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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 qualified via the FIDE World Cup. | Photo: FIDE / Lennart Ootes
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 came close to catching the eventual champion, but fell just short and took the silver medal. | Photo: F...