Pairings Candidates’ Tournament Published
Today FIDE published the full pairings for the Candidates’ Tournament, to be held next month in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. In the first round, on 13 March, the following games will be played: Andreikin-Kramnik, Karjakin-Svidler, Mamedyarov-Topalov and Anand-Aronian. The winner of the tournament will earn the right to challenge Magnus Carlsen in a world title match scheduled for November this year.
The 2014 FIDE Candidates’ Tournament is an 8-player double round robin with 4 rest days. The dates are March 13th-31st, 2014. According to the regulations, the "total minimum" prize fund shared by the players totals € 420,000 which is € 90,000 less than last year.
FIDE Candidates’ 2014 | Players
1. Viswanathan Anand (IND, former world champion)
2. Vladimir Kramnik (RUS, world cup 2013 winner)
3. Dmitry Andreikin (RUS, world cup 2013 finalist)
4. Veselin Topalov (BUL, grand-prix 2012-13 winner)
5. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE, grand-prix 2012-13 runner-up)
6. Levon Aronian (ARM, rating list 2012-13)
7. Sergey Karjakin (RUS, rating list 2012-13)
8. Peter Svidler (RUS, host nominee)
The winner of the Candidates will have the right to challenge World Champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway in a world title match which is scheduled to take place in November 2014. Carlsen defeated Viswanathan Anand in the Chennai World Championship match in November 2013.
Anand, who is now a Candidate, had been World Champion since 2007, when he won the World Championship Tournament in Mexico City. He successfully defended his title against Vladimir Kramnik (Bonn, 2008), Veselin Topalov (Sofia, 2010) and Boris Gelfand (Moscow, 2012).
FIDE Candidates 2014 | Schedule
| Event | Day | Date |
| Opening Ceremony | Wednesday | 12/03/2014 |
| Round 1 | Thursday | 13/03/2014 |
| Round 2 | Friday | 14/03/2014 |
| Round 3 | Saturday | 15/03/2014 |
| Free day | Sunday | 16/03/2014 |
| Round 4 | Monday | 17/03/2014 |
| Round 5 | Tuesday | 18/03/2014 |
| Round 6 | Wednesday | 19/03/2014 |
| Free day | Thursday | 20/03/2014 |
| Round 7 | Friday | 21/03/2014 |
| Round 8 | Saturday | 22/03/2014 |
| Round 9 | Sunday | 23/03/2014 |
| Free day | Monday | 24/03/2014 |
| Round 10 | Tuesday | 25/03/2014 |
| Round 11 | Wednesday | 26/03/2014 |
| Round 12 | Thursday | 27/03/2014 |
| Free day | Friday | 28/03/2014 |
| Round 13 | Saturday | 29/03/2014 |
| Round 14 | Sunday | 30/03/2014 |
| Tie-Breaks if necessary/Closing Ceremony | Monday | 31/03/2014 |
According to the official regulations of the 2014 FIDE Candidates’ Tournament (here in PDF), just like last year “the draw for pairings and colours will be conducted in the FIDE office in Athens, one (1) month before the start of the event.” These pairings, in which the four Russian participants play each other in rounds 1, 2, 3 and 8, 9, 10 (as stipulated in the regulations), were published today on the FIDE website.
FIDE Candidates’ 2014 | Pairings
| Round 1 | 13.03.14 | 15:00 MSK | Round 8 | 22.03.14 | 15:00 MSK | |
| Andreikin | - | Kramnik | Kramnik | - | Andreikin | |
| Karjakin | - | Svidler | Svidler | - | Karjakin | |
| Mamedyarov | - | Topalov | Topalov | - | Mamedyarov | |
| Anand | - | Aronian | Aronian | - | Anand | |
| Round 2 | 14.03.14 | 15:00 MSK | Round 9 | 23.03.14 | 15:00 MSK | |
| Kramnik | - | Karjakin | Karjakin | - | Kramnik | |
| Svidler | - | Andreikin | Andreikin | - | Svidler | |
| Topalov | - | Anand | Anand | - | Topalov | |
| Aronian | - | Mamedyarov | Mamedyarov | - | Aronian | |
| Round 3 | 15.03.14 | 15:00 MSK | Round 10 | 25.03.14 | 15:00 MSK | |
| Andreikin | - | Karjakin | Karjakin | - | Andreikin | |
| Svidler | - | Kramnik | Kramnik | - | Svidler | |
| Topalov | - | Aronian | Aronian | - | Topalov | |
| Mamedyarov | - | Anand | Anand | - | Mamedyarov | |
| Round 4 | 17.03.14 | 15:00 MSK | Round 11 | 26.03.14 | 15:00 MSK | |
| Mamedyarov | - | Andreikin | Andreikin | - | Mamedyarov | |
| Karjakin | - | Topalov | Topalov | - | Karjakin | |
| Aronian | - | Svidler | Svidler | - | Aronian | |
| Anand | - | Kramnik | Kramnik | - | Anand | |
| Round 5 | 18.03.14 | 15:00 MSK | Round 12 | 27.03.14 | 15:00 MSK | |
| Andreikin | - | Anand | Anand | - | Andreikin | |
| Karjakin | - | Mamedyarov | Mamedyarov | - | Karjakin | |
| Svidler | - | Topalov | Topalov | - | Svidler | |
| Kramnik | - | Aronian | Aronian | - | Kramnik | |
| Round 6 | 19.03.14 | 15:00 MSK | Round 13 | 29.03.14 | 15:00 MSK | |
| Aronian | - | Andreikin | Andreikin | - | Aronian | |
| Anand | - | Karjakin | Karjakin | - | Anand | |
| Mamedyarov | - | Svidler | Svidler | - | Mamedyarov | |
| Topalov | - | Kramnik | Kramnik | - | Topalov | |
| Round 7 | 21.03.14 | 15:00 MSK | Round 14 | 30.03.14 | 15:00 MSK | |
| Karjakin | - | Aronian | Aronian | - | Karjakin | |
| Svidler | - | Anand | Anand | - | Svidler | |
| Kramnik | - | Mamedyarov | Mamedyarov | - | Kramnik | |
| Andreikin | - | Topalov | Topalov | - | Andreikin |
Who do you think will win this year's Candidates’ Tournament? Let us know!
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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