If The Candidates tournament was for Blitz.
Hello chess fans, as we are watching the Candidates tournament, we see that it is pretty slow with 2 hour long games. But what if it was blitz chess or just speed chess in general. How would the tournament look and who would win? This is how we find out.( This tournament isn't actually happening but it would probably look like this if it did).
World Champion: Magnus Carlsen
Carlsen is the current blitz champion so if this tournament existed he would be who, the players would be battling out to play. He has one of the highest ratings of any player ever in any time control and is the top blitz player in the world.
Like this Candidates, Winners would need to qualify for the tournament. I have chosen a couple of events that we will take Candidates from. 2nd and 3rd from the speed chess tournament. The runner up to the world blitz championship. The next top 4 in rating that aren't already in the tournament. One wild card chosen by who ever.
The runner up: Hikaru Nakamura
https://new.uschess.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Nakamura-Sinq-Cup-2017-Lennart-Ootes.jpg
Naka got second in the World Blitz Championship and therefore qualifies for the tournament. Naka is one of the top chess.com players and also won the Speed Chess Championship.
2nd place in the Speed Chess Championship: Wesley So
https://cdn.chess24.com/TU6e-MfxTfmeXEiMGt6qGA/original/wesley-so.jpg
So lost to Nakamura in the finals of the Speed Chess Championship. He is also the 4th rated blitz player in the world and won may of his other games in the Speed Chess Championship.
3rd place in the Speed Chess Championship: Ian Nepomniachtchi
Since the Speed Chess Championship is a bracket there is no 3rd place Nepo lost in the semi-finals but since he was a higher seed in the tournament than Vladislav Artemiev who was also in the semi-finals. So I'll put Nepo in the tournament.
Top 4 rated that are not in the tournament:
Maxime Vacier-Lagrave: MVL is the number 3 ranked blitz play in the world. He is also a part of the current Candidates and is the top French player in the world.
Vladislav Artemiev: The Russian GM is one of the youngest in the tournament at 22 years old. He got into the semifinals of the Speed Chess Championship. but lost to Wesley So.
https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/master_player/4e135a04-c0d1-11e8-8001-4d8a57cc5e35.c3e478cd.250x250o.1ee91854049a.jpeg
Yu Yangyi: This Chinese Grandmaster has the 6th highest blitz rating in the world. He is one fo the top players in China, and in the world as well.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/Yu_Yangyi_2012.jpg/240px-Yu_Yangyi_2012.jpg
Jan-Krzysztof Duda: He is the top Polish player and is also a top ten blitz player in the world. He lost in the early rounds but is not joke in blitz.
Wildcard: Alexander Grischuk
While Grischuk is outside of the top ten he is still one f the top blitz player. He even plays classical games fast!! Girschuk is also a former World time blitz champion and has won the championship three times. Though he is older than most of the field he still is one of the best blitz players in the world so he is my pick.
Tell me what you think in the comments! I have anted to do this for a while now.
