Chinese no. 1 & world no. 3 Ding Liren began the #FIDECandidates as joint favourite but suffered a disastrous start with losses to Wang Hao & MVL. He now needs an epic fightback & starts with Black vs. Wang Hao in tomorrow's Round 8:

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/fide-candidates-2020/8/1/2

Alexander Grischuk is the one player to draw all his games in the 1st half of the #FIDECandidates. For now he's only 6th on tiebreaks, but he has White vs. both leaders to come. He starts with Black vs. Alekseenko tomorrow: https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/fide-candidates-2020/8/1/4

Wang Hao was reluctant to start the #FIDECandidates but his 1st round victory over Chinese compatriot Ding Liren was of huge significance. He nearly beat MVL as well, but was punished for one bad move vs. Nepo. He has White vs. Ding tomorrow: https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/fide-candidates-2020/8/1/2

Anish Giri ended a sequence of 14 #FIDECandidates draws in Moscow 2016 by starting with a loss in Yekaterinburg, but he hit back to join the 4-player group on 50% with a win over Alekseenko. He's Black vs. Nepo in tomorrow's crucial 8th round: https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/fide-candidates-2020/8/1/3

Pre-tournament favourite Fabiano Caruana is a point behind after some deep preparation vs. Ding Liren backfired, but if he can win tomorrow's game with White vs. co-leader MVL things will look very different!

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/fide-candidates-2020/8/1/1

#FIDECandidates

Caption this photo from today #FIDECandidates

🔗 Lennart Ootes (@LennartOotes)

30-year-old Ian Nepomniachtchi amazingly only entered the world Top 10 in 2019, but he raced to +3 in his 1st #FIDECandidates before losing to MVL. He has 4 Whites in the 2nd half, starting vs. Giri tomorrow!

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/fide-candidates-2020/8/1/3

Leader Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is also playing his 1st #FIDECandidates, as a late replacement for Radjabov! If his first 2 games go well - Black vs. world no. 2 Caruana & no. 3 Ding Liren - he'll have a great chance to challenge Magnus!

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/fide-candidates-2020/8/1/1

A press conference dedicated to the #FIDECandidates Tournament, which resumes tomorrow in Yekaterinburg, was carried out today at the building of the Sverdlovsk union of journalists.

Press release: https://fide.com/news/1030

"Pure horror!" (Magnus Carlsen) for MVL as Fabiano Caruana unleashed a devastating novelty to win the first game back in Yekaterinburg and blow the #FIDECandidates race wide open! Full report:

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/candidates-r8-caruana-stuns-mvl-to-blow-race-wide-open

#c24live

Today yesterday's winners meet in Alekseenko-Caruana, MVL's life gets no easier vs. Ding, Giri & Wang Hao have a chance to leave 50%, and Grischuk perhaps has a last chance to enter the #FIDECandidates race by beating leader Nepo!

Anish Giri scores his 2nd win of the #FIDECandidates to get right into the hunt to challenge Magnus Carlsen!
"A very, very good game - he managed to showcase all his strengths here!" (Magnus)

Here's the full Anish Giri vs. Wang Hao game. Finding 32.b4 and 33.Rc4 was so powerful for White!

#FIDECandidates

Also known as Kosteniuk is a former women's world champion and as we speak she is LIVE commenting on the #FIDECandidates with Sergey Karyakin, Evgeny Tomashevsky, and Kateryna Lagno!

https://twitch.tv/chesscomru

Magnus: "[Nepo] couldn’t quite understand why he wasn’t consistently playing in the best tournaments 6-7 years ago & I said it’s because you cannot maintain focus. You should be one of the best players in the world but it’s all up to you!"
https://chess24.com/en/read/news/candidates-r10-nepo-closes-in-on-match-with-magnus
#FIDECandidates

Congratulations to Ian Nepomniachtchi, who has won the #FIDECandidates with a round to spare and will play Magnus Carlsen for the World Chess Championship title!
https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/fide-candidates-2020/13/1/2
#c24live

Congratulations to Ian Nepomniachtchi for winning the #FIDECandidates!
Solve the puzzle here: https://chesspuzzle.net/Puzzle/154609

Interview with Ian Nepomniachtchi (in English, with Russian subtitles)
In the big interview, conducted on the evening of the last round of the #FIDECandidates, the new challenger for the world championship Ian Nepomniachtchi talks in detail about the tournament, preparation, Magnus Carlsen, and more.

Firouzja Wins FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss, Reaches Candidates With Caruana

Alireza Firouzja won the FIDE #GrandSwiss2021 as the only player to finish on 8/11 after all the key games ended in draws in the final round. Firouzja qualified for the #FIDECandidates together with
Fabiano Caruana
. Final report:

The #GrandSwiss2021 has finished after 11 exciting rounds! The winner Alireza Firouzja and the runner-up Fabiano Caruana, qualify for the 2022 #FIDECandidates, while Oparin, Yu Yangyi, Keymer, Vachier-Lagrave, Predke and Shirov qualify for the Grand Prix Series. 👏

1.Carlsen or Nepo
2.Radjabov
3.Duda
4.Karjakin
5.Firouzja
6.Caruana
+2 players from the 2022 Grand Prix series in Berlin