Recap

Day one of Clutch Chess concluded with two clutch victories by Caruana and Nakamura, both of whom earned 2 points and an extra $2,000 for their wins. GM Fabiano Caruana was unstoppable in his match against GM Leinier Dominguez, winning four out of the six possible games.

After the completion of the first half of the tournament, FIDE announced the 2020 Candidates will be postponed until further notice. In an official statement, FIDE cited their reasons for putting this historic and controversial event to a halt: “Today, the government of the Russian Federation announced that starting March 27, 2020, Russia interrupts air traffic with other countries without indicating any time frames. FIDE can not continue the tournament without guarantees for the players' and officials' safe and timely return home.”

The 7th round produced just one decisive result, but it was a crucial one. GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave took down the sole leader, GM Ian Nepomniachtchi in a thrilling game. As a result, the two players are now tied for the lead with 4.5/7 points.

With another convincing victory today, Nepomniachtchi is cementing his spot as the clear leader. He now stands with 4.5/6, while MVL trails in clear second with 3.5/6. Round 6 produced many hard fought games, including a thrilling marathon battle between Kirill Alekseenko and Anish Giri which lasted 98 moves and over 7 hours.

After five rounds of play, a sole leader has finally emerged. GM Ian Nepomniachtchi defeated Wang Hao in the only decisive game of the day. He now leads the field with 3.5 points while MVL sits in clear second with 3 points. Although the other games were drawn, chess fans were treated to many hard fought battles and fascinating positions.

With yesterday’s rest day, it was clear that the players entered Round 4 with a renewed sense of energy. For the first time this event, all of the games of the round were drawn. Nepomniachtchi, MVL, and Wang Hao remain atop the leaderboard with 2.5/4. Despite the absence of decisive games today, chess fans still got to witness several hard fought battles.

After starting the tournament with two straight losses, GM Ding Liren rebounded strongly today. He took down GM Fabiano Caruana in a thrilling game to score his first win of the event. This turned out to be the only decisive game of round 3, even though the other games were hard fought. MVL, Nepomniachtchi, and Wang Hao now share the lead with 2/3, while Caruana and Grischuk trail closely behind with 1.5/2.

“This tournament is not about rating. This tournament is about hunger and form.” These words from GM Maurice Ashley certainly held true on the second day of the FIDE Candidates. With dazzling wins from Fabiano Caruana and MVL, they join Ian Nepomniachtchi and Wang Hao atop the leaderboard with 1.5/2. Meanwhile, the woes continued for world #3 Ding Liren. He lost for the second day in a row and now sits in last place with 0/2.

Despite the cancellation of so many chess tournaments around the world due to the growing threat of Covid-19, the 2020 FIDE Candidates remains on schedule. The first round kicked off today in Yekaterinburg, Russia with eight of the world’s top players.

As the dust settled in a momentous final round, Humpy Koneru emerged as this year’s Cairns Cup Champion. She captured clear first with 6/9 points and will take home a sweet $45,000 in prize money. With all of the excitement seen throughout this tournament, it wasn’t a surprise that the final day offered even more drama with multiple storylines.