It's too early to say if he'll qualify for Candidates, but he has been playing well so far, I agree. 
Though, he hasn't faced his toughest opponent in this tournament yet: Levon Aronian.
Levon has a winning record against Hikaru, in Classical, so for Hikaru to win, he'll need to perform better than he has in the past ...
Though, he hasn't faced his toughest opponent in this tournament yet: Levon Aronian.
Levon has a winning record against Hikaru, in Classical, so for Hikaru to win, he'll need to perform better than he has in the past ...
I have great respect for Levon but will be rooting for Hikaru!
This is a tough final for me to pick a favorite. I'd like to see Naka get into the candidates for the 2nd time but I really like Levon, mainly because of his personality. He just seems like the kind of person that everyone would want to know. Also, it's good to see he kept playing, especially after that terrible tragedy. Many people would've just gave up.
It's good to see Nakamura playing again and playing well, but I'm hoping Aronian wins. He's been near the top for a long time and is getting old enough that time is running out for him to get to the World Championship match.
Congrats to Naka on winning this grand priix tournament.
That was no easy tournament. Especially with So, Aronian, and Grischuk in the mix. But Hikaru seemed to stroll through it all. Very impressive!
Surviving his scare against Esipenko was his one saving grace. Things could've been far different ...
I'm not sure how the scoring system works for these 3 tournaments, I just know first place gets 13. Not sure about second and the other 2 semi finalists.
The next one starts in about 2 weeks.
Yes, Esipenko almost was a semi finalist.
If Naka gets into the candidates I don't think he can win it. He finished in the middle last time & I don't think he got better since then.
He has just defeated very strong GM Richard Rapport whose rating is around 30 points higher than Naka's. Hikaru made a relatively long break from classical chess and it seems that it did him good.
What do you think how far can he go? Is he going to qualify to the Candidate tournament? I definitely hope so, he is one of my favorite active players.
IF he qualifies and i stress IF. He will be the worst possible challenger for Carlsen. It would be a modern day version of Lasker vs. Marshall.
"worst possible challenger" is a big exaggeration.
I can name worse challengers. Myself, for one. 
I found the grand prix point system.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE_Grand_Prix_2022
I'm not sure how the points are allocated for all the non semifinalists because 14 players got points and the last 10 didn't but they all didn't play in the same group.
"Surviving his scare against Esipenko was his one saving grace"
I'm not a Naka fanboy, but I have to say that he is among the most amazing fighters I have ever seen when his back it to the wall. He survives a lot of terrible looking positions and even when he's hanging on by his fingernails, he's also always looking for some way to create counterplay
Jghsyudkfsulraulraularulrailrailq5iltisluwtleyyrakuarlarulutitalitiatljflzgilistaruliaflfzulfsuotdletnr6rUtklugklfulduufllfuulLRuuLriys_luflghsyudkfsulraulraularulrailrailq5iltisluwtleyyrakuarlarulutitalitiatljflzgilistaruliaflfzulfsuotdletnr6rUtklugklfulduufllfuulLRuuLriys_lufl0 oukudlu €%#-/8¥$£7}●°|7◇8|
f..k?
There is some rumor that if Naka qualifies for the Candidates tournament he will give his spot to Ling Diren.
There is some rumor that if Naka qualifies for the Candidates tournament he will give his spot to Ling Diren.
He can just give his spot to someone? I'd think there are rules or some FIDE committee that decides who gets the spot if a player decides not to play.
Yeah that sounds a bit too weird. If he drops out after qualifying then it's a very bad look.
I'm not sure Hikaru could.
If he qualified, and wanted to hand his spot to someone else, I'm assuming FIDE would just give the spot to the player with the next-highest point total in the Grand Prix.
Otherwise, there would be big controversy.
It's probably already written into the contracts that they signed, before starting the tournament ...
He has just defeated very strong GM Richard Rapport whose rating is around 30 points higher than Naka's. Hikaru made a relatively long break from classical chess and it seems that it did him good.
What do you think how far can he go? Is he going to qualify to the Candidate tournament? I definitely hope so, he is one of my favorite active players.