Candidates Tournament 2020

[Mick Norris]

My pick: Radjabov

He's not playing

MVL replacement according to FIDE

[Nick Burrows]

Otherwise known as the kiss of death. Well at least it wasnt literally.
I guess MVL will be happy for the opportunity, but cant be as well prepared as the rest of the field.

[Mick Norris]

Good to see MVL finally getting a chance; he won't have specific prep for the Candidates, but then again, neither will his opponents have been preparing to play him

[Christopher Kreuzer]

There is more at those links.

Radjabov said:

It is not correct, I have no personal reasons to withdraw from the tournament. I will come up very soon with the statement and with letters that were sent to FIDE and their answers.

And from Wang Hao:

I believe that all the big events (not just chess) should be postponed for now. For example, FIDE is taking a big risk to hold the World Seniors now. [...] I just saw the news about the withdrawal of Radjabov. I think that it’s a decent decision, probably he just wants to stay at home to avoid all the possible risks. No one can blame him if it’s the reason.

[Chris Rice]

There is more at those links.

Radjabov said:

It is not correct, I have no personal reasons to withdraw from the tournament. I will come up very soon with the statement and with letters that were sent to FIDE and their answers.

The link is from his Instagram account

[Mick Norris]

Radjabov's statement has now been posted on AzeriSport.com. Here it is translated into English:

"From March 15 to April 5, 2020, I was supposed to participate in the Candidates Tournament in Russia in the city of Yekaterinburg. As you know, there is currently an increase in the epidemic of the coronavirus worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced the highest epidemic - red. Many competitions and significant events in the world are canceled or postponed to a later date, based on the development of the situation.

"The International Chess Federation has implemented a number of preventative measures [against the coronavirus - PD] but not all. It was stated that the Chinese players, their coaches and accompanying persons will be quarantined for 14 days in Russia. One of the Chinese chess players [Ding - PD], coaches and the delegation are indeed quarantined. However, the second participant from China [Wang - PD] will not be quarantined and will arrive at the beginning of the tournament from a country where the epidemic of coronavirus is growing every day [Japan - PD].

"In addition, there is no explanation from FIDE how the tournament will proceed in the event that any participant or coaches or accompanying persons, journalists, interviewers, arbiters have signs of a cold or influenza, or, God forbid, a coronavirus is determined. Will participants will be quarantined, how much time and steps are needed to analyze and determine the exact presence or absence of the virus?

"The Candidates Tournament is a chess marathon, consisting of 14 rounds over 22 days. Nobody will explain how the tournament will develop in the conditions of the global epidemic, what measures will be taken in case of detection of the virus and what measures will be taken in relation to the sick participant, no one explains. Due to the complexity of all these points, I turned to FIDE with a proposal to postpone the tournament to a later date. I was refused this offer of mine. In connection with the above, I considered that such conditions can greatly affect the necessary level of concentration and mood required for the maximum level of play in such an important competition as the Candidates Tournament, and a possible health hazard. As a result, I was replaced with another participant."

[Chris Rice]

Cheers Mick, its not clear to me from that whether Radjabov has withdrawn or whether he's been thrown out of the tournament. The discussion on the FIDE and Sutovsky's feeds run along the lines that FIDE have a Medical Commission who recommended a course of action and its not really up to Radjabov to dictate policy. However, there are also a large number of chess players who completely agree with what Radjabov wrote for Azeri Sport and are none too pleased about MVL taking advantage.

[John McKenna]

Anyone think Radjabov's statement the least bit racist?

[JustinHorton]

. However, there are also a large number of chess players who completely agree with what Radjabov wrote for Azeri Sport and are none too pleased about MVL taking advantage.

This may well be right, but is this a personal judgment or something you're getting from somewhere else?

[Chris Rice]

. However, there are also a large number of chess players who completely agree with what Radjabov wrote for Azeri Sport and are none too pleased about MVL taking advantage.

This may well be right, but is this a personal judgment or something you're getting from somewhere else?

It's not my opinion but gleaned from the two feeds I mentioned earlier. We're going to need some more information on the chain of events from FIDE, Radjabov and MVL before we can come to any conclusions about what has happened.

[Chris Rice]

Got a bit more info:

Following the first publications, FIDE, Emil Sutovsky and Radjabov engage in some exchanges on social networks. Teimour Radjabov said: "I received a letter from FIDE saying that the tournament could not be rescheduled" neither legally nor practically ". They gave me the deadline of March 6 at 0:00 am Moscow time to respond, and added, "If we do not respond to this letter, we will assume that you have withdrawn from the tournament." About two hours before the deadline indicated, I replied politely: I confirm that I am withdrawing. "

In addition, Wang Hao, the other Chinese participant in the candidates' tournament, also offered to postpone this competition: “I believe that FIDE should postpone all official tournaments. If this is not the case, I am not sure that the international federation has a plan to face the unforeseeable consequences of the disease. "

[Mick Norris]

Cheers Mick, its not clear to me from that whether Radjabov has withdrawn or whether he's been thrown out of the tournament. The discussion on the FIDE and Sutovsky's feeds run along the lines that FIDE have a Medical Commission who recommended a course of action and its not really up to Radjabov to dictate policy. However, there are also a large number of chess players who completely agree with what Radjabov wrote for Azeri Sport and are none too pleased about MVL taking advantage.

I've no idea whether Radjabov is right to withdraw, but MVL is the reserve, so if the Candidates is going ahead, he's not taking advantage by accepting the invitation; maybe like Denmark in the football Euro 1992, he'll go on and win

To answer Justin's question, I've no idea what info Radjabov is getting from Azeri media, government, chess federation etc, neither have I any idea what his untranslated statement sounds like to a Russian speaker, so I'd prefer to think he's not racist (even though there's an undercurrent of that in the coronavirus debate in the UK and overseas)

[Jonathan Rogers]

personally I wonder how desperate Radjabov was to play this tournament anyway. And if I had to pick a player to drop out, then, aside from expresssing regret that I was almost spoilt for choice in this particular candidates', it would probably have been Radjabov.

[Matt Mackenzie]

People were wondering if he would take part almost as soon as he qualified, tbf.

[Richard Bates]

Anyone think Radjabov's statement the least bit racist?

It’s certainly unfortunately phrased where the Chinese players are concerned. Quite why the Chinese players should be subject to pre tournament quarantine but other players shouldn’t is nonsensical.