FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024

The Candidates Tournament will determine who will compete to be World Chess Champion. FIDE Candidates 2024 Day 2 wrap: Vidit stuns world No. 3 Nakamura, Gukesh beats Pragg in alI-Indian clash - ESPN

The oddest thing about this article is that it is on ESPN. I don't usually associate ESPN and Chess, though most chess players do consider it a sport. Though it is ESPN India, and India does take chess seriously.

FIDE, stands for the Fédération Internationale des Échecs or the World Chess Federation in English. It is the governing body for chess on the world stage. The organization's name is pronounced like Fee-day.

The tournament is being held in Toronto, so if you are interested it is happening at a time when you can actually watch. More on that below.

The players in the open tournament are Ian Nepomniachtchi, Praggnanandhaa R, Fabiano Caruana, Nijat Abasov, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja, and Gukesh D.

In a sensational match at the FIDE Candidates 2024, Vidit Gujrathi took down one of the favourites, world no. 3 Hikaru Nakamura, with black pieces to secure an outright victory on Friday in Toronto. This was Nakamura's first loss in 47 classical games, dating back to the last Candidates tournament.

Nakamura is American (by way of his mother, Carolyn Merrow Nakamura). It is a bit amazing that he had a 47 game winning streak. Well, okay, not-losing streak. Draws are common in chess at that level.

The winner of the Candidates Tournament will take home €48,000 and compete in the Championship Match later in the year. 2nd and 3rd place finishers will get less money. The schedule for the Championship Match has yet to be set.

The tournament consists of eight players in a double round robin format. That means that each player plays each opponent twice. Once as black and once as white. So each player plays 14 games. Time constraints are 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds for each move starting with 41. In the event of a tie, there will be tie breakers with faster time constraints.

You can find the Candidates Tournament on the Chess24 YouTube Channel. The next game is scheduled for 2:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time today.

As in most sports (Chess is a blood sport) the Women's competition is neglected. It is conducted under basically the same rules with shorter time constraints, namely 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, with 30 minutes for the rest of the game plus a 30 second increment for each move starting from 41. The prize money is also less for the Women's Tournament.

The players in the Womens Tournament are Lei Tingjie, Kateryna Lagno, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Nurgyul Salimova, Anna Muzychuk, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Tan Zhongyi, and Humpy Koneru.

The Women's Candidate Tournament is streaming on the Chess.com YouTube channel. The next game is scheduled to start streaming at 2:15 PM this afternoon.

All the players get travel expenses reimbursed under reasonable constriants up to a maximum amount (that seems low to me given how expensive Toronto is). This is so that a qualifying player will not be kept away due to cost. Those traveling farther do get more money.

And for no reason, here is "One Night In Bangko" by Murray Head from Chess.