Page 4 - Humpy Koneru News Today

The chess world is eagerly awaiting the Candidates Tournaments, which will take place in Toronto from 3 April. The open tournament in particular will see many young, ambitious players taking part, hoping to challenge world champion Ding Liren. Now FIDE has published the regulations for the Candidates.

As expected, Magnus Carlsen has now announced on his X account that he won't be playing in the Candidates Tournament in Toronto in April, even though he qualified by winning the World Cup 2023 and by being the world's number one on the rating list. GM Nijat Abasov from Azerbaijan, who lost to Carlsen in the semifinals of the World Cup, will get Carlsen's place in the Candidates. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

With the publication of FIDE's January rating list, the participants in the Candidates Tournaments in April have been practically finalised. Alireza Firouzja and Humyp Koneru qualify thanks to their ratings while Magnus Carlsen is formally qualified, but has already stated that he does not wish to play.

We are three months away from the start of the Candidates Tournaments in Toronto. With no more rated classical games in the December-2023 period, we got the names of the two players who got the rating spot in the open and women’s sections — Alireza Firouzja and Humpy Koneru (pictured), respectively. The 2023 edition of the FIDE Circuit has also finished, with Gukesh grabbing the Candidates spot by finishing in second place, since Fabiano Caruana — the winner of the Circuit — was already ...

Magnus Carlsen grabbed his 17th World Championship title — the 7th in blitz — by scoring 16/21 points at the World Blitz event in Samarkand. After losing his first game of the day, against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Carlsen grabbed six wins in a row to retake the sole lead. Two draws in the final rounds allowed him to outscore Daniil Dubov by a half point. In the women’s championship, Valentina Gunina got outright victory thanks to a final-round win over Anna Muzychuk. Alexandra Kosteniuk cam...

Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Fedoseev and Yu Yangyi are sharing the lead in the open section of the World Rapid Championship after nine rounds. Carlsen and Fedoseev could have gone into the third and final day of action a half point ahead of Yu had them converted superior endgame positions in round 9. In the women’s tournament, Anastasia Bodnaruk climbed to sole first place after scoring 3½/4 points on Wednesday. | Photo: FIDE / Lennart Ootes

Yet another stunning performance, yet another title! Magnus Carlsen scored 10/13 points throughout three days of play to grab his fifth World Rapid Championship title in Samarkand. The Norwegian obtained two wins in a row at the start of day 3 and managed to win the tournament outright with draws in the final two rounds. In the women’s tournament, Anastasia Bodnaruk beat Humpy Koneru in a blitz playoff to claim the title. | Photo: FIDE / Lennart Ootes

Five players ended day 1 of the World Rapid Championship sharing first place with 4½/5 points. Magnus Carlsen, who assessed his play on the first day as “so-so”, heads the leading pack, which also includes Yu Yangyi, Vidit Gujrathi, Arjun Erigaisi and Ivan Cheparinov. In the women’s section, Zhu Jiner and Nurgyul Salimova are sharing first place with perfect 4/4 scores. | Photo: FIDE / Lennart Ootes

For its December list FIDE has not yet rated the tournaments in St. Louis and Zagreb, so Alireza Firouzja's rating loss is still quite moderate. The 30 Elo-points Hans Niemann gained in the Tournament of Peace in Zagreb do not appear in the list either. But Carlsen remains the clear number one.

The Candidates Tournament and the Women’s Candidates Tournament will be played simultaneously next year in Toronto. Four spots are still up for grabs in the open event, while three participants remain to be decided among the women. In both cases, two spots will be decided in the upcoming Grand Swiss tournaments. Let us recap who already qualified, and who are the frontrunners to get the remaining spots. | Pictured: Elite grandmasters apparently discussing a position during the Grand Swiss open...