The Candidates tournament is underway in Madrid, where eight of the world’s best players vie for the right to challenge Magnus Carlsen in the World Championship. As the event began, Carlsen gave his judgment on each player’s prospects, dividing them into three tiers.
Tier 1: Fabiano Caruana and Ding Liren are ‘the best and most consistent’.
Tier 2: The ‘dark horses’ are Ian Nepomniachtchi, winner of the previous Candidates event, and Alireza Firouzja, whose meteoric rise last year took him to no. 2 in the world rankings (though since overtaken by Ding).
Tier 3: The rest – Richard Rapport, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Hikaru Nakamura and Teimour Radjabov.
Of course, none of the latter players is an easy mark. But winning the Candidates, a gruelling 14-round event where every player is supremely motivated, calls for something special. In the second half of the event, when the pressure ramps up, good preparation and good chess are not enough.A
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