The Candidates Tournament, the biennial 8-player event that decides who will be the Challenger for the World Chess Championship title, will resume on April 19, in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
The International Chess Federation (FIDE), the governing body of the sport of chess which regulates all international chess competitions, made the announcement on Monday, February 15.
According to FIDE, after a long wait, the challenger to the reigning World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen’s throne will be finally known by April 28.
This double round-robin tournament kicked off on March 16, 2020 but it was abruptly stopped 11 days later when the Russian government announced the closure of air traffic with other countries, amid a rapidly escalating coronavirus pandemic.
"Since half the rounds had already been played, this interruption created an unprecedented situation, as the regulations stipulate that the results obtained until that point must stand - rather than having the tournament re-started from scratch,” reads part of a FIDE statement.
When the tournament was interrupted, the French Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi were in the lead with 4½ points after seven games. Fabiano Caruana (USA), Anish Giri (Netherlands), Wang Hao (China) and Alexander Grischuk (Russia) are in the chasing pack, all with 3½ points.
The detailed schedule for the second half of the tournament, to which all players have agreed on and expressed their readiness to take part in looks like this:
19th April 2021, Round 8
20th April 2021, Round 9
21st April 2021, Round 10
(22nd April 2021, rest day)
23rd April 2021, Round 11
24th April 2021, Round 12
(25th April 2021, rest day)
26th April 2021, Round 13
27th April 2021, Round 14
28th April 2021, tie-breaks (if required)
About the Candidates Tournament
The current format of the Candidates Tournament was established in 1950 as the best way to determine who should be the World Champion Challenger. Currently, it is fought under the format of a double round-robin tournament (14 rounds), with the eight best players on the planet- except the champion himself.
The selection process from which the World Chess Challenger emerges is probably one of the toughest of any sport. The scarcity of opportunities to ascend this summit makes any mistake more tragic, increasing the epic nature of the struggle.
About the World Chess Championship
The winner of the Candidates Tournament will be Carlsen’s rival in the World Championship Match, a face-off between two contenders where they play to the best of 14 games. The 2021 World Championship match will take place 24 November – 16 December 2021 as one of the highlights of the Expo 2020 Dubai. The two players will compete for a prize fund of 2 million euros.
About the World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen
Grand Master (GM) Magnus Carlsen, in full Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen, is a Norwegian chess player who in 2013, at age 22, became the second youngest world chess champion.
Just before his twenty-third birthday, Carlsen became World Chess Champion, for the first time, in 2013 by defeating Indian Grand Master (GM) Viswanathan Anand. Now widely regarded as the best chess player of all time, Carlsen has been the top player in the world since 2011, and the reigning world champion ever since that victory over Anand.
Carlsen’s father first taught him how to play chess when he was five years old.