The FIDE Candidates Chess Tournament 2022 starts tomorrow in Madrid and everyone is wondering who has the most chances to win it. ln the interview for Chesscom India, 15th World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand commented on the Candidates line-up saying it’s impossible to predict the Winner now: “Obviously these are the best chess players on the planet, with the exception of Magnus. What makes it especially interesting is that this is the first Candidates after the pandemic, and we also have people who are coming after very long breaks: Ding and Hikaru have played relatively little over-the-board chess for a long time; Then we have a lot of the newcomers: Rapport, Firouzja, Duda; Plus experienced players like Caruana who played last several Candidates. So there is a very exciting field with a lot of question marks hanging over everyone and that makes it particularly intriguing in the beginning. I think the first few rounds you really want to see who is in the best shape, because I can’t predict it at all.“
Being asked who will take an early lead Anand said he couldn’t answer that question: “They’ve all had such strange tournament trajectories the last few months, that there are just a lot of unknowns. But at the same time, it has to be emphasized that all of them managed at least one good result. Hikaru and Richard qualified in style recently, Duda won in Warsaw (Grand Chess Tour Poland), Firouzja had a great result in Riga (FIDE Grand Swiss)… All of them showed they have strength even though they haven’t played very much and I will be looking to the first rounds to get more information.“. Vishy also spoke about Indian chess rising stars and his own experiences from the Candidates Tournaments. See the complete interview below.
Candidates Chess Round 1, June 17: Duda – Rapport, Ding Liren – Nepomniachtchi, Caruana – Nakamura, Radjabov – Firouzja
Latest news from Candidates Chess 2022: Caruana: Firouzja’s World No 2 position was a little bit of momentum / Nepo used a super-computer to prepare for Candidates?! / Alireza Firouzja inspects the 2022 Candidates Chess venue / FIDE Candidates Chess 2022 – Press Conference / FIDE Candidates Chess 2022 – Press Conference
More on the Candidates: Candidates Chess 2022 / Candidates 2022 pairings / Live games Candidates 2022 / Candidates Chess 2022 Predictions and possible outcomes
