My candidates predictions

In this blog, I am going to be writing about the Candidates Tournament which happens from June 17 to July 5. In this tournament we have 8 amazing chess players, one of which will challenge Carlsen in the World Chess Championship, later this year. It will be held in Madrid, Spain.

Meet the players:

Here we have several top chess players, all of whom are super gms. I will list them in order of what place I think that they will come and tell you about them first.

8. Teimour Radjabov

Teimour Radjabov is rated 2753, is 13th in the world, and was nominated by FIDE after choosing to step out last time, due to covid. He is the second lowest player in the tournament, and I am putting him last, because I think that he is less likely to go on a run, than Duda.

7. Jan-Krzysztof Duda

Jan-Krzysztof Duda is rated 16th in the world at 2750 and got here by winning the FIDE World Cup. He is the second youngest player, and so his youth could be an advantage.

6. Richard Rapport

Richard Rapport is rated 2776 and is 8th in the world. He got here as the runner-up of the Grand Prix, and I think is the dark horse of the event.

5. Ian Nepomniatchi

Ian Nepomniatchi is rated 2773 and is 7th in the world. He was the loser of the last World Chess Championship.

4. Hikaru Nakamura

Hikaru Nakamura is a well-known chess streamer, and so I think that he is being rated too highly. He is a strong player. At rapid, blitz, and bullet. He is 11th in the world, and rated 2760. He got here by winning the Fide Grand Prix.

3. Ding Liren

Ding Liren is 2nd in the world, and rated 2806. He got here by a very interesting situation. More on that later. He is the highest player in the tournament but has not played classical otb chess with super gms for a long time.

2. Alireza Firouzja

Alireza Firouzja is the youngest 2800+gm ever and the youngest player in the field. Like Duda, his youth may change the final standings. He is 2804, 3rd in the world, and got here by winning the Grand Swiss. There is another interesting situation with him. More on that later.

1. Fabiano Caruana

Fabiano Caruana has won the Candidates before and did very well. They tied the actual match and went to rapid tiebreaks which Carlsen won. He is rated 2782 and is 4th in the world. He got here as runner up of the Grand Swiss.

Will Carlsen play?

Carlen has announced that he may not play his match in the world chess championship. He has said that he will play Firouzja, and Ding. My prediction is that he will play against Ding, Firouzja, and maybe Hikaru. I think that if anyone else wins he may forfeit. If he forfeited, the winner of the candidates would play whoever had second place.

The Karjakin situation.

Karjakin qualified to the Candidates by coming second in the FIDE World Cup. He has been making pro war statements, and was banned by FIDE, therefore missing out on the Candidates. Ding Liren replaced him, because he was the highest rated player who had played 30 games in the last year. He had only played four, but when Karjakin was banned, he played 27 games, making him eligible.

Conclusion:

This will be a very exciting event. Everyone can see past games on chess.com's page here. I think that Caruana will win the tournament, but it will be a very close and exciting tournament that will be down to the wire. Thank you for reading, and goodbye for now.