Several Nights in Yekaterinburg and the World's Your Oyster
April 19, 2021 5:15 PM   Subscribe

The FIDE Candidates Tournament resumed today in Yekaterinburg, Russia after a 1 year pause(previously). Chess.com has good background article for those needing a rundown on the players and the event. Watch the event live on various twitch channels such as: chess24, chess.com, and FIDE channels.

Meanwhile champion, Magnus Carlsen, has taken to twitch and is having some fun goofing around while he waits for his challenger to be decided.
posted by interogative mood (7 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
Strong deep cut title, respect. Here’s hoping several nights in Yekaterinburg can also make a hard man humble.
posted by mhoye at 5:18 PM on April 19, 2021 [7 favorites]


Who was it who got screwed last time? Radjabov? I hope they made that right.
posted by thelonius at 5:37 PM on April 19, 2021


Caruana v MVL spoiler
Caruana had a good game against MVL. It seemed an inevitability that if MVL was going to go with Najdorf Sicilian at every possible opportunity, and especially given the long break, someone was going to do their homework & bust out deep preparation against him.

posted by juv3nal at 6:53 PM on April 19, 2021


Rajabov remains screwed and they haven't made it right. It is also controversial that Russia as the host go to fill the 8th slot with a wildcard (Alekseenko) who isn't really at the same level as the other players.
posted by interogative mood at 6:56 PM on April 19, 2021 [1 favorite]


“I get my kicks outside the sauna, радость!”
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 8:36 PM on April 19, 2021 [1 favorite]


"I had one year to find an advantage for black after 1. e4, but I have to say I needed a little bit more time." - Anish Giri
posted by persona at 11:47 AM on April 20, 2021


Updated Standings after round 9 of 14. This is a double swiss tournament which means over 14 rounds everyone faces each other twice alternating colors. A victory counts as a full point and a draw counts as half a point.

First place with 5 1/2 out of 9 points -- Nepo (a Russian who famously edged out Magnus for the U12 championship a long time ago). Tomorrow he plays fellow Russian and much lower rated player Kirill Alekseenko. Everyone is watching for old school Russian shenanigans and wondering if Alekseenko will take a dive to give Nepo an extra point.

Second place with 5 out of 9 points -- 3 players
- Fabi (the sole American) and world number 2. Fabi won the last Candidates tournament but lost the Championship match in the tiebreak. He plays Nepo on Friday. This could be the key game in the tournament.

- MVL (the Frenchman) he got in because Rajabov turned down his invitaiton because of concerns over covid last year.

- Giri (A Nepali / Russian who lives in the Netherlands) -- Giri is known for drawing a lot, but this also means he almost never loses.

Third Place with 4 out of 9 points - 3 players

- Aleksenko (the Russian wildcard) He started the tournament 100 points lower rated than the others and is over performing, but unlikely to win.

- Wang Hao (China) consider the second strongest player in China after Ding Liren (who is in last place in this tournament).

- Grischuk (the third Russian in the tournament). Grischuk is the oldest player in the tournament at 37 years old. He's played in the candidates in 5 times before and won it in 2011. He lost in the championship match against Anand (the world champ before Magnus). Grischuk is one of the funniest guys in chess and know for being a press conference favorite.

Fourth 3 1/2 out of 9 is China's top player and frequent world #2 Ding Liren. He's not statistically eliminated yet, but it will be really hard to catchup.
posted by interogative mood at 11:56 AM on April 20, 2021 [2 favorites]


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