Preview of 2020 Candidates

Hello Everyone! Today I will cover the preview of the candidates. I will probably also do a blog coverage of every round in this tournament. The Candidates will decide who challenges Magnus to a battle for the Ultimate Throne.

What I will cover today

• All of the players
• Whether or not the Coronavirus might affect the tournament

Fabiano Caruana

Fabiano is the top seed by far this tournament, and probably the favorite. In January, he had a fantastic tournament at Tata Steel. He scored 10/13 there, 2 points ahead of Magnus who scored 8/13. Now Fabiano is only 20 points behind Magnus in live ratings.

Ding Liren

Ding is one of the favorites in this tournament. He got 2nd place in The World Cup, which granted him the spot in the Candidates. Although he is one of the highest rated players, his training camp with his seconds got canceled because of the Coronavirus, and he had to do it online, which he said wasn't as helpful as doing it in person. We will see if that affects his play.

Alexander Grischuk

Alexander won the 2019 Grand Prix to qualify for the Candidates. He is one of the best blitz players in the world (he even plays a lot on chess.com these days). However, in classical games, he often gets in big time pressure. We'll see if he can use good time management in this tournament. 

Ian Nepomniachtchi

Ian finished 2nd (Behind Alexander Grischuk) in the 2019 Grand Prix to qualify for the Candidates. This is his first time playing in this tournament.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Maxime didn't exactly qualify for this tournament. He was chosen as a 2nd Wild Card, after Teimour Radjabov withdrew from this tournament. He has little time to prepare himself against all of his opponents, as well as physcologically.

Anish Giri

Anish Giri qualified for this tournament by rating. It was close, but he was the highest rated back then. He has a lot of experience in these kinds of tournaments, but it will be hard for him to face Magnus if he wins this tournament.

Wang Hao

The Chinese Superstar qualified for this tournament by winning the FIDE Grand Swiss. He is hanging around top 10, with a rating of 2762. This is his first Candidates tournament.

Kirill Alekseenko

Kirill Alekseenko, the 8th seed, qualified as a wild card due to his 3rd place in the 2019 FIDE Grand Swiss. The 7th seed is 64 points higher rated than him, which makes it a huge gap. Will Kirill play a good tournament despite this rating gap?

Will the Coronavirus affect this tournament?

Everyone has their own opinions, but I think that the situation will not affect this tournament because it is a closed tournament. Ding has been quarantined as well, so that makes the tournament even safer for contestants. However, Teimour Radjabov did withdraw from this tournament because one of the players, Wang Hao, was not quarantined. Wang Hao is coming directly from Japan to the tournament, and Teimour argued that he should have been quarantined. Russia is very careful with the coronavirus, so I don't think that anything serious will happen. They will be playing in a closed playing hall, and spectators will not be able to watch them from a close distance. Handshakes can be declined before and after the game, to make it even safer. So, in general I think that the coronavirus will not affect the tournament, but we will see. Let's hope not! 

In the comments, please tell me who you think will win the tournament! (I'm cheering for Ding or MVL). I will be back to tomorrow with 1st Round Blog Coverage! I hope you enjoyed!