Candidates Tournament 2020


The 2020 Candidates Tournament is an eight-player chess double round-robin tournament to decide the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2021. The winner will earn the right to challenge the defending world champion, Magnus Carlsen of Norway.
The first half of the tournament was played in Yekaterinburg, Russia, from 17 March to 25 March 2020. It was suspended at the halfway point due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Ian Nepomniachtchi and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave sharing the lead. The second half tournament is expected to be played later in 2020.

Participants

The qualifiers for the Candidates Tournament are:
The regulations stated that if one or more players declined the invitation to play in the Candidates Tournament, the players with the next highest average ratings would qualify. On March 6, this rule was used to select Vachier-Lagrave, after Radjabov withdrew.
Compared to previous cycles, the Grand Swiss was a new addition, and the number of qualifiers by rating was reduced from two to one. The format of the Grand Prix tournament was also changed.

Qualifier by rating

The qualifier on rating was the player with the highest average rating for the 12 ratings periods from February 2019 to January 2020, who did not qualify by another method. To be eligible, a player must have played at least 30 games during the 12 ratings periods, and at least 18 in the final 6 ratings periods.
The following table shows the ratings of the players with the top average ratings from February 2019 to January 2020. It includes the first eleven players except for world champion Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Ding Liren, Alexander Grischuk and Ian Nepomniachtchi. All of the players in the table met the above game count requirements.
The [|qualifier by rating] was Anish Giri.
PlayerFeb 2019Mar 2019Apr 2019May 2019Jun 2019Jul 2019Aug 2019Sep 2019Oct 2019Nov 2019Dec 2019Jan 2020Average
Rating
4 Anish Giri2797279727972787277927792779278027802776276927682782.33
5 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave2780277527732780277927752778277427742777278027702776.25
6 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov2790279027932781277427652764276727672772277227702775.42
9 Viswanathan Anand2779277927742774276727642756276527652757275727582766.25
10 Levon Aronian2767276127632762275227562765275827582772277527732763.50
11 Wesley So2765276227622754275427632776276727672760276027652762.91

Wild card

One wild card was selected by the organizer. This player must have participated in at least two of the three qualifying tournaments and also must have met one of the following conditions: highest non-qualifier in the World Cup and also in the final 4 of the World Cup; highest non-qualifier in the Grand Swiss or Grand Prix; or in the top 10 by average rating from February 2019 to January 2020.
Four players were eligible: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave ; Kirill Alekseenko ; Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Levon Aronian. Viswanathan Anand was ninth in the rating list but only participated in the Grand Swiss, and thus was ineligible to be picked as the wild card player.
On 11 November 2019, Andrey Filatov, the president of the Russian Chess Federation, announced the intention to use the wild card to choose a Russian player, stating: "The decision to host this event in Russia guarantees that there will be a Russian player participating. We’re still considering different options how we’ll choose a Russian wild-card but it will probably be a match or match-tournament with Kirill Alekseenko ." At the time of the announcement no Russian had qualified for the Candidates; and Alekseenko, Grischuk and Nepomniachtchi were sure to be eligible for the wild card, although the latter two also had a chance to qualify via the Grand Prix.
On 22 December 2019, the Grand Prix results were finalised, with Grischuk and Nepomniachtchi qualifying, meaning Alekseenko was the only Russian eligible for the wild card.
On 23 December 2019, the Russian Chess Federation officially nominated Kirill Alekseenko as the wild card.
On the same day, managers of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave expressed their concern with the current FIDE rules in an open letter to the Russian Chess Federation, asking to organize a match between Vachier-Lagrave and Alekseenko for their wild card placement, on the basis that Vachier-Lagrave was eligible for the wild card in three different ways. However, Alekseenko was confirmed as the wild card. Alekseenko himself encouraged the abolishment of the wild card in a later interview.

Organization

The tournament is an eight player, double round-robin tournament, meaning there are 14 rounds with each player facing each other twice: once with the black pieces and once with the white pieces. The tournament winner qualifies to play Magnus Carlsen for the World Championship late in 2020.

Regulations

The time control is 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, 50 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game; plus a 30-second increment per move starting from move 1.
In the event of a tie, tie breaks are applied in the following order: 1) head-to-head score among tied players, 2) total number of wins, 3) Sonneborn–Berger score rapid chess tie-break games. If more than two players are tied for first after the first three tie-break methods, then the two players to play the tie-break are decided by lot.

