2020 TiC Candidates

Although Ian Nepomniachtchi already clinched tournament victory yesterday, the candidates still had money and pride to play for in a combative final round. Ding Liren continued his winning streak, defeating Nepo to finish the event with three wins in a row, while Anish Giri ended up losing to Kirill Alekseenko, allowing Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to sneaking into second place thanks to his win over Wang Hao. 

After drawing with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Ian Nepomniachtchi clinched victory in the 2020/21 FIDE Candidates Tournament, earning the right to challenge Magnus Carlsen in the 2021 World Championship, to take place this November 2021 in Dubai. The win was earned after Alexander Grischuk defeated Ian’s main rival in the final stages of the event, Anish Giri, knocking the Dutch No. 1 out of contention.

It was an exciting day in Yekaterinburg, Russia, as all four games in the 2020/21 FIDE Candidates finished with a decisive result, heading into the final rest day tomorrow.

Today’s round saw tournament leader Ian Nepomniachtchi play it safe against Fabiano Caruana, securing a draw with minimal risk while Anish Giri slid into clear second place thanks to an excellent win against Ding Liren.

Things couldn’t have gone better for tournament leader Ian Nepomniachtchi today, as he took advantage of an opening disaster to defeat Kirill Alekseenko and extend his lead in the event to a full point, while his main rivals Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Anish Giri all drew their games. With four rounds to play and White against both Caruana and MVL, Nepo looks to be in excellent shape to qualify to become the next World Championship challenger.

Today’s round provided a lot of excitement as at one point all four boards looked like they could have a decisive result, though only Anish Giri was able to capitalize on his chances, winning an impressive technical effort against Wang Hao to move within half a point of the leader, Ian Nepomniachtchi. This puts Giri in a shared second place with both Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, with just five rounds to go in this historic event.

After a year-long hiatus, the highly awaited second half of the 2020 FIDE Candidates tournament finally resumed today, with the eight candidates returning to Yekaterinburg, Russia to fight for first place and the right to challenge Magnus Carlsen in the 2021 World Chess Championship.

SAINT LOUIS, Monday, April 12, 2021 - The FIDE Candidates Tournament will resume on April 19, 2021 in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

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.