The second half of the 2020/2021 World Chess Federation (FIDE) Candidate Tournament begins on April 19 with seven rounds to go. The first seven were completed by the eight participants in March 2020, but the tournament had to be suspended and rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The eight competitors are Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, 29, France; Ian Nepomniachtchi, 29, Russia; Kirill Alekseenko, 22, Russia; Alexander Grischuk, 36, Russia; Fabiano Caruana, 27, USA; Anish Giri, 25, Netherlands; Wang Hao, 30, China; and Ding Liren, 27, China. The winner of the Candidate Tournament will be eligible to face Magnus Carlsen of Norway for a World Championship title in November.
In the FIDE calendar of events, the Candidates are the second most influential tournament, surpassed by the World Championship. After seven games, Vachier-Lagrave and Nepomniachtchi are the leaders with 4½ points each.
The tournament is a double round robin event with each player opposing the other twice, once with the black pieces and once with white. Due to the importance of the tournament, every move will be assessed worldwide.
Caruana won the 2018 Candidates but after the first half of the current tournament, he is a full point behind the leaders. In chess, at the Candidate level, it is difficult to compensate or fall behind to win. Even so, with seven rounds to play, it’s still anyone’s tournament. Yekaterinburg, Russia, is the host city for the Candidates.