Candidates Tournament 2020

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JustinHorton
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Candidates Tournament 2020

Post by JustinHorton » Mon Nov 11, 2019 12:45 pm

Will be in Yekaterinburg, March 15 to April 5.
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Mick Norris
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2020

Post by Mick Norris » Mon Nov 11, 2019 4:04 pm

As expected, although not sure the dates have been specified previously
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2020

Post by Chris Rice » Mon Nov 11, 2019 5:51 pm

Sutovsky also added on FB: "Kirill Alekseenko gets the Wild Card it if both Ian Nepomniachtchi and Grischuk qualify through GP, or the match to be staged between these two (three) Russian players.

P.S. Theoretically, Dubov and Karjakin still have a chance to claim the third place in GP, and be also in contention."

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Re: Candidates Tournament 2020

Post by Mick Norris » Mon Nov 11, 2019 6:17 pm

If Dubov wins game 2 of the semi to gain a bonus point, plus wins the final without need of a tiebreak, he gets 10 points to add to his existing 2 leaving him on 12

Grischuk is already on 14 and MVL on 13, so he can't get a qualifying place, but yes, he would then be in 3rd; however, Shak is on 10 and Nepo on 9, with Jerusalem still to come, so they wouldn't need much to overtake him; Wojtaszek is on 5, so a win in Jerusalem would also do it for him

Karjakin would need to win Jerusalem winning every round in the classical to take his current 1 point towards that level, so very unlikely

MVL plays Jerusalem so he must be favourite for a top 2 place; I hope he gets it as he won't get the wildcard
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JustinHorton
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2020

Post by JustinHorton » Mon Nov 11, 2019 7:03 pm

I'd love a three-way match for a qualifying place, it'd be just like the old days
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Tim Harding
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2020

Post by Tim Harding » Tue Nov 12, 2019 7:11 pm

Grischuk has eliminated MVL in their second semi-final game in Hamburg which makes it likely that Grischuk will qualify for the Candidates.

Duda v Dubov was drawn today so they will have a playoff tomorrow to decide who plays Grischuk, but G must be favourite to win the event now. That would probably (definitely?) mean he would get one of the two spots available from the Grand Prix.

MVL looks like missing out again but if he wins the last GP, in Israel next month, maybe he can still do it?
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Paul Cooksey
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2020

Post by Paul Cooksey » Tue Nov 12, 2019 8:05 pm

Grischuk probably needs to win the final to be absolutely certain. But even if he loses, it would probably require 2 of the other 3 contenders to reach the final in Jerusalem. I will be glad to see him in the candidates. A long shot to win, but certain to play interesting chess.

I think MVL goes into Jerusalem the favourite.
MVL 13
Shak 10
Nepo 9
with most players going home with less than 3 points Shak or Nepo likely to need to a least the reach the semis and hope MVL does not.

I think a 3 way match would be a bit awkward. Another reason to be glad Grischuk likely to qualify. But I would definitely look forward to a match between Nepo and Alekseenko. I'd like to see a few more matches in the elite calendar.

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Re: Candidates Tournament 2020

Post by Mick Norris » Wed Nov 13, 2019 9:57 am

According to Martin Bennedik, following MVL's defeat yesterday, Giri has qualified for the Candidates by average rating

GP standings (last chance for MVL) are:
Grischuk 17 with the final still to come (if he wins, then he will be on 20, or 21 if he wins in the classical I think)

MVL 13
Shak 10
Nepo 9
all have Jerusalem still to play

Neither Duda nor Dubov can overtake MVL I think

Wojtaszek 5 would need to reach the final in Jerusalem without tiebreaks, or win it, to overtake MVL if MVL got knocked out in round 1
So 4 would need to win Jerusalem
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2020

Post by Chris Rice » Fri Feb 07, 2020 12:33 pm

Looks like the Coronavirus may well affect this tournament. Peter Doggers article reports that Wei Yei has had to withdraw from the Prague tournament this month to be replaced by Firouzja and Ding Liren and Wang Hao may have massive problems making the Candidates next month if nothing changes. Depending on who you listen to, the death rate from this is a few hundred at the moment but like the SARS outbreak the figures could be being misreported by the Chinese, in order to prevent mass panic I assume, as suggested in this article in The Sun, which admittedly has never been the greatest source of information for the truth.

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Re: Candidates Tournament 2020

Post by Mick Norris » Fri Feb 07, 2020 1:14 pm

There's just over 930 hours for them to sort it out before the Candidates starts, but I assume that Ding & Wang will be there with Caruana, Radjabov, Giri, Grischuk, Nepo & Alekseenko
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2020

Post by Paul Cooksey » Fri Feb 07, 2020 3:14 pm

Peter Doggers on the disruption to the Chinese player's preparation: https://www.chess.com/news/view/coronav ... candidates

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Re: Candidates Tournament 2020

Post by Geoff Chandler » Sat Feb 08, 2020 11:44 am

They might have to play the games on line (Fischer playing in Cuba in 1965 style).

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Re: Candidates Tournament 2020

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Sat Feb 08, 2020 3:10 pm

JustinHorton wrote:
Mon Nov 11, 2019 7:03 pm
I'd love a three-way match for a qualifying place, it'd be just like the old days
Back in 1985, there was a three way match for a *reserve* spot in the Candidates - Speelman won.
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JustinHorton
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2020

Post by JustinHorton » Sat Feb 08, 2020 7:10 pm

I don't think I was paying sufficient attention at the time (I didn't really play OTB chess for a few years around then and may have missed things that I'd have kept up with otherwise, but this seems to have been to establish a reserve for a Candidates Tournament the winners of which went into a series of Candidates Matches, a somewhat baroque arrangement.
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2020

Post by Chris Rice » Sat Feb 15, 2020 9:11 am

The pairings have now been done. Only things I noted from the ChessBase article are that the Chinese players are paired together for Round 1 and that the major sponsor, Sima-Land, which I had never heard of previously, is one of the largest wholesale online stores of consumer goods in Russia. Finally, as I understand it, they are going to have 5 players playing white and only 3 black in all rounds as an experiment to reduce the number of draws.

Edit: I see from the Chess,com article that the two Chinese players meeting in the first round was deliberate "As the regulations stipulate, players from the same country are facing each other in the early rounds. The two Chinese players meet in rounds 1 and 8, and the three Russians play each other in rounds 1-3 and 8-10."

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