Decisive Results Galore in 2022 FIDE Candidates Round 1
The 2022 FIDE Candidates kicked off on June 17 with four riveting battles. Commentators hinted several times at the possibility of four decisive games, which was not fulfilled but nonetheless shows the fighting spirit presented by the players.
Caruana-Nakamura
Former World Championship Challenger Fabiano Caruana faced off against renowned streamer and five-time U.S. Champion Hikaru Nakamura, a matchup that has historically favored Caruana in the many games the two have previously played. To be more specific, the score was 7-5 for Caruana with 33 draws going into this game. Caruana was looking to prove his favorite status, while Nakamura was riding his success in the grand prix that gave him the best performance rating in the past year and a half among the Candidates participants. Here is the game with annotations:
Ding-Nepomniachtchi
World #2 Ding Liren had the White pieces today against Former World Championship Challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi. While many had Ding as the favorite for this tournament, Nepomniachtchi has historically had more success in the Candidates. Nepomniachtchi won the 2021-2 Candidates in his debut to qualify for the World Championship match against Magnus Carlsen last year, which I also covered. On the other hand, Ding has had mixed results in with two mediocre candidates performances. Here is the annotated game:
Nepomniachtchi secures his spot as a favorite with this win going into his battle in Round 2 with fellow Round 1 winner Caruana. Ding, however, will have his work cut out for him in trying to bridge the full point gap between him and the leader. None of the candidates victors lost their first game, which is a worrying statistic for Ding fans.
Duda-Rapport
Polish #1 Jan-Krzysztof Duda faced Hungarian #1 Richard Rapport in a duel of two newcomers to the Candidates. In addition to making their debuts, these players are among the youngest in the field. While both players were towards the bottom of most predictions, Duda and Rapport were looking to prove that they are incredibly dangerous threats to the favorites in this field. Here is the game with my annotations:
Duda will certainly be disappointed, having squandered a serious chance to get off to an ideal start in his candidates career. On the other hand, Rapport will be relieved to survive a tense battle and will hope for an easier game tomorrow with White against Alireza Firouzja.
Radjabov-Firouzja
Teimour Radjabov, the oldest player in the field, locked horns with World #3 Alireza Firouzja, making his Candidates debut at 18 years old, the youngest player in the field by far. Radjabov was hoping to prove that he would stand a chance in this field after a forgettable Norway Chess result leading to many considering him as the least likely challenger in the field. Conversely, many consider Firouzja as one of the favorites after his meteoric rise last year. Even Carlsen said that he would only play Firouzja in a world championship match, putting even more pressure on the Iranian-French teenager. Let's take a look at the annotated game:
Both players should be happy with how they played in this game, which cannot necessarily be said for the other three games. Firouzja's fighting spirit will be something to watch out for in future rounds, while Radjabov might be a dark horse. What do you think? Let me know in the comments. Here is my video analyzing the games:
