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2024 FIDE Candidates Tournament...

posted 8 months ago by FootOfDavros (8196)
15 replies | jump to latest

... Gets underway shortly. No Magnus because he's too good for that sort of thing.

Anyway, who's going to win?

Fabiano Caruana's probably the favourite. Opening up against Hikaru tonight. Whomever wins that, is probably going to go forward with some momentum.

Personally I'd be happy to see Caruana or one of the Indian players (Vidit maybe?) win.

I only wish bad luck and a poor tournament on Alireza Firouzja, who I probably would have been supporting had he not cheated his way into the tournament at the expense of funny man Anishi Giri...

[–] BillySlater (4241) 8 months ago

How did Alireza cheat?
I'd like to see Fabi win, Hikaru is too arrogant for my liking.

[–] FootOfDavros (8196) 8 months ago

Agreed re Hikaru. A bit of a shame really as it was his streams which first started appearing in my feeds during lockdown and got me interested in chess again after a long time...

Alireza didn't cheat "cheat" but he farmed his rating by organising and playing in a couple of "tournaments" right next to the cut off date for candidates places. By winning all these games - in events which hasn't previously been listed - he was able to just jump past Giri and So in the rankings.

[–] BillySlater (4241) 8 months ago

Interesting, you would think there would be safeguards in place to prevent that sort of thing.
What's your chess rating?

[–] FootOfDavros (8196) 8 months ago

I think they've changed it going forward, so that the tournament has to be announced a certain timeframe (maybe three months) before the cutoff going forward.

To be fair to Alireza, the others could have done the same but Anishi was pretty vocal in not doing that and calling the whole situation against the spirit or something like that...

I don't have a real rating - only play on chess.com. About ~ 1750 for rapid but don't really play that at the moment, just mucking about with 960 games. What about yourself?

[–] BillySlater (4241) 8 months ago

1750 is solid. I'm like 1200 in rapid but I don't really have time for longer games, I play blitz in general but I don't think its the best way to improve.

[–] FootOfDavros (8196) 8 months ago

The players have turned for home!

Eight rounds now down. Nepo and Gukesh lead by half a point from Hikaru and Pragg.

Hikaru got himself back into contention with a big win over Caruana yesterday, which put him a further half point behind.

Was good to see Gukesh win yesterday after he suffered at heartbreaking defeat against Alireza the round before after somehow getting himself into time trouble.

Gukesh vs Pragg today in a spicy encounter which will leave us with a clearer indication of who will provide India's best chance... Unless it's a draw, in which case we'll be none the wiser.

[–] PersistentViewer (2394) 8 months ago

I'm following it. I'd like to see Caruana play Ding in the World Championship. That should be interesting. I've had enough of Ian to be honest.

[–] FootOfDavros (8196) 8 months ago

Felt the same re Nepo before things got going. Plus he hadn't been playing particularly sensationally anyway to suggest he'd be up there again. But tbh I wouldn't mind if he made it again.

A rematch would add some further interest, plus I can't tell you how many times I've rewatched the last few minutes of that decisive rapid game. It's amazing to watch and I felt so bad for him when he realised he was beaten and his hand scatters those pieces off the table! So I'd kind of like to see him get the chance to rectify that...

[–] FootOfDavros (8196) 7 months ago

Fantastic conclusion in store!

Gukesh and Hikaru won last night to catch Nepo at the top of the standings, with just two rounds to go.

Fabiano, who hasn't really got going thus far, also managed to pull another win out of that hat and sits just a half point back.

So just two games to go and lots of pairings between the contenders to come - Nepo vs Hikaru, Caruana vs Nepo and (the potentially deciding) Hikaru vs Gukesh.

Can the Luke Littler of Chess do it?

[–] PersistentViewer (2394) 7 months ago

Rest day today. Looks like it is shaping up to be a very interesting end to the tournament.

[–] FootOfDavros (8196) 7 months ago

... And so it all comes down to the final round tonight and you couldn't have written a script to create a more exciting finish!

Nepo & Hikaru drew last night, before Gukesh pulled out an epic victory over Alireza. Fabiano managed to do the same and these two wins now mean that Gukesh leads the tournament going into tonight's final round, with Hikaru, Nepo and now Caruana all just half a point back.

The games tonight though! Hikaru has the white pieces vs Gukesh in a must win game. The other big game? Yup, it's Fabiano vs Ian!

Unbelievable finish - Any one of the four of them could still end up winning this. Only Gukesh has it in his own hands though, if he can pull off a sensational win against Hikaru with the black pieces. Let's see what happens...

[–] FootOfDavros (8196) 7 months ago

In a thrilling finale, popular streamer Hikaru Nakamura failed to beat Gukesh with the white pieces. On the other board, Caruana, although slightly better, looked to be heading for a draw with Nepo.

With Gukesh's game completely under control and locked in for a draw, he kept wondering over to check out the other game (!) before he a Hikaru finished out their match.

But then Caruana opened up and advantage and looked set for a win which would have taken him into a tiebreak against Gukesh. Sadly though he failed to convert his massive advantage, missing his chance and the game ended in stalemate.

So Gukesh wins and will go forward to face defending champion Ding Liren in the World Championship match.

Sad ending for Nepo and Caruana, with Nepo very sportingly apologising to Fabiano for denying him the win:-
https://youtu.be/tJyP7PE6tbE?si=bizqcVryMPGxYe05

[–] BillySlater (4241) 7 months ago

Im glad Nepo didn't win.

[–] FootOfDavros (8196) 7 months ago

Never really looked like it in that last game. But he showed some real class in the end there...

In sure if you're interested, or have maybe seen it already, but he's since appeared on Caruana's podcast, where they discussed the candidates, that game and how everyone performed:-
https://youtu.be/gh8xiGKiPXQ?si=-GmZrl6F89tAGGGh

[–] BillySlater (4241) 7 months ago

Thanks. Yeah nothing personal against Nepo I just didn't want a repeat of the last WC match.