Schedule

FIDE announced the pairings on February 14, 2020. All games begin at 4pm local time, except Round 14, which begins at 3pm local time.
Players from the same country must play each other in the earlier rounds: Ding Liren and Wang Hao play each other in rounds 1 and 8; while Grischuk, Nepomniachtchi and Alekseenko play each other in rounds 1 to 3 and rounds 8 to 10.
DateDayEvent
16 MarchMondayOpening ceremony
17 MarchTuesdayRound 1
18 MarchWednesdayRound 2
19 MarchThursdayRound 3
20 MarchFridayRest day
21 MarchSaturdayRound 4
22 MarchSundayRound 5
23 MarchMondayRound 6
24 MarchTuesdayRest day
25 MarchWednesdayRound 7

The original schedule had the final round on April 3 and the closing ceremony on April 4.

Impact of coronavirus on the tournament

Ding Liren and Wang Hao

The COVID-19 pandemic, which was mainly confined to China in January and early February 2020, affected the preparation of the Chinese players, Wang Hao and Ding Liren. On February 10, both players admitted that they cancelled their training camps and had to prepare online with their assistants: Ding Liren was training in his home city of Wenzhou; while Wang Hao was out of China, and planned to only briefly return to China before the Candidates. Wang Hao later decided to not return to China at all before the tournament.
On February 19, Russia announced a partial ban on Chinese nationals entering the country due to the coronavirus outbreak in China. FIDE announced that the Chinese delegation was travelling on humanitarian visas and therefore would be permitted to enter Russia, but they were advised to come "well in advance" before the tournament.
On March 2, Ding Liren and his team passed the Russian border control in Moscow and went to an isolated cottage house at the outskirts of Moscow, for two weeks of medical quarantine and observation before the start of the tournament.

Radjabov withdraws, replaced by Vachier-Lagrave

On March 6, citing concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, Teimour Radjabov withdrew from the tournament. His place was filled by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, as he was next on the qualifier by rating list.
Radjabov had asked FIDE to postpone the event due to the coronavirus outbreak. FIDE responded that this could not be done "legally and practically", and gave Radjabov until March 6 to confirm his participation; Radjabov responded by formally withdrawing.

FIDE's new regulations on playing conditions

On March 7, FIDE announced that the tournament could only be postponed by order of the Russian authorities, and stated this again on March 14: ″It is not the responsibility of FIDE to cancel FIDE-rated tournaments in any given Federation. Each Federation may take their own decisions ...″
FIDE also announced health and safety measures, including screening of visitors for body temperature, and making handshakes optional.
If one of the players would test positive for COVID-19, the tournament would be stopped immediately and resumed later in the year, with points counting from games already played.

FIDE suspends the tournament

On March 26, the Russian government announced an interruption of air traffic with foreign countries taking effect on March 27. This prompted FIDE to suspend the tournament as the organization could not guarantee players' and officials' return upon the completion of the tournament. Under the terms and conditions, the first seven rounds will be retained. The tournament will continue from round eight after the pandemic.

Reactions

As a consequence of the postponement, Radjabov called for his reinstatement in the tournament, as well as considering legal action under the circumstances he is not reinstated. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich indicated that Radjabov will be given wildcard for the next cycle in 2022, subject to approval from FIDE Council.

Results

Standings

Note: Numbers in the crosstable in a white background indicate the result playing the respective opponent with the white pieces.

Overview

Nepomniachtchi took an early lead with wins in rounds 1, 5 and 6, but was caught by Vachier-Lagrave, who defeated him in round 7. The tournament was halted at the halfway point, with every player having played each other once. Vachier-Lagrave and Nepomniachtchi shared the lead on 4½/7, with Vachier-Lagrave's win in their individual game putting him provisionally ahead on tie-breaks. A point behind on 3½ were Caruana, Giri, Grischuk and Wang Hao. Ding Liren, who was one of the pre-tournament favourites, started the tournament badly with two consecutive losses, and shared last place on 2½ with Alekseenko.

Results by round

First named player is white. 1–0 indicates a white win, 0–1 indicates a black win, and ½–½ indicates a draw. Numbers in parentheses show players' scores prior to the round.

Points by round

For each player, the difference between wins and losses after each round is shown.
The players with the highest difference for each round are marked with green background.
The players with no more chance of advancing to the title match, in each round, are marked with red background.