiano Caruana, 2023 World Cup 3rd

Nijat Abasov, 2023 World Cup 4th

Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, 2023 Grand Swiss winner

Hikaru Nakamura, 2023 Grand Swiss 2nd

Alireza Firouzja, Best by Rating

Gukesh D 2023 FIDE Circuit Winner

*Magnus Carlsen, who qualified for the Candidates by winning the 2023 World Cup, earlier informed FIDE that he will not be taking part in the event. As per FIDE Candidates qualification paths, Nijat Abasov, who finished 4th in the World Cup, took his place.

The drawing of pairings and colors will be conducted by the Chief Arbiter, in coordination with the FIDE COO, no later than four weeks before the start of the Candidates Tournament.

Players from the same federation shall play each other in rounds 1 and 8 (if only two) and in rounds 1, 2, 3 and 8, 9, 10 if there are up to three players from the same federation.

Time control: 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move starting from move 41.

Prizes: 48,000 euros for the winner, 36,000 euros for the second place, and 24,000 euros for the third place. Additionally, players receive 3,500 euros for every half-point scored.

[Mick Norris]

chess.com interview with Abasov

"Clearly I am the lowest seed, but I hope to prove that wrong," he says when asked about his goals for the event.

"The goal would be, first of all, to enjoy my chess and perform the best I can, because it's a chance of a lifetime for me. It's not like I put pressure on myself or anything, it's just my first big event and I am not sure whether I am going to have another opportunity or not. I want to do things right, then whatever life brings, how many points I am going to score, that will be history."

"It's not like I am working only the next three months. I have been working on chess for the past 20 years, so nothing has changed. Now it will just be more intense and with more motivation."

[Mick Norris]

FIDE History of the Candidates: from Budapest (1950) to Toronto (2024)

I appreciate that many on here will know all of this, but some won't

[Graham Borrowdale]

An interesting article, thanks for posting. Perhaps a bit selective in its description of the ‘split’ era, but a nice history nonetheless.

[Matt Mackenzie]

An interesting article, thanks for posting. Perhaps a bit selective in its description of the ‘split’ era, but a nice history nonetheless.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it rather rushes through that period generally.

Poor old Kamsky played an actual FiDE match but still doesn't get a mention.

[Mick Norris]

Pairings

Round 1
Fabiano Caruana - Hikaru Nakamura
Nijat Abasov - Ian Nepomniachtchi
Alireza Firouzja - Praggnanandhaa R
Gukesh D - Vidit Santosh Gujrathi

Round 14
Hikaru Nakamura - Gukesh D
Alireza Firouzja - Vidit Santosh Gujrathi
Nijat Abasov - Praggnanandhaa R
Fabiano Caruana - Ian Nepomniachtchi

FIDE News

In accordance with the General Rules and Technical Recommendations for Tournaments / 06. Restricted Drawing of Lots, the players of the federation with the most number of representatives were drawn first. Where two or more federations had the same number of representatives, precedence was determined by the alphabetical order of the FIDE country code. Among players of the same federation, precedence was determined by the alphabetical order of their names.

Candidates 2024: first draw 3 Indian players, then draw 2 USA players, then draw 3 remaining players.

[IM Jack Rudd]

For those who like this sort of thing, I make these the pairing numbers:

1 Caruana, Goryachkina
2 Abasov, Muzychuk
3 Firouzja, Lei
4 Gukesh, Vaishali
5 Vidit, Koneru
6 Praggnanandhaa, Tan
7 Nepomniachtchi, Salimova
8 Nakamura, Lagno

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Not sure if anyone has noticed this Chessbase news article, but it could spell trouble...

Candidates Tournament: Visa trouble

Four weeks before the start of the Candidates Tournament in Toronto, almost all the participants and their travelling companions are still waiting for the visas they applied for months ago to be issued. FIDE has now sent an "urgent visa appeal to the Canadian government" and is even considering moving the "most prestigious tournament in the chess world" to another country.

[MJMcCready]

GM Danny King has a video or two and some interesting videos on the candidates on his youtube channel.

[LawrenceCooper]

Not sure if anyone has noticed this Chessbase news article, but it could spell trouble...

Candidates Tournament: Visa trouble

Four weeks before the start of the Candidates Tournament in Toronto, almost all the participants and their travelling companions are still waiting for the visas they applied for months ago to be issued. FIDE has now sent an "urgent visa appeal to the Canadian government" and is even considering moving the "most prestigious tournament in the chess world" to another country.

No longer an issue it seems: https://twitter.com/FIDE_chess/status/1 ... 22/photo/1

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Featured (below the line) in Leonard Barden's Guardian column:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/ ... -rapidplay

[MJMcCready]

Not sure if anyone has noticed this Chessbase news article, but it could spell trouble...

Candidates Tournament: Visa trouble

Four weeks before the start of the Candidates Tournament in Toronto, almost all the participants and their travelling companions are still waiting for the visas they applied for months ago to be issued. FIDE has now sent an "urgent visa appeal to the Canadian government" and is even considering moving the "most prestigious tournament in the chess world" to another country.

No longer an issue it seems: https://twitter.com/FIDE_chess/status/1 ... 22/photo/1

It's claimed here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RPCnFNOfWU that they might be shifting it to Spain.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I assume that the C-squared podcast (from three days ago) predates the announcement by FIDE that this has been resolved.

Candidates Tournaments to take place in Toronto after all!

The diplomatic rift between Canada and India should not be underestimated, nor the optics of granting visas to Russians in the current climate. It is quite possible in a few years time, if there is any further escalation, that organising diverse international sports events of any nature will be very difficult.

One of the interesting points of comparison between now and earlier periods with limited or more extensive wars, is the extent to which (and why and where) various activities continue and some are suspended.

[Mick Norris]

Chessbase preview

The most important tournament of the year begins on April 3 in Toronto, Canada: the Candidates Tournament. Eight participants, 14 rounds, the winner plays for the World Championship. Two of the eight participants have already won one or more Candidates Tournaments, four have already played one or more Candidates Tournaments, the youngest candidate is 17, the oldest is 36 years old. But who will win?

[Mick Norris]

Carlsen

Carlsen feels the eight-player field can be split into two, with the "old guys" considered favorites against the young guys.

Nakamura and Caruana are the best and most consistent players there. If anybody else wins, it would be a bit of a surprise. If Alireza wins, it would be surprising, but not shocking. If any of the other four wins, that would be a shock.