2022 Candidates Tournament (Madrid, Spain)

FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich greeted the journalists and media personnel today and gave them a tour of the venue.
Right after the tour, he teamed up with Spanish-Ukrainian IM Olga Alexandrova and played hand and brain chess against two journalists. #FIDECandidates pic.twitter.com/dscmQwLwip

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) June 17, 2022

Ding 0-1 Nepomniachtchi
Duda ½-½ Rapport
Caruana 1-0 Nakamura
Radjabov ½-½ Firouzja

The highly-anticipated opening of the Candidates’ tournament started with four tense battles leading to speculation that there would be four decisive results. The venue is very exquisite with classical paintings and ornate architectural designs enhancing the prestige of the event.

Opening of the World Candidates 2022
Photo by FIDE/Stev Bonhage

Ding-Nepomniachtchi, 0-1

It would be the top seed Ding losing the first decisive result of the tournament as he got caught on his back foot, played inaccurately in the middlegame, and fell to a brutal mating attack. Nepomniachtchi finished off the game with the nice 32…Bh3+!

It was a crushing blow for Ding who had worked hard to qualify after travel restrictions jeopardized his participation. Perhaps he is still working into form, but it will need to stabilize quickly since another setback would make a recovery difficult. 

Duda-Rapport, 1/2

This may have been a game of missed opportunities for the Polish player against a Sicilian Taimanov. Jan-Krzysztof Duda has a structural advantage and better bishop pair exerting pressure on the queenside. Ultimately, these bishops were ushering the passed a-pawn down the board, but Rapport was able to confront and block the pawn’s advance.

Caruana-Nakamura, 1-0

The battle of the two compatriots. The only federation with more than one candidate, rules were established so that these matches occur early in the tournament to avoid any prearranged results. This game would be the 147th game between the two who have battled since their teenage years. Fabiano Caruana held a 7-5 edge in classical battles so this one would be a thriller.

Hikaru Nakamura was perhaps a bit overambitious with his kingside advance, and had to end up castling on the airy side of the board. This was a disadvantage as white would always have permanent threats against the king with heavy material on the board. Nakamura tried trading queens on a couple of occasions to ease the pressure, but Caruana kept the queens on and kept tightening the screws. In the end, there were simply too many holes to repair and Nakamura was unable to avoid massive losses after 50.Qg4+

Radjabov-Firouzja, 1/2

An exciting battle with the young 18-year-old showing some flashing of his talent. This attempt was only enough for equality, but the phenom still had to fight in a R+P ending a pawn down.

Tactics with 18…Rxb2! from Firouzja: https://t.co/60iiNkcd6k #c24live #FIDECandidates pic.twitter.com/D2vjLpHb8F

— chess24.com (@chess24com) June 17, 2022

Round 7 – Saturday, 25 June 2022

Rapport 0-1 Nepomniachtchi
Duda ½-½ Nakamura
Ding ½-½ Firouzja
Caruana 1-0 Radjabov

Again… Nepomniachtchi and Caruana seem to be winning in tandem during this tournament. This becomes the third time that both players won (1st, 6th, 7th). If anyone is to catch the Russian player, they will need to keep pace. Nepo is now on 5.5/7 while Caruana is just a half-point behind at 5/7. An amazing seven out of the eight decisive games in the tournament have come from the two leaders. This marks the official halfway point.

Rapport 0-1 Nepomniachtchi

This battle brought some interesting commentary. Caruana was asked about his view of the game and he thought such a try by Richard Rapport was a bit naive with the speculative queen sacrifice.

Nevertheless, Rapport showed some grit in his attempt.

Despite the loss, Rapport deserves praise. Many chess pundits who were following the game said that Rapport’s decision to decline an early draw and enter a weaker and riskier position instead was unnecessary and that he should have accepted reality. That may be objectively true, however, it is exactly those who refuse to accept (a dim) reality that stand a chance to make a difference, and sometimes manage to do it. Rapport has shown that he is here to fight whatever the odds and throw a good show for the audience, the people who love chess. From a wider perspective, chess was granted another interesting story to tell, which goes beyond the standard reciting of lines and is much more about psychology, courage and character. A rare exception to dull and quick theoretical draws which – however realistic – make the game less attractive for everyone.~Milan Dinic/FIDE

Duda 1/2-1/2 Nakamura

There was nothing coming out of this Nimzo-Indian as Nakamura equalized with ease. He then seized some intitiative with a firm grip after 19…Re4. This edge wasn’t quite enough as white played actively and got a 3 vs. 3 rook ending.

