The FIDE Candidates Chess 2022 will take place in Madrid, June 16 – July 7. It will be an 8 player double round robin with some of the world’s top Grandmasters. The winner will qualify for the World Championship match later this year. The World Championship Match between the reigning World Champion and the Challenger, the winner of the 2022 Candidates Tournament, will consist of 14 games. The player who scores 7.5 points or more wins the Match, and no further games are played. If the score after 14 games is equal, the winner is decided on a tiebreak. Follow Candidates chess day 1 live blog here
Replay R1: Jan-Krzysztof Duda – Richard Rapport / Ding Liren – Ian Nepomniachtchi / Fabiano Caruana – Hikaru Nakamura / Teimour Radjabov – Alireza FirouzjaWatch live R2: Richard Rapport – Alireza Firouzja / Hikaru Nakamura – Teimour Radjabov / Ian Nepomniachtchi – Fabiano Caruana / Jan-Krzysztof Duda – Ding Liren
Video R1: GM Polgar and GM Gustafsson / GM Daniil Yuffa and WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni / GM Benjamin Bok and team Hikaru / Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal / GM Naroditsky and WGM Skripchenko
Report R1: Caruana and Nepomniachtchi shine in R1 of the FIDE Candidates Tournament / Live blog day 1 Video: Nakamura analyses his game against Caruana / A miniature in Ding – Nepomniachtchi
Cadidates Chess 2022 participants:
- Jan-Krzystof Duda – World Cup winner
- Ding Liren – highest rating + 30 games , substitute of Sergey Karjakin
- Fabiano Caruana – Grand Swiss runner-up
- Teimour Radjabov – Wild Card
- Alireza Firouzja – Grand Swiss winner
- Hikaru Nakamura – Grand Prix winner
- Ian Nepomniachtchi – 2021 World Chess Champion Match runner-up
- Richard Rapport – Grand Prix runner-up
The pairings for each round of Candidates Chess 2022 can be found here.
Candidates Chess 2022 is in Madrid
The magnificent Palacio de Santoña, a centrally located historic building in Madrid, will become the venue of the most anticipated chess tournament of 2022. Built in 1730, this mansion boasts of distinguished carved granite baroque façade and is home to one of the most refined eclectic interiors in the Spanish capital. It is currently one of the headquarters of the Madrid Chamber of Commerce.
Eight prominent grandmasters will compete for a top spot in a double round-robin (all play all) tournament from 16 June to 6 July. The schedule includes four free days, one after every three rounds:
| 14-15 June 2022 | Arrivals | |
| 1 day | 16 June 2022 | Technical meeting andOpening Ceremony |
| 2 day | 17 June 2022 | Round 1 |
| 3 day | 18 June 2022 | Round 2 |
| 4 day | 19 June 2022 | Round 3 |
| 5 day | 20 June 2022 | Free day |
| 6 day | 21 June 2022 | Round 4 |
| 7 day | 22 June 2022 | Round 5 |
| 8 day | 23 June 2022 | Round 6 |
| 9 day | 24 June 2022 | Free day |
| 10 day | 25 June 2022 | Round 7 |
| 11 day | 26 June 2022 | Round 8 |
| 12 day | 27 June 2022 | Round 9 |
| 13 day | 28 June 2022 | Free day |
| 14 day | 29 June 2022 | Round 10 |
| 15 day | 30 June 2022 | Round 11 |
| 16 day | 1 July 2022 | Round 12 |
| 17 day | 2 July 2022 | Free day |
| 18 day | 3 July 2022 | Round 13 |
| 19 day | 4 July 2022 | Round 14 |
| 20 day | 5 July 2022 | Tie-breaks andClosing Ceremony |
| 21 day | 6 July 2022 | Departures |
The first place is all that matters as the tournament’s winner becomes the World Championship Challenger and acquires the right to face World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a match.
Dedicated FIDE page: worldchampionshipcycle.fide.com
As per the decision made at the FIDE Council meeting on December 27, a playoff has been introduced for the Candidates Tournament and the Women’s Candidates Tournament, to be played in the case of a tie for first place.
This decision has been taken after consultation with all the players who have already qualified for the competition. A majority of them favoured the option of a play-off over the tie-break system used in previous editions (“1. The results of the games between the players involved in the tie; 2. Number of wins; 3. Sonneborn-Berger”).
The play-off will consist of rapid games. Details like the exact time control to be used and the total number of players to take part in the tie-break, were decided after consultation with players. An updated version of the tiebreak rules.
