The candidates tournament 2022 is one of the most important events for chess the winner will play the world champion! It’s also the highest level of competition in chess that we will have, interesting to learn.
That’s why here we will give you all the details about the candidates tournament in 2022. We will go over the most important things like schedules, pairings, the candidates, prizes, and others.
This is going to be one great competition; the top of the top players will go for the crown. You can see for example preparing in his Twitch channel, and the other candidates are surely practicing as well.
Here are the most important details to know about the candidates tournament:
Table of Contents
When and where the candidates tournament 2022 will take place
The tournament will take place in the Santoña palace, a historic mansion located in Madrid, the capital of Spain. The tournament will start on June 14th and will officially end on July 6th.
Take into account that the first three days are for the arrival and opening ceremony. And the last two days are for tie breaks and the ending ceremony, followed up by the departures of the players.
Time control
The time control will be the classic one, 100 minutes + 30 seconds of increment since move 1. The time control will be at move 40, and each player will get +40 minutes for the next 20 moves, and then +15 minutes and that’s it.
How is the candidates tournament 2022 disputed?
There are 14 rounds in an all against all tournament, it has a go and comes round against each player. Every round will be held each day, and there will be a free day in between every three rounds.
Pairings
These are the official pairings by FIDE, it shouldn’t, but it could change if FIDE decides it.
Round 1, June 17
- Duda – Rapport
- Ding Liren – Nepomniachtchi
- Caruana – Nakamura
- Radjabov – Firouzja
Round 2, June 18
- Rapport – Firouzja
- Nakamura – Radjabov
- Nepomniachtchi – Caruana
- Duda – Ding Liren
Round 3, June 19
- Ding Liren – Rapport
- Caruana – Duda
- Radjabov – Nepomniachtchi
- Firouzja – Nakamura
Round 4, June 21
- Rapport – Nakamura
- Nepomniachtchi – Firouzja
- Duda – Radjabov
- Ding Liren – Caruana
Round 5, June 22
- Caruana – Rapport
- Radjabov – Ding Liren
- Firouzja – Duda
- Nakamura – Nepomniachtchi
Round 6, June 23
- Radjabov – Rapport
- Firouzja – Caruana
- Nakamura – Ding Liren
- Nepomniachtchi – Duda
Round 7, June 25
- Rapport – Nepomniachtchi
- Duda – Nakamura
- Ding Liren – Firouzja
- Caruana – Radjabov
Round 8, June 26
- Rapport – Duda
- Nepomniachtchi – Ding Liren
- Nakamura – Caruana
- Firouzja – Radjabov
Round 9, June 27
- Firouzja – Rapport
- Radjabov – Nakamura
- Caruana – Nepomniachtchi
- Ding Liren – Duda
Round 10, June 29
- Rapport, Richard – Ding Liren
- Duda – Caruana
- Nepomniachtchi – Radjabov
- Nakamura – Firouzja
Round 11, June 30
- Nakamura – Rapport
- Firouzja – Nepomniachtchi
- Radjabov – Duda
- Caruana – Ding Liren
Round 12, July 1
- Rapport – Caruana
- Ding Liren – Radjabov
- Duda – Firouzja
- Nepomniachtchi – Nakamura
Round 13, July 3
- Nepomniachtchi – Rapport
- Nakamura – Duda
- Firouzja – Ding Liren
- Radjabov – Caruana
Round 14, July 4
- Rapport – Radjabov
- Caruana – Firouzja
- Ding Liren – Nakamura
- Duda – Nepomniachtchi
Who are the chess candidates tournament 2022?
Richard Rapport: A prodigy of great strength, being just 26 years old, he has been escalating positions lately. And they came to be among the top 10 best players by FIDE, he qualified for being the runner-up in the FIDE Grand Prix 2022.
Hikaru Nakamura: Some call him the oldest player in the field, and for now it looks like it, is a chess streamer and chess star. Qualified for being the winner of the 2022 FIDE Grand Prix, one of the favorites too.
Ding Liren: Ding Liren is the Chinese star, master of the combination, that will take place this year. Ding Liren qualified for being the highest-rated player in FIDE in May 2022, behind Magnus Carlsen.
Ian Nepomniachtchi: Ian Nepomniachtchi is the challenger of the past world chess championship and winner of the previous candidates tournament.
Teimour Radjabov: Teimour wasn’t supposed to qualify for his tournament, but FIDE took the decision. The thing is, he qualified for the 2020 candidates tournament but asked FIDE to postpone the event due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But FIDE refused, and he decided to not take part in the tournament. So, FIDE decided to give him back the opportunity in the 2022 format.
Fabiano Caruana: Fabiano Caruana was the challenger in 2018, and one of the strongest grandmasters in the U.S and the world. Qualified for being the 2021 FIDE Grand Prix runner-up.
Alireza Firouzja: The favorite for sure, the 18-year-old promise whose objective is to take the Crown from Magnus Carlsen. Sure everybody wants him to win, as Magnus said himself, this is the only player who motivates him. Sure if Alireza wins, the match Carlsen-Firouzja will be a great one for the books!
Jan-Krzysztof Duda: Although he is the lowest player of all the candidates, he is a fearsome opponent. Duda qualified for winning the 2021 Chess World Cup, and other successes that took him here.
And let’s not forget that he has already defeated the world champion, Magnus Carlsen, in the Norway Chess 2020, the Chess world cup in 2021, and the 2022 Charity Cup!
Who will win the candidates tournament 2022?
There is a lot of speculation about it, and of course, the fans are already going crazy over the tension.
Of course, there is no doubt the favorite or at least the most popular candidate is GM Alireza Firouzja. Not only for being the youngest one but for his bold statements about beating Carlsen in the past.
However, even though he is good, he is playing Ding Liren, Nakamura, Caruana, and Ian Nepomniachtchi. All of them have a lot more experience in top-level competitions and world cups than Firouzja and Duda.
It will sure be interesting to see how the tournament develops, and there is nothing else we could do, just wait!
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