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FIDE Candidates Chess Tournament 2022 (14)

Ding beats Nakamura in the final round of the Candidates to finish in second place

Ding won a tense encounter with Nakamura in the final round. Photo ©

Ding won a tense encounter with Nakamura in the final round. Photo © | https://fide.com

Ian Nepomniachtchi had already secured first place in the FIDE Candidates tournament in Madrid with a round to spare. Nepomniachtchi avoided defeat in the final round when he drew with black against Jan-Krzysztof Duda in a Petroff variation he hadn't expected. Nepomniachtchi had to work hard to remember his preparation which certainly ran up to 15...a5!? after that Nepomniachtchi may have been a bit better but the players started to steer towards a draw a few moves later and they only had one bishop between them on move 48. Thus Nepomniachtchi finished the event undefeated and with a modern record score of 9.5/14. Afterwards Nepomniachtchi revealed his stellar if not especially surprising team (he'd worked with most if not all before if I understand correctly) of Nikita Vitiugov, Peter Leko, Ildar Khairullin, Vladimir Potkin and Evgeny Tomashevsky.

The main game of interest in the final round was the game Ding Liren against Hikaru Nakamura, one of these players would have to finish in second place and be first reserve if Magnus Carlsen or Ian Nepomniachtchi don't play the World Championship match. Nakamura only needed to secure a draw but in interview afterwards he admitted the entire occasion got the better of him. Nakamura became unreasonably upset with himself with 18...h6 instead of 18...Rxd1 starting to trade rooks. Both moves are about equivalent objectively but Nakamura came to believe he wouldn't have had any problems at all without rooks. As it was he slid into trouble and 35...Bd8? was a bad error, Ding gave him one more chance to save the game 38.e4? (38.exf4) 38...f3! would have put the whole result in the balance again, instead after 38...Bf6? Ding converted his big advantage confidently.

The reasons for Fabiano Caruana's complete meltdown in this event will have to wait for another day. After starting with 5/7 Caruana went to score just three draws in the second half of the tournament including a final disappointing defeat to Alireza Firouzja where he went from pushing to fighting for a draw in only a few moves and then missed several clear chances to draw in an admittedly very tricky endgame. I don't doubt Caruana's continued world class at chess but he hasn't looked comfortable over the board for the last two years, everything is harder than it should be for him. Time for a rethink and rejig of his game. Richard Rapport went all in against Teimour Radjabov and after a hard battle suddenly Radjabov had survived and went on to win.

So now it's all up to Magnus Carlsen and FIDE. They had some talks about whether Carlsen would defend his title and FIDE said they would make proposals as to the regulations very soon and like to hear back from Carlsen by July 20th. Perhaps it's time for a change and for younger players to have an input into how the title is decided. The current World Championship stability was hard won though, the anarchy of the 1990s and early 2000s where players of real ambition couldn't plan their careers and even qualifying for a World Championship match didn't necessarily mean you'd get to play it are long behind us. Carlsen I'm told never liked the current system and was almost always a reluctant participant. This is the background to what may be a very interesting month of news.

I'm sorry for the delay for this final article, like the players I got very tired towards the end of this event, wonderful though it was, even to the very last round.

Final Standings: 1st Nepomniachtchi 9.5pts (TB1 62), 2nd Ding Liren 8pts (TB1 52), 3rd Radjabov 7.5pts (TB1 52), 4th Nakamura 7.5pts (TB1 50.25), 5th Caruana 6.5pts (TB1 46.5), 6th Firouzja 6pts (TB1 39.5), 7th Duda 5.5pts (TB1 38.5), 8th Rapport 5.5pts (TB1 37.75).

