Candidates 2022 Madrid June 16 - July 7

[Kevin Bonham]

Announcement

https://www.fide.com/news/1503

[Garvinator]

So far, six players have qualified for the 2022 edition: GMs Fabiano Caruana, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Alireza Firouzja, Sergey Karjakin, Ian Nepomniachtchi, and Teimour Radjabov. The final two players will come from the 2022 FIDE Grand Prix, to be held February-April 2022.

2. 2. None of players qualified via paths 2.1.A – D is expected to participate in event 2.1.E – FIDE Grand Prix Series 2022.

If any of these players decides to participate, he/she shall lose his/her qualification spot earned via paths 2.1.A – D; this spot shall be added to the FIDE Grand Prix Series 2022.

2. 3. If any replacement is needed, the highest-rated player in the FIDE May 2022 standard rating list shall be invited, provided he/she has at least 30 standard games rated in the FIDE rating lists from June 2021 to May 2022.

In case of equal ratings, the following criteria, in order of priority, shall decide:

‐ number of rated games in the Standard FIDE Rating Lists from June 2021 to May 2022:
- the player who has played more games qualifies.
‐ drawing of lots.

Once the eight players have been decided, I will put up the poll.

[Scott Colliver]

The timing of this tournament seems to allow there to be a World Championship match towards the end of this year rather than in 2023

[Scott Colliver]

I hope the final two players to qualify for the Candidates are Aronian and Giri

[Desmond]

I hope the final two players to qualify for the Candidates are Aronian and Giri

Giri would be great just for the absolute troll-fest between him and Magnus if he won the candidates.

I'm kind of hoping for Ding and So.

[Desmond]

With Karjakin's ban, Ding becomes the presumptive replacement, if he can complete enough games in time.

[MichaelBaron]

With Karjakin's ban, Ding becomes the presumptive replacement, if he can complete enough games in time.

requirement is 30 fide rated games. Could be any events so if her really wants to play - can always enter opens of all kinds as well as town championships etc.

[Desmond]

requirement is 30 fide rated games. Could be any events so if her really wants to play - can always enter opens of all kinds as well as town championships etc.

He could, but the question is whether he will. Hasn't played a rated game this year. He only has until May.
Also he has to make sure not to drop rating. He's currently 12 pts in front of Aronian. Could imagine Aronian picking up a few more points and not qualifying through the Grand Prix, so that leaves Ding only a little room. If he plays in some weak tournaments, a draw or a loss could be costly.

[Metro]

Ding now playing a 4 player 12 round tournament in China.
https://chess-results.com/tnr622928....n=1&turdet=YES

Then he is scheduled to play a 6 game match with GM Wei Yi from April 5-10.

[Garvinator]

Ding now playing a 4 player 12 game tournament in China.
https://chess-results.com/tnr622928....n=1&turdet=YES

Then he is scheduled to play a 6 game match with GM Wei Yi from April 5-10.

6. Matches

6.1 Matches in which one player is unrated shall not be rated.

6.2 Where a match is over a specific number of games, those played after one player has won shall not be rated. This requirement may be waived by prior request.

I wonder if this tournament and match will be accepted? It is my understanding that it has been Fide's policy in the past that individual matches are not accepted for rating. Even if they are, for this match, 6.2 seems relevant. Ding may not get all 6 games, and if he does, he will lose rating points from the match.

I think there are serious question marks over this method of trying to get to the 30 Fide rated games.

And, as a more serious issue, as Ding has not left China in a long time during the Corona Virus situation, I think he may have an issue getting into Europe if he has only been vaccinated with the Chinese vaccine, which is not approved in the EU.

[Ian Rout]

I think there are serious question marks over this method of trying to get to the 30 Fide rated games.

It's not like tennis where there are limitations on throwing up an ATP-ranked event. I'm not sure you can really legislate around the approach without introducing worse problems. For instance you could use an older rating list to prevent last-minute games, but then it's an older rating list. Or use the average over the year, but then the point of applying a single list is that a player can't sit on an old rating and avoid risking it.

Ideally qualification should be by qualifying events, not ratings or invitations. But while Ding is in the top group of players he has missed all the qualifying events through factors beyond his control, so it wouldn't be a great travesty if he played. It would be more an indication of a problem if somebody further down the list suddenly organised a stream of events to get their rating ahead of him.

[MichaelBaron]

I wonder if this tournament and match will be accepted? It is my understanding that it has been Fide's policy in the past that individual matches are not accepted for rating. Even if they are, for this match, 6.2 seems relevant. Ding may not get all 6 games, and if he does, he will lose rating points from the match.

I think there are serious question marks over this method of trying to get to the 30 Fide rated games.

And, as a more serious issue, as Ding has not left China in a long time during the Corona Virus situation, I think he may have an issue getting into Europe if he has only been vaccinated with the Chinese vaccine, which is not approved in the EU.

Given how rigorously he is trying to get to that 30 rated games mark - he will be let out.

[Garvinator]

Ideally qualification should be by qualifying events, not ratings or invitations. But while Ding is in the top group of players he has missed all the qualifying events through factors beyond his control, so it wouldn't be a great travesty if he played. It would be more an indication of a problem if somebody further down the list suddenly organised a stream of events to get their rating ahead of him.

Factors beyond his control - What are these factors that have been beyond his control? As a high profile sports person in China, he could have got out of China if he wanted to. Or he could have not gone back to China and ran up the 30 games early on in the 12 month period.

And it wouldn't be a great travesty if he did play? Well, that depends on who you ask? Considering this is deciding the eight players, and one or two players who go on to play for the World Championship, it is likely that it would be Levon Aronian that would get bumped. How is there any difference between a player attempting to use the system to run up their number of Fide rated games and rating to keep their spot in the Candidates, and another player bumping up their Fide rating to get into the Candidates through dodgy tournaments?

And it does not matter who the player is. In my view, if Ding does not meet the criteria through straight forward means, but has to get there by what looks like dodgy organised tournaments and matches, then it does create a question mark over his place and hence the entire cycle.

And as for his vaccination status. That is not for Fide to decide. That will be for the EU and Spain to decide.

[Garvinator]

Given how rigorously he is trying to get to that 30 rated games mark - he will be let out.

He is going to be at around 15 games, with another 15 to go before 1st May, isn't he? And he needs to keep his Fide rating ahead of Aronian?

[Desmond]

He's currently on 5/5 in the yumcha event, so rating becoming less and less of a concern. Also Aronian dropped a bit in Berlin.

Factors beyond his control - What are these factors that have been beyond his control? As a high profile sports person in China, he could have got out of China if he wanted to.

Completely agree.