Madrid Candidates 16th June to Tue 5th Jul 2022

[LawrenceCooper]

No problem in having two early frontrunners, though it seems a bit much that they won five of the six decisive games so far! Of the others only Naka has won as much as one game, and that earns him sole third on 50% ...

Mind you, most players could have won one or even two games with just a bit more composure at certain moments. So hopefully a third runner will emerge in the second half.

Rapport also has 50% (=6).

Ah yes, and he should perhaps have had the most decisive games so far!

To think if Radjabov had found Bh2 he would have been joint third

[Jonathan Bryant]

Ding has missed two fairly clear winning chances as well as having that shocker against Nepo to start with ....

It's really hard to get past his decision to arrive just a day or two before play started. It's easy to be wise after the event, of course, but I think most people's reactions on hearing of his arrival was, "What? Why not last week?"

But yes. In a couple of years time he's going to be up against a lot of young guns.

[Matthew Turner]

It seems difficult to avoid concluding that the players that are at the top have the strongest 'support networks' with them. The players that are doing less well appear to have the weakest support networks (which in some cases seems incredibly surprising). I'd predict that the top 4 now will finish as the 4 come the end of the event.

[LawrenceCooper]

It seems difficult to avoid concluding that the players that are at the top have the strongest 'support networks' with them. The players that are doing less well appear to have the weakest support networks (which in some cases seems incredibly surprising). I'd predict that the top 4 now will finish as the 4 come the end of the event.

Will you go further and predict that the bottom four will finish as the bottom four?

[Mick Norris]

It seems difficult to avoid concluding that the players that are at the top have the strongest 'support networks' with them. The players that are doing less well appear to have the weakest support networks (which in some cases seems incredibly surprising).

Can you expand a little on this Matthew?

I thought Firouzja was well supported and has MVL as a second

[Mick Norris]

TWIC round 6 report

As the tournament enters its second rest day and is almost at the half way stage it already looks like a straight battle between Nepomniachtchi and Caruana for first place and perhaps indeed we'll see these two fight the next World Championship match if Carlsen doesn't defend his title.

chessbythenumbers round 7 preview

Prior to this year’s Candidates tournament, the last two players to win were Nepomniachtchi in 2020/21 and before that Caruana in 2018. Our model now puts the chances at almost 90% that one of them will repeat their success, with Nepo having the better chances as he sits alone in first place for now, and is officially the “odds-on” favorite as his chances have finally crept above 50%.

[Matthew Turner]

It seems difficult to avoid concluding that the players that are at the top have the strongest 'support networks' with them. The players that are doing less well appear to have the weakest support networks (which in some cases seems incredibly surprising).

Can you expand a little on this Matthew?

I thought Firouzja was well supported and has MVL as a second

As far as I know, we don't know who Firouzja has for seconds, they haven't appeared at the event. He has his father and his brother with him. The FIDE photographer witnessed their interaction and thought it wasn't necessarily the best for encouraging a positive state of mind. On Wednesday afternoon, I chatted with a group of people who claimed to have had breakfast with Nakamura that morning and from what they said they had talked about I imagine that would be a good way of being settled and ready for the fight.

[JustinHorton]

O'Kelly Sicilian
Quick Petroff draw

[Jonathan Bryant]

O'Kelly Sicilian
Quick Petroff draw

Rapport still pretending to think so not quite a draw yet

[Jonathan Bryant]

Rapport still pretending to think so not quite a draw yet

I stand corrected. Apparently he prefers playing a worse position an hour down on the clock to taking the afternoon off

[Matt Mackenzie]

Nepo self destructed against Magnus, now it seems he is getting his opponents to do similarly against him.

[LawrenceCooper]

Nepo self destructed against Magnus, now it seems he is getting his opponents to do similarly against him.

It took Nepo until half way through round 6 to start doing so against Magnus though

[LawrenceCooper]

Another win for Nepo takes him to +4 at the half way point.

[JustinHorton]

Genuinely dismal, sub-professional performance from Rapport, and a huge bonus for Nepo. And now Caruana has to see if he can win against Radjabov to keep in touch. He's a doubled pawn up. They've only played 21 moves so far.

[JustinHorton]

Put in mind of another occasion on which Radjabov was on the end of a long grind in the Candidates.