FIDE World Chess Championship Candidates Tournament Final Round Commentary

FIDE Candidates 2022 Madrid ESP (ESP), 16 vi-5 vii 2022 cat. XXI (2772)
RkTiNameRtgFED12345678PtsTB1TB2
1GMNepomniachtchi Ian 2766FID***1 ½½ ½½ ½½ ½1 11 ½1 ½9.5625
2GMDing Liren 2806CHN0 ½***½ 0½ 1½ 1½ ½½ 1½ 18524
3GMRadjabov Teimour 2753AZE½ ½½ 1***0 10 ½½ ½½ ½½ 17.5523
4GMNakamura Hikaru 2760USA½ ½½ 01 0***0 1½ 1½ 1½ ½7.550.254
5GMCaruana Fabiano 2783USA½ ½½ 01 ½1 0***1 0½ 0½ ½6.546.53
6GMFirouzja Alireza 2793FRA0 0½ ½½ ½½ 00 1***½ ½½ 1639.52
7GMDuda Jan-Krzysztof 2750POL0 ½½ 0½ ½½ 0½ 1½ ½***½ 05.538.51
8GMRapport Richard 2764HUN0 ½½ 0½ 0½ ½½ ½½ 0½ 1***5.537.751
Round 1 (June 17, 2022)
Ding, Liren - Nepomniachtchi, Ian 0-1 32 A20 English Opening
Radjabov, Teimour - Firouzja, Alireza ½-½ 71 D37 QGD 5.Bf4
Caruana, Fabiano - Nakamura, Hikaru 1-0 50 C65 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Duda, Jan-Krzysztof - Rapport, Richard ½-½ 69 B44 Sicilian Paulsen
Round 2 (June 18, 2022)
Nepomniachtchi, Ian - Caruana, Fabiano ½-½ 33 C50 Giuoco Piano
Nakamura, Hikaru - Radjabov, Teimour 1-0 75 C65 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Duda, Jan-Krzysztof - Ding, Liren ½-½ 41 C50 Giuoco Piano
Rapport, Richard - Firouzja, Alireza ½-½ 60 B53 Sicilian Hungarian
Round 3 (June 19, 2022)
Ding, Liren - Rapport, Richard ½-½ 40 D86 Gruenfeld Simagin
Radjabov, Teimour - Nepomniachtchi, Ian ½-½ 30 E04 Catalan
Caruana, Fabiano - Duda, Jan-Krzysztof ½-½ 51 B90 Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Firouzja, Alireza - Nakamura, Hikaru ½-½ 53 E32 Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Round 4 (June 21, 2022)
Nepomniachtchi, Ian - Firouzja, Alireza 1-0 39 B90 Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Ding, Liren - Caruana, Fabiano ½-½ 64 D38 QGD Ragozin
Duda, Jan-Krzysztof - Radjabov, Teimour ½-½ 41 C65 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Rapport, Richard - Nakamura, Hikaru ½-½ 44 C65 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Round 5 (June 22, 2022)
Radjabov, Teimour - Ding, Liren ½-½ 50 E00 Catalan
Nakamura, Hikaru - Nepomniachtchi, Ian ½-½ 34 C42 Petroff's Defence
Caruana, Fabiano - Rapport, Richard ½-½ 24 B46 Sicilian Paulsen
Firouzja, Alireza - Duda, Jan-Krzysztof ½-½ 36 C42 Petroff's Defence
Round 6 (June 23, 2022)
Nepomniachtchi, Ian - Duda, Jan-Krzysztof 1-0 35 A07 Barcza System
Radjabov, Teimour - Rapport, Richard ½-½ 40 B46 Sicilian Paulsen
Nakamura, Hikaru - Ding, Liren ½-½ 42 C50 Giuoco Piano
Firouzja, Alireza - Caruana, Fabiano 0-1 42 E06 Catalan
Round 7 (June 25, 2022)
Ding, Liren - Firouzja, Alireza ½-½ 54 A20 English Opening
Caruana, Fabiano - Radjabov, Teimour 1-0 56 B28 Sicilian Early a7-a6
Duda, Jan-Krzysztof - Nakamura, Hikaru ½-½ 40 E47 Nimzo Indian
Rapport, Richard - Nepomniachtchi, Ian 0-1 43 C42 Petroff's Defence
Round 8 (June 26, 2022)
Nepomniachtchi, Ian - Ding, Liren ½-½ 37 C47 Four Knights
Nakamura, Hikaru - Caruana, Fabiano 1-0 74 C82 Ruy Lopez Open Italian Variation
Firouzja, Alireza - Radjabov, Teimour ½-½ 93 C50 Giuoco Piano
Rapport, Richard - Duda, Jan-Krzysztof 1-0 29 C46 Four Knights
Round 9 (June 27, 2022)
Ding, Liren - Duda, Jan-Krzysztof 1-0 61 A13 Reti Opening
Radjabov, Teimour - Nakamura, Hikaru 1-0 41 C65 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Caruana, Fabiano - Nepomniachtchi, Ian ½-½ 40 C42 Petroff's Defence
Firouzja, Alireza - Rapport, Richard 1-0 41 C65 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Round 10 (June 29, 2022)
Nepomniachtchi, Ian - Radjabov, Teimour ½-½ 37 E06 Catalan
Nakamura, Hikaru - Firouzja, Alireza 1-0 32 B90 Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Duda, Jan-Krzysztof - Caruana, Fabiano 1-0 57 C53 Giuoco Piano
Rapport, Richard - Ding, Liren 0-1 55 C77 Ruy Lopez Anderssen
Round 11 (June 30, 2022)
Radjabov, Teimour - Duda, Jan-Krzysztof ½-½ 33 A15 English counter King's Fianchetto
Nakamura, Hikaru - Rapport, Richard ½-½ 96 B33 Sicilian Sveshnikov
Caruana, Fabiano - Ding, Liren 0-1 78 C88 Ruy Lopez Closed
Firouzja, Alireza - Nepomniachtchi, Ian 0-1 35 C42 Petroff's Defence
Round 12 (July 1, 2022)
Nepomniachtchi, Ian - Nakamura, Hikaru ½-½ 14 C67 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Ding, Liren - Radjabov, Teimour 0-1 26 E48 Nimzo Indian
Duda, Jan-Krzysztof - Firouzja, Alireza ½-½ 41 D45 Anti-Meran Variations
Rapport, Richard - Caruana, Fabiano ½-½ 52 C65 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Round 13 (July 3, 2022)
Nepomniachtchi, Ian - Rapport, Richard ½-½ 34 B67 Sicilian Rauzer
Radjabov, Teimour - Caruana, Fabiano ½-½ 31 E04 Catalan
Nakamura, Hikaru - Duda, Jan-Krzysztof 1-0 52 B90 Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Firouzja, Alireza - Ding, Liren ½-½ 42 C47 Four Knights
Round 14 (July 4, 2022)
Ding, Liren - Nakamura, Hikaru 1-0 58 D40 Semi-Tarrasch Defence
Caruana, Fabiano - Firouzja, Alireza 0-1 63 C65 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Duda, Jan-Krzysztof - Nepomniachtchi, Ian ½-½ 48 C43 Petroff's Defence
Rapport, Richard - Radjabov, Teimour 0-1 33 C65 Ruy Lopez Berlin

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