Toronto Candidates - Games with Most Views

In the previous post, Toronto Candidates - Round by Round (May 2024), I developed a table of links to other resources that documented the progress of the event. For the last column in the table, I wrote,

The column titled 'FIDE Video' links to Youtube's FIDE chess Live Streams.

While I was creating that table, I noticed that FIDE chess Live Streams, also had videos for each of the 112 games played in the event: 2 events each with 8 players and 2 round robin stages per event. Since each video included the number of views for that video, this let me calculate the relative popularity of the players.

Views are in thousands, e.g. the first row means 1.388.000 views. Apologies for the four-letter codes used in the table. With databases, it is often easier to work with codes than with full names.

For the main Candidates event (the top half of the table), the codes correspond to Nakamura, Nepomniachtchi, Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Caruana, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Firouzja, and Abasov.

For the women's event (the bottom half of the table), they correspond to Salimova, A.Muzychuk, Goryachkina, Lagno, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Lei Tingjie, Tan Zhongyi, and Humpy Koneru.

I can't explain the relative popularity of Nurgyul Salimova among women players. Most observers of world chess would predict the relative popularity of Hikaru Nakamura, due to his streaming presence. The most viewed game was 'Round 14: Nakamura vs Gukesh'. After that GM Nakamura played in another seven of the top-10 most viewed videos.

Toronto Candidates - Round by Round

In the previous post, A Soft-spoken Challenger (May 2024), I wrote,

Because of an intervening half-month vacation, the wrapup report and separate report [on the women's event] will have to wait. In the meantime, here's a video from Youtube's FIDE chess channel.

I used this post to catch up on the event by creating a table of important links. The column titled 'Chess.com' links to news report for each round. The column titled 'FIDE Video' links to Youtube's FIDE chess Live Streams.

Rd.	Chess.com	FIDE Video [Views]
01	Candidates Opens With Abundance of Fighting Spirit	[212K]
02	Vidit Ends Nakamura's 47-Game Unbeaten Streak On All-Decisive Day	[100K]
03	Brother/Sister Comeback: Praggnanandhaa Defeats Vidit, Vaishali Finds Her Groove	[97K]
04	Nepomniachtchi Defeats Vidit, Takes Sole Lead; Tan Survives Major Scare	[82K]
05	Gukesh Joins Lead, Nepomniachtchi Survives Praggnanandhaa's Killer Preparation	[86K]
06	Tan Plays Attacking Gem In All-Decisive Day In Women's; Vidit, Praggnanandhaa Recover	[44K]
07	Firouzja Knocks Gukesh Out Of Lead, Nepomniachtchi Heads Tournament Again	[55K]
08	Nakamura Leapfrogs Caruana, Gukesh Re-enters Shared Lead With Nepomniachtchi	[55K]
09	Vidit Beats Nakamura Again, Tan Jumps Back Into Sole Lead Of Women's	[49K]
10	Nakamura, Caruana Bounce Back; Lei Joins Lead In Women's	[53K]
11	Nepomniachtchi, Tan Regain Sole Lead, Nakamura Beats Praggnanandhaa	[53K]
12	Nakamura Scores Hat Trick, Joins 3-Way Lead With Nepomniachtchi, Gukesh	[38K]
13	Gukesh Leads Candidates Before Last Round, Tan Needs Only A Draw In Women's	[49K]
14	Gukesh Youngest Ever Candidates Winner, Tan Takes Women's By 1.5 Points	[110K]

A Soft-spoken Challenger

The previous post on this blog, Toronto Candidates - Third Week (April 2024), ended saying,

I'll have a wrapup report on the entire event and a separate report on the Women’s Candidates as soon as I get a chance. Congratulations to GM Gukesh on a historic victory that very few knowledgeable observers had expected.

Because of an intervening half-month vacation, the wrapup report and separate report will have to wait. In the meantime, here's a video from Youtube's FIDE chess channel.

"From the start, I was here to win": Interview with FIDE Candidates winner Gukesh (25:21) • '[Published on] Apr 27, 2024'

The description said,

Watch Gukesh’s insightful interview with Anna Burtasova after his victory at the FIDE Candidates 2024.

The helpful mention, 'Follow along using the transcript', promises a gold mine of suitable quotes. After that, the comments are full of compliments for both GM Gukesh and the interviewer. The forthcoming title match with World Champion Ding Liren promises to be a roaring battle between two soft-spoken champions.