Ding 1/2-1/2 Firouzja

Caruana 1-0 Radjabov

Radjabov trotted out the O’Kelly Sicilian variation after 1.e4 c5 Nf3 a6!? a rare sight at the highest levels. It seemed like black was trying to steer away from known theory, but ended up with an uncomfortable postition after 13…0-0-0. There were other critical moments of the games, but the Azeri players kept piling up mistakes. Caruana marched his white king all the way up the board to g6, virtually guaranteeing a substantial endgame advantage. Black had created two passed pawns, but they were far too slow as white’s pieces were poised in optimal positions.

All game notes Carlos Alberto Colodro (ChessBase.com)

For a long time, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana carried most of the decisive results as they were simply dominating the field. Today, three players scored their first victories. Alireza Firouzja was the one who seemed the most relieved. If we look at his photo from the opening ceremonies to now, he seems to have aged a few years. Hopefully, this experience will provide valuable experience. Apart from Firouzja, Ding Liren and Teimour Radjabov scored their first wins.

Firouzja 1-0 Rapport

What a relief! Alireza Firouzja won his first game after very uneven play putting him at the bottom of the field. In his game against Richard Rapport, he demonstrated why many are high on his talent.

Radjabov 1-0 Nakamura

After coming off of an impressive win over Caruana, Nakamura had closed the gap and was now only 1/2-point from second. In a tournament where only first place is a desirable result, Nakamura’s loss is a tremendous setup and shows that while he can win “on-demand,” he also has problems with consistency.

After Nakamura ate up time on the clock, he decided to sacrifice a pawn, but Radjabov simply grabbed it and took advantage of his time advantage and better structure. By the time Nakamura was able to relieve some pressure, Radjabov started pushing the a-pawn up the board. and it turned out to be the deciding factor. Nakamura does another wonderful job of recapping this game in a very balanced way.

Caruana 1/2-1/2 Nepomniachtchi

This was a fun game even though it ended peaceful. Caruana was trying to close the gap even further and faced the Petroff. He came up with a novel plan and ended up with an advantage. By move 20, pieces were zipping around the board, and it was hard to work through the maelstrom of complications. However, Nepo was capable and showed his class with 23…Kf7! This gave fans and commentators a lot to ponder and many scrambled for the engines. After massive exchanges, the game was over by move 40.

Ding 1-0 Duda

Ding one his first game grinding out a win against Duda, the only player remaining without a win. Ding’s positions are usually slow without the violent shifts. This game plodded along and he kept increasing his grip.

Round 10 – Wednesday, 29 June 2022

Rapport 0-1 Ding
Duda 1-0 Caruana
Nepomniachtchi ½-½ Radjabov
Nakamura 1-0 Firouzja

Jan-Krzysztof Duda won his first game completing the field of winners. This was one of three decisive results with Ding Liren picking up his second in a row over Fabiano Caruana. This loss put Caruana in a tie for second with Ding and Hikaru Nakamura who beat Alireza Firouzja. After today’s round, all three were on 5.5/10 while Ian Nepomniachtchi sat at 7/10. With four rounds remaining, there is still a possibility of catching the Russian.

Rapport 0-1 Ding

Ding wins again after grinding down Richard Rapport with the black pieces. Ding came up with an interesting Ra8-b8-c7 maneuver that puzzled commentators. That rook jaunt was critical and plowed into white’s position with 21…Rxc3. There was some fireworks as the Hungarian tried to blow Ding off the board after 25.Ng3! Rapport took tremendous risks and ended up down two pieces for a rook. Ding sacrificed back exchange to get his passed pawn rolling.

They entered an opposite-colored bishop ending and all signs pointed to a draw… except that the white king was too far away from the queenside action. Ding had calculated that the white king would not be able to assist his bishop in blockading the pawn.

