The 2020 Candidates Tournament is an eight-player chess double round-robin tournament being played in Yekaterinburg, Russia, from 17 March to 4 April 2020.^[1]

The winner will earn the right to challenge the defending world champion, Magnus Carlsen of Norway, in the World Chess Championship 2020 match.

Participants

The qualifiers for the Candidates Tournament are:^[2][3]

Qualification method	Player	Age	Rating	World Ranking
			(March 2020)
2018 World Championship runner-up	Fabiano Caruana	27	2842	2
The top two finishers at the Chess World Cup 2019	Teimour Radjabov (winner). Withdrew.[4][5]	33	2765	9
	Ding Liren (runner-up)	27	2805	3
The top finisher in the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2019	Wang Hao (winner)	30	2762	12
The top two finishers in the FIDE Grand Prix 2019	Alexander Grischuk (winner)	36	2777	4
	Ian Nepomniachtchi (runner-up)	29	2774	5
Highest average rating	Anish Giri	25	2763	11
	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (replacement for Radjabov)[4][5]	29	2767	8
Wild card chosen by organizer, subject to eligibility criteria	Kirill Alekseenko[6] (highest non-qualifier in Grand Swiss)	22	2698	39

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 (2014, 2016, 2018), the Grand Swiss is 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.^[3]

The following table shows the ratings of the players with the top average ratings from February 2019 to January 2020.^[7] It includes the first eleven players except for world champion Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana (who qualified as the 2018 challenger), Ding Liren (who qualified as a finalist of the 2019 World Cup), Alexander Grischuk and Ian Nepomniachtchi (the winner and runner-up of the 2019 FIDE Grand Prix). All of the players in the table met the above game count requirements.

The qualifier by rating was Anish Giri.

R	Player	Feb 2019	Mar 2019	Apr 2019	May 2019	Jun 2019	Jul 2019	Aug 2019	Sep 2019	Oct 2019	Nov 2019	Dec 2019	Jan 2020	Average Rating
4	Anish Giri	2797	2797	2797	2787	2779	2779	2779	2780	2780	2776	2769	2768	2782.33
5	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	2780	2775	2773	2780	2779	2775	2778	2774	2774	2777	2780	2770	2776.25
6	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	2790	2790	2793	2781	2774	2765	2764	2767	2767	2772	2772	2770	2775.42
9	Viswanathan Anand	2779	2779	2774	2774	2767	2764	2756	2765	2765	2757	2757	2758	2766.25
10	Levon Aronian	2767	2761	2763	2762	2752	2756	2765	2758	2758	2772	2775	2773	2763.50
11	Wesley So	2765	2762	2762	2754	2754	2763	2776	2767	2767	2760	2760	2765	2762.91

Wild card

One wild card was selected by the organizer. This player must have participated in at least two of the three qualifying tournaments (World Cup, Grand Swiss and Grand Prix) 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:^[8] Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (third in the World Cup, third in the Grand Prix, fifth in the rating list); Kirill Alekseenko (highest non-qualifier in the Grand Swiss and also played in the World Cup); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (sixth in the rating list, played in the World Cup and Grand Prix) and Levon Aronian (tenth in the rating list, played in the World Cup and Grand Prix). 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 [...]."^[1] 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.^[9][10]

On 23 December 2019, the Russian Chess Federation officially nominated Kirill Alekseenko as the wild card.^[6]

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,^[11] on the basis that Vachier-Lagrave was eligible for the wild card in three different ways.^[12] However, Alekseenko was confirmed as the wild card. Alekseenko himself encouraged the abolishment of the wild card in a later interview.^[13]

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 (SB), 4) rapid chess tie-break games (for first place only). 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.^[3]

Schedule

FIDE announced the pairings on February 14, 2020.^[14] All games begin at 4pm local time (11:00 UTC), except Round 14, which begins at 3pm local time (10:00 UTC).^[15]

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.^[3]

Impact of coronavirus on the tournament

Ding Liren and Wang Hao

The 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak, 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.^[16][17] Wang Hao later decided to not return to China at all before the tournament.^[18]

On February 19, Russia announced a partial and temporary ban on Chinese nationals entering the country due to the coronavirus outbreak in China.^[19] 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. Also, there is a possibility that the Chinese delegation would be offered quarantine and medical observation in the Moscow region upon arrival.^[18]

On March 2, Ding Liren and his team passed the Russian border control in Moscow and were on their way to an isolated cottage house at the outskirts of Moscow for medical quarantine and observation before the tournament in Yekaterinburg starts.^[20]

Radjabov withdraws, replaced by Vachier-Lagrave

On March 6, citing concerns over the 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak, Teimour Radjabov withdrew from the tournament. His place was filled by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, as he was next on the qualifier by rating list.^[4][5]

Radjabov had asked FIDE to postpone the event due to the coronavirus outbreak.^[21] FIDE responded that this could not be done "legally and practically",^[22] and gave Radjabov until March 6 to confirm his participation; Radjabov responded by formally withdrawing.^[22]

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,^[23] 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...".^[24]

FIDE also announced health and safety measures, including screening of visitors for body temperature, and making handshakes optional.^[23][25]

If one of the players tests positive for COVID-19, the tournament will be stopped immediately and resumed later in the year, with points counting from games already played.^[26]

Results

Standings

Rank	Player	Pld	W	D	L	H2H	SB	Pts		MVL	NEP	CAR	GIR	WAN	GRI	DIN	ALE
1–2	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	7	2	5	0	1	15.25	4.5		—	1	½	½	½	½	1	½
1–2	Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS)	7	3	3	1	0	14.25	4.5		0	—	½	1	1	½	1	½
3–6	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	7	1	5	1	1.5	12.25	3.5		½	½	—	½	½	½	0	1
3–6	Anish Giri (NED)	7	1	5	1	1.5	11.25	3.5		½	0	½	—	½	½	½	1
3–6	Wang Hao (CHN)	7	1	5	1	1.5	11.25	3.5		½	0	½	½	—	½	1	½
3–6	Alexander Grischuk (RUS)	7	0	7	0	1.5	11	3.5		½	½	½	½	½	—	½	½
7–8	Ding Liren (CHN)	7	1	3	3	0.5	8.25	2.5		0	0	1	½	0	½	—	½
7–8	Kirill Alekseenko (RUS)	7	0	5	2	0.5	9.25	2.5		½	½	0	0	½	½	½	—

Note: Numbers in the crosstable in a white background indicate the result playing the respective opponent with the white pieces (black pieces if on a black background).

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.

Current Rank	Player	Rounds
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
1–2	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	=	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1–2	Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS)	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2	+3	+2	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
3–6	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	=	+1	=	=	=	=	=	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
3–6	Anish Giri (NED)	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	=	=	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
3–6	Wang Hao (CHN)	+1	+1	+1	+1	=	=	=	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
3–6	Alexander Grischuk (RUS)	=	=	=	=	=	=	=	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
7–8	Ding Liren (CHN)	−1	−2	−1	−1	−1	−2	−2	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
7–8	Kirill Alekseenko (RUS)	=	−1	−1	−1	−1	−2	−2	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD

References

External links

• FIDE Candidates Tournament 2020, FIDE (official site)
• Daily reports and commentary at Chessbase: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5, Round 6.
• Candidates Tournament 2020, Live games from World Chess, Official FIDE Broadcasting.