Ian Nepomniachtchi heads the 5th round of the FIDE Candidates Chess Tournament 2022 as the sole leader of the event. He yesterday defeated Alireza Firouzja to score 3 points and get the 1/2 point advantage over Fabiano Caruana who is the first follower with 2.5 points. Round 5 brings the following encounters: Fabiano Caruana – Richard Rapport / Teimour Radjabov – Ding Liren / Alireza Firouzja – Jan-Krzysztof Duda / Hikaru Nakamura – Ian Nepomniachtchi
Daily Candidates recaps: Ian Nepomniachtchi grabs the sole lead in FIDE Candidates 2022 / Giri’s R3 Candidates recap /Live with GM Judit Polgar and GM Jan Gustafsson
More on the Candidates: Ding Liren and Fabiano Caruana celebrate 20 years of chess battles / Nakamura unhappy with the security procedures at the FIDE Candidates Tournament / Nakamura: FIDE wants us all to look like it’s 1970’s at the IBM headquarters / FIDE Candidates R3 Recap – Calm before the storm?!
Candidates Chess 2022 all information: Candidates Chess 2022 / Candidates 2022 pairings / Live games Candidates 2022 / Candidates Chess 2022 Predictions and possible outcomes
Fabiano Caruana – Richard Rapport, R5 Candidates Chess 2022
Fabiano Caruana enters the fifth round in a need of a victory to catch Ian Nepomniachtchi on the top of the crosstable. His opponent is Hungarian grandmaster Richard Rapport, who drew all four games at the start of the 2022 Candidates. Caruana and Rapport have already met a month ago in Bucharest, at the Superbet Chess Classic, with the game ending in a draw.
Replay the game – Fabiano Caruana – Richard Rapport 1/2-1/2, Superbet Chess Classic 2022
Teimour Radjabov – Ding Liren, R5 Candidates Chess 2022
Teimor Radjabov and Ding Liren both score 1.5 points, each, to tie for the current 6th place. Liren’s chances (in percentages) to win the event significantly dropped comparing to analysis before the start of the tournament. The players haven’t met since 2019 at the over-the-board classical tournament, with their last encounter at the FIDE World Chess Cup 2019 in Khanty-Mansiysk. Radjabov won the game having white pieces.
Replay the game – Teimour Radjabov – Ding Liren 1/2-1/2, FIDE World Chess Cup 2019
Alireza Firouzja – Jan-Krzysztof Duda, R5 Candidates Chess 2022
Two youngest players of the 2022 Candidates Chess field meet for the first time in the event in today’s round 5. 19-year-old Alireza Fioruzja suffered a loss against Nepo yesterday, while 24-year-old Jan-Krzysztof Duda showed extremely solid play with four draws. The two youngsters played their last classical otb game at the 2021 Tata Steel Chess, when Firouzja claimed victory having white pieces.
Replay the game – Alireza Firouzja – Jan-Krzysztof Duda 1-0, Tata Steel Chess 2021
Hikaru Nakamura – Ian Nepomniachtchi, R5 Candidates Chess 2022
All the eyes will be on the encounter between the American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura and the sole leader Ian Nepomniachtchi. Nakamura seemed unhappy with FIDE restrictive procedures at the Candidates, which may affect his focus on the tournament games. Meanwhile, Nepomniachtchi looks ready to repeat the success from previous Candidates Tournament, and the preparation with a super-computer might pay off. It is interesting that the players lately met in many games online, but the last classical over-the-board game was back in 2019 at the 7th Sinquefield Cup. Nepo won against Nakamura as White, and that was the only Hikaru’s loss at the event.
Replay the game – Ian Nepomniachtchi – Hikaru Nakamura, Sinquefield Cup 2019