Duda 1-0 Caruana

Duda finally got his first win and it was a very important one. After Caruana tried hard to force the issue with 17…g5? the Polish player rearranged his pieces and exploited black’s exposed king. It was an inexplicable error on Caruana’s part. The thunderbolt occurred on 36.Nh7!! throwing black’s entire kingside in disarray. Another front was opened with 39.f4 putting Caruana in a serious time crunch. After 39…Nc5, 40.fxe5! is winning. Black had to donate a piece.

Nepomniachtchi 1/2-1/2 Radjabov

Nakamura 1-0 Firouzja

Last November, Hikaru Nakamura addressed an assertion that he had “retired” from competitive play. Visibly annoyed he retorted, “I’m going to play in the FIDE Grand Prix. I’m going to win it. I’m going to go beat Alireza in the Candidates.” Of course, his prophecies turned out to be true at the end of the 10th round with an impressive win. This is one of the most instructive win and if one watches the video, you’ll learn new terms like “stacking rooks,” “jumbo pony” and others. The position became critical after he sacked the exchange with to get the jumbo pony planted on f5.

Round 11 – Thursday, 30 June 2022

Nakamura ½-½ Rapport
Firouzja 0-1 Nepomniachtchi
Radjabov ½-½ Duda
Caruana 0-1 Ding

Ian Nepomniachtchi crushed Alireza Firouzja who tried recovering from his loss to Hikaru Nakamura by playing 268 hyperbullet (30-second) games the night before playing the tournament leader. While most condemned this diversion, his opponent (Daniel Naroditsky) defended the match in principle. However, some reports mentioned that he played seven hours until 6am. It did not reflect well when the next day he had an abysmal performance and was totally in bullet mode (16.g4?) against Nepo. There were plenty of jokes in social media.

There were others such as Judit Polgar admonishing the young player’s habits.

It may also show that he either resigned himself to a poor result or simply lacks the discipline and professionalism needed to remain in the elite fraternity of chess players. The game was a total disaster. More on this later.

Nakamura 1/2-1/2 Rapport

This game went on for 96 moves! Here is some commentary by FIDE reporter:

Hikaru Nakamura and Richard Rapport ended up drawing their game in the Sveshnikov variation of the Sicilian. In a complex and sharp position the two sides were pushing and looking for chances, but they were evenly matched. The game eventually transpired into a knight and bishop endgame where White had an extra pawn, but all pieces were on the kingside and it was an easy draw for Black. Nakamura decided to test Rapport’s endgame knowledge, so the play dragged on for quite some time, but Black comfortably held White to a draw. Nakamura has six points and still has theoretical chances to reach the top, while Rapport is on 4.5.

~ Milan Dinic/FIDE

Firouzja 0-1 Nepomniachtchi

Perhaps the game of the round, but not in a good way.

Many picked Alireza Firouzja to be the challenger to Magnus Carlsen. In fact, the World Champion handpicked the 19-year old phenom as one he would like to play from the new generation. However, this may have been too much pressure. Despite Firouzja’s performance in 2021, they were mostly in the online platform which may have a different feel since younger players are more comfortable in that format. Predictably, Firouzja had to resist bullet habits, but in the 11th round 268 bullet games the previous night, he got the lesson he deserved. GM Daniel King recounts the debacle against Ian Nepomniachtchi.

Totally awful performance which sent shockwaves through the chess world. Firouzja (and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave) will not be in Chennai for the Chess Olympiad and will most likely be playing online blitz and bullet. It may have been good for him to compete in Chennai to get a better vision of the board.

Garry Kasparov weighed in.

Radjabov 1/2-1/2 Duda

Caruana 0-1 Ding

Fabiano Caruana tried to rebound from yesterday’s loss to get back into the fray. There was a wild position with Caruana’s white knight on g7 and bishop on h6. On move 23, Caruana played 23.Ne6 and Ding sacrificed the exchange for full compensation. Later Caruana started to go wrong and his white king got exposed. Black’s active pieces gave Ding the advantage as Caruana struggled to hold. He had 61.Bxg5! which was equal, but he missed it as his time was melting away. The American collapsed and it would be his third loss in four games.

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