Yekaterinburg Candidates - Kickoff

The 2020 Candidates Tournament is already into its second round and I haven't done a kickoff post like I did two years ago in 2018 Berlin Candidates - Kickoff (February 2018). First, here are some links to basic information:-

• Official site: en.candidates-2020.com
• Current Local Time in Yekaterinburg, Russia
• My page: 2020 Candidates Tournament

Next, here is a crosstable showing the historical record of all previous games between the eight players -- including the current World Champion -- courtesy Chessgames.com. The links behind the players' names go to their rating cards on ratings.fide.com:-

	Ale	Car	Din	Gir	Gri	Nep	Vac	Wan	:	Car
Alekseenko	xx	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	:	*
Caruana		xx	*	*	*	*	*	*	:	*
Ding Liren			xx	*	*	*	*	*	:	*
Giri				xx	*	*	*	*	:	*
Grischuk					xx	*	*	*	:	*
Nepomniachtchi						xx	*	*	:	*
Vachier-Lagrave							xx	*	:	*
Wang Hao								xx	:	*
Carlsen									:	xx

That's enough to get started. As soon as I can, I'll update my WCC pages with the latest FIDE annnouncements.

***

Later: Re that last sentence, 'I'll update my WCC pages with the latest FIDE annnouncements', I added eight announcements from FIDE.com to my page on the 2020 Candidates Tournament. Five of the announcements were related to the coronavirus pandemic currently sweeping the planet. Also worth noting from FIDE.com is a series on the eight players in the candidates, each titled 'Introducing Candidates':-

• Kirill Alekseenko
• Wang Hao
• Anish Giri
• Ian Nepomniachtchi
• Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
• Alexander Grischuk
• Ding Liren
• Fabiano Caruana

I list them here in the same order that FIDE published them. Was it lowest rated to highest rated?

I also intended to add a new page for the title match to be held later this year -- coronavirus permitting -- but found no annnouncements on FIDE.com. One report published on this year's leap day, World Championship match almost certain to take place in Dubai (chessbase.com), started,

During the 90th FIDE Congress in Abu Dhabi, the President of the Federation Arkady Dvorkovich mentioned that this year's World Championship match will almost certainly take place in Dubai as part of the 2020 World Expo, clarifying that this is not yet a formal announcement.

I couldn't find an earlier call-for-bids on that match.