The 2016 Chess Candidates Tournament is taking place right now, and, as it could determine the next WORLD CHESS CHAMPION (possible AN AMERICAN (hopefully that will keep the attention of my bored compatriots)), it is certainly worthy of its own thread!
The Candidates Tournament is how the chess world determines who will face the current World Chess Champion in the next title match. Essentially, the 8 top challengers for the title of "world's best chess player" (not necessarily the #2-#9 ranked players, but various tournament winners and such, all of whom are in the top 20) play a Round Robin tournament, with the winner earning the right to face the reigning world champion. Because each player faces every other player once as black and once as white, there are 14 rounds, spanning 20 days. Round 11 of the tournament is just concluding; the last round is March 30.
Here are the competitors:
Fabiano Caruana - American, 23 y.o., #3 in World Rankings. Qualified by winning 2014-15 FIDE Grand Prix
Anish Giri - Belgian, 21 y.o., #4 in World Rankings. Qualified by having top 2 rating in 2015 among non-auto qualifiers
Hikaru Nakamura - American, 28, #6 in World Rankings. Qualified by finishing 2nd in 2014-15 FIDE Grand Prix
Levon Aronian - Armenian, 33, #7 in World Rankings. Wild-card qualification (Tournament Host's choice, must be Top 20)
Veselin Topalov - Bulgarian, 41, #8 in World Rankings. Qualified by having top 2 rating in 2015 among non-auto qualifiers
Viswanathan Anand - India, 46, #12 in World Rankings. Qualified by finishing Runner-Up in 2014 World Chess Championship
Sergey Karjakin - Russia, 26, #13 in World Rankings. Qualified by winning Chess World Cup 2015
Peter Svidler - Russia, 39, #16 in World Rankings. Qualified by finishing 2nd in Chess World Cup 2015
Caruana, Topalov, Anand, and Karjakin were considered the potential winners (with Topalov as the wild card), and the results are bearing that out (except for Topalov, who appears to be not terribly committed). I'll update with some results and such later!
The Candidates Tournament is how the chess world determines who will face the current World Chess Champion in the next title match. Essentially, the 8 top challengers for the title of "world's best chess player" (not necessarily the #2-#9 ranked players, but various tournament winners and such, all of whom are in the top 20) play a Round Robin tournament, with the winner earning the right to face the reigning world champion. Because each player faces every other player once as black and once as white, there are 14 rounds, spanning 20 days. Round 11 of the tournament is just concluding; the last round is March 30.
Here are the competitors:
Fabiano Caruana - American, 23 y.o., #3 in World Rankings. Qualified by winning 2014-15 FIDE Grand Prix
Anish Giri - Belgian, 21 y.o., #4 in World Rankings. Qualified by having top 2 rating in 2015 among non-auto qualifiers
Hikaru Nakamura - American, 28, #6 in World Rankings. Qualified by finishing 2nd in 2014-15 FIDE Grand Prix
Levon Aronian - Armenian, 33, #7 in World Rankings. Wild-card qualification (Tournament Host's choice, must be Top 20)
Veselin Topalov - Bulgarian, 41, #8 in World Rankings. Qualified by having top 2 rating in 2015 among non-auto qualifiers
Viswanathan Anand - India, 46, #12 in World Rankings. Qualified by finishing Runner-Up in 2014 World Chess Championship
Sergey Karjakin - Russia, 26, #13 in World Rankings. Qualified by winning Chess World Cup 2015
Peter Svidler - Russia, 39, #16 in World Rankings. Qualified by finishing 2nd in Chess World Cup 2015
Caruana, Topalov, Anand, and Karjakin were considered the potential winners (with Topalov as the wild card), and the results are bearing that out (except for Topalov, who appears to be not terribly committed). I'll update with some results and such later!
How will we know, when the morning comes, we are still human? - 2D
Don't worry, my friend. If this be the end, then so shall it be.
Don't worry, my friend. If this be the end, then so shall it be.
