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The stage is set for the FIDE 2024 Candidates Chess Tournament that will get underway in Toronto, Canada on 3 April. The tournament will go on till 22 April, with 16 players — The top eight in the open and top eight in the women’s category vying for the title. The winner of each of the two categories, will get to face the reigning World Champion — China’s Ding Liren in men’s and Ju Wenjin in women’s.
A total of five Indians — R Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi and D Gukesh in open and R Vaishali and Konery Humpy in women’s have qualified for the event from the country after undergoing an exhilarating qualification process where they had to win certain tournaments.
Here’s all you need to know about the 2024 Candidates tournament:
Who are the players taking part in 2024 Candidates tournament?
Open
Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE rating 2758): Qualified as runner-up of previous World Championship match
R Praggnanandhaa (FIDE rating 2747): Qualified as runner-up of 2023 Chess World Cup
Fabio Caruana (FIDE rating 2804): Finished in third place at 2023 Chess World Cup
Nijat Abasov (FIDE rating 2632): Qualified after finishing 2023 Chess World Cup in fourth place, after Magnus Carlsen declined to participate
Vidit Gujrathi (FIDE rating 2747): Qualified as winner of 2023 Grand Swiss
Hikaru Nakamura (FIDE rating 2789): Qualified as runner-up of 2023 Grand Swiss
Alireza Firouzja (FIDE rating 2760): Qualified as best as per rating on 1 January, 2024
D Gukesh (FIDE rating 2743: Qualified as winner of the 2023 FIDE Circuit
Women
Lei Tingjie (2550): Qualified as runner-up pf previous World Championship match
Kateryna Lagno (2542): Qualified as winner of 2022-23 Grand Prix
Aleksandra Goryachkina (2553): Qualified as runner-up of 2022-23 Grand Prix
Nurgyul Salimova (2426): Qualified as runner-up of 2023 Women’s World Cup
Anna Muzychuk (2520): Qualified after finishing third place at 2023 Women’s World Cup
R Vaishali (2481): Qualified as winner of 2023 Women’s Grand Swiss
Tan Zhongyi (2521): Qualified as runner-up of 2023 Women’s Grand Swiss
Koneru Humpy (2546): Qualified as best as per rating on 1 January, 2024
2024 Candidates tournament format
Both the categories for the 2024 Candidates tournament will have a double round-robin format, which means each player will take on the seven competitors twice, once with white pieces and once with black pieces. A total of 14 rounds will be played with four rest days in between.
Each player will get one point for a win, half a point for a draw and zero points for a loss. The player with the highest number of points at the end of 14 rounds is declared the champion.
As far as time control is concerned, the time control for the first 40 moves in 120 minutes followed by 30 minutes for the remainder of the game in the open category. For the women’s category, it’s 90 minutes for the first 40 minutes, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game. There will also be a 30-second increment per move starting from move 41.
Should there be two players who are tied in first place, they will be requited to play two games of rapid round matches. Should there be more than two players who are level at the top, then single round-robin matches will be held. And if any more players are still tied in first place, then they will compete in blitz matches.
Indian players’ chances
At the moment, it’s difficult to say where the Indians will end up at the 2024 Candidates tournament. Among the current five players, only Koneru Humpy has played in the Candidates previously, but Praggnanandhaa and his sister Vaishali along with D Gukesh have risen through the ranks on merit and have played several big players before.
Vidit, aged 29, has also showcased brilliance at performing at big tournaments, but in a tournament like Candidates, where you are put through exhausting 14 rounds of chess where you need mental strength and accuracy, there will be a lot of obstacles to be faces and eventually cleared.
India schedule (All matches start at 12 am IST, 2.30 pm Toronto time)
3 April
Opening ceremony
4 April (Round 1)
Alireza Firouzja vs Praggnanandhaa
Gukesh vs Vidit Gujrathi
Vaishali vs Koneru Humpy
5 April (Round 2)
Hikaru Nakamura vs Vidit Gujrathi
Praggnanandhaa vs Gukesh
Kateryna Lagno vs Koneru Humpy
Tan Zhongyi vs Vaishali
6 April (Round 3)
Gukesh vs Ian Nepomniachtchi
Vidit Gujrathi vs Praggnanandhaa
Vaishali vs Nurgyul Salimova
Koneru Humpy vs Tan Zhongyi
7 April (Round 4)
Hikaru Nakamura vs Praggnanandhaa
Ian Nepomniachtchi vs Vidit Gujrathi
Fabiano Caruana vs Gukesh
Nurgyul Salimova vs Koneru Humpy
Aleksandra Goryachkina vs Vaishali
8 April
Rest day
9 April (Round 5)
Gukesh vs Nijat Abasov
Vidit Gujrathi vs Fabiano Caruana
Praggnanandha vs Ian Nepomniachtchi
Vaishal vs Anna Muzychuk
Koneru Humpy vs Aleksandra Goryachkina
10 April (Round 6)
Gukesh vs Hikaru Nakamura
Vidit Gujrathi vs Alireza Firouzja
Praggnanandhaa vs Nijat Abasov
Vaishali vs Kateryna Lagno
Koneru Humpy vs Lei Tingjie
11 April (Round 7)
Fabiano Caruana vs Praggnanandhaa
Nijat Abasov vs Vidit Gujrathi
Alireza Firouzja vs Gukesh
Anna Muzychuk vs Koneru Humpy
Lei Tingjie vs Vaishali
12 April
Rest day
13 April (Round 8)
Praggnanandhaa vs Alireza Firouzja
Vidit Gujrathi vs Gukesh
Koneru Humpy vs Vaishali
14 April (Round 9)
Vidit Gujrati vs Hikaru Nakamura
Gukesh vs Praggnanandhaa
Koneru Humpy vs Kateryna Lagno
Vaishali vs Tan Zhongyi
15 April (Round 10)
Ian Nepomniachtchi vs Gukesh
Praggnanandhaa vs Vidit Gujrathi
Nurgyul Salimova vs Vaishali
Tan Zhongyi vs Koneru Humpy
16 April
Rest day
17 April (Round 11)
Praggnanandhaa vs Hikaru Nakamura
Vidit Gujrathi vs Ian Nepomniachtchi
Gukesh vsFabiano Caruana
Koneru Humpy vs Nurgyul Salimova
Vaishali vs Aleksandra Goryachkina
18 April (Round 12)
Nijat Abasov vs Gukesh
Fabiano Caruana vs Vidit Gujrathi
Ian Nepomniachtchi vs Praggnanandhaa
Anna Muzychuk vs Vaishali
Aleksandra Goryachkina vs Koneru Humpy
19 April
Rest day
20 April (Round 13)
Praggnanandhaa vs Fabiano Caruana
Vidit Gujrathi vs Nijat Abasov
Gukesh D vs Alireza Firouzja
Koneru Humpy vs Anna Muzychuk
Vaishali vs Lei Tingjie
21 April (Round 14)
Hikaru Nakamura vs Gukesh
Alireza Firouzja vs Vidit Gujrathi
Nijat Abasov vs Praggnanandhaa
Kateryna Lagno vs Vaishali
Lei Tingjie vs Koneru Humpy
22 April
Tie breaks if needed followed by closing ceremony
What is the prize money?
The winner receives €48,000 in prize money, with the runner-up and third place receiving €36,000 and €24,000.
Candidates tournament live streaming
While the TV broadcast details for the 2024 Candidates tournament has not been announced, fans can stream the tournament LIVE on the FIDE YouTube channel.
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