Madrid Candidates - Second Week

At the end of last week's post, Madrid Candidates - First Week (June 2022), I noted,

Next week's 'Second Week' post should have the results through the ninth round. If Nepomniachtchi and Caruana continue to do well, one of them could become World Champion Carlsen's challenger for the second time.

Both of them continued to do well, but the event is still far from over. The following chart shows the standings after the seventh round, mid-point of the tournament. The next two rounds saw two key games featuring two of these top players against a key rival.

Nepomniachtchi, Caruana Win Again To Extend Lead On Field
(chess.com; after rd.7)

In the eighth round, Nepomniachtchi drew while Nakamura beat his compatriot Caruana. That gave the Russian a full point lead over the higher placed of the two Americans, who were in second and third.

In the ninth round, Nepomniachtchi drew with Black against Caruana, while Nakamura lost to GM Radjabov. That let the Russian retain his one point lead over Caruana, who was a point ahead of Nakamura and GM Ding Liren, both with an even score. The Chinese player won his first game of the tournament, beating GM Duda. Nepomniachtchi has White against Nakamura in round 12.

With five rounds left to play it seems even more unlikely that anyone except Nepomniachtchi or Caruana will win the event. Since both players won a previous Candidates tournament, we can conclude that experience counts in this toughest of tournaments.

Madrid Candidates - First Week

The first four rounds of the 2022 Candidates Tournament (m-w.com) have finished, making this a good time for a follow-up to last week's post Madrid Candidates - Kickoff (June 2022). For the 'First Week' posts of the two previous candidates tournaments, see:-

• 2018-03-14: Berlin Candidates - First Week
• 2020-03-25: Yekaterinburg Candidates - First Week

For both posts, I used the following chart showing the round-by-round progress of the participants in the 2013, 2014, and 2016 candidates tournaments.

The red ovals identify the leaders after the 3rd, 7th (midway), and 14th (final) rounds. In all cases, the ultimate winner was among the leaders after the other, intermediate rounds. The only real exception to this pattern was GM Kramnik in 2013, who was trailing after the 3rd and 7th rounds, then had a super spurt during the second half to finish in a tie with GM Carlsen.

I created a new chart for the 2018 and 2020 tournaments, shown below. It highlights the leaders after the 4th round, because that's where the 2022 tournament is now. The red line on the 2020 tournament is a reminder that the event was effectively split in two pieces because of the covid-19 pandemic.

In the 2022 tournament, GM Nepomniachtchi is leading with 3.0 points after four rounds, followed by GM Caruana with 2.5 points. The other six players are all bunched within a half point of each other.

Next week's 'Second Week' post should have the results through the ninth round. If Nepomniachtchi and Caruana continue to do well, one of them could become World Champion Carlsen's challenger for the second time.

Madrid Candidates - Kickoff

The 2022 Candidates Tournament starts in a few days. Following the pattern I established for the previous event -- see Yekaterinburg Candidates - Kickoff (March 2020) -- here are a few relevant links:-

• Official site: candidates.fide.com
• Current Local Time in Madrid, Spain
• My page: 2022 Candidates Tournament

The centerpiece of this current post is a crosstable showing the historical record of all previous games between the eight players, according to Chessgames.com. Their records against World Champion Carlsen are also included. The links under the players' last names lead to their FIDE rating pages.

	Car	Din	Dud	Fir	Nak	Nep	Rad	Rap	:	Car
Caruana	xx	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	:	*
Ding Liren		xx	*	*	*	*	*	*	:	*
Duda			xx	*	*	*	*	*	:	*
Firouzja				xx	*	*	*	*	:	*
Nakamura					xx	*	*	*	:	*
Nepomniachtchi						xx	*	*	:	*
Radjabov							xx	*	:	*
Rapport								xx	:	*
Carlsen									:	xx

In next week's post, I'll summarize the highlights of the first week. I'm sensing more interest in this event than in any previous candidates tournament.