Whoa, what a comeback. Naka won his last 3.
Didn't see the end of the games. I left watching the games about an hour ago when both Aronian & Naka looked to be about equal in each of their games. While I was off looking at memes & checking out the Will Smith slapping Chris Rock drama, the games ignited into chaos.
The FIDE Grand Prix has treated Hikaru's rankings quite well.
He's now World #1 in both Blitz and Rapid, and World #11 in Classical.
I'm sure he will. The candidates will be better with the participants they have this year. I think it's a certainty that Ding Liren will get in to replace Karjakin. The lowest rated player is Duda at 2750.
Update: Naka just lost to Wesley in the finals. Winning one grand prix and finishing 2nd in the other is great. Maybe he'll be in good form at the candidates which will be his 2nd. He finished at 50% in his 1st one.
Surprising blunder by Nakamura in that last game. 99.9% of the time he would have seen that continuation. Great couple of tournaments by Nakamura, nevertheless.
The candidates is June 17 - July 5. I've read that Ding Liren will have his required # of games on April 28 so he'll have 50 days to prepare/rest for the candidates. I think that's enough time off to get ready. Even if a few days or a week is subtracted for traveling/settling in at the hotel, he'll still have a solid 6 weeks. He's playing a ton of games right now but I don't think he'll be burned out.
Hikaru has now qualified for the Candidates.