Candidates/World Championship Tournament 2016

[ajay]

The eight player Candidate tournament will be played in Moscow and the first round starts on March 11th. The qualified players trying to earn the right to challenge world champ Carlsen are:

1. Vishwanathan Anand (India) – The player who lost the 2014 World Championship Match
2. Sergey Karjakin (Russia) – as winner of the FIDE World Cup in Baku
3. Peter Svidler (Russia) – as the silver medalist of the FIDE World Cup in Baku
4. Fabiano Caruana (USA/Italy) – from FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15
5. Hikaru Nakamura (USA) – from FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15
6. Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) – By rating
7. Anish Giri (Netherlands) – By rating
8. Levon Aronian (Armenia) – organizers nominee of rating higher than 2725 ELO

Anand opens his campaign Topalov with white. It will be a long tournament with 14 rounds. Here is the schedule:

Round 1 on 2016/03/11 at 14.00
1 GM Karjakin Sergey 2769 - GM Svidler Peter 2751 8
2 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 - GM Caruana Fabiano 2787 7
3 GM Giri Anish 2798 - GM Aronian Levon 2792 6
4 GM Anand Viswanathan 2784 - GM Topalov Veselin 2780 5

Round 2 on 2016/03/12 at 14.00
8 GM Svidler Peter 2751 - GM Topalov Veselin 2780 5
6 GM Aronian Levon 2792 - GM Anand Viswanathan 2784 4
7 GM Caruana Fabiano 2787 - GM Giri Anish 2798 3
1 GM Karjakin Sergey 2769 - GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 2

Round 3 on 2016/03/13 at 14.00
2 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 - GM Svidler Peter 2751 8
3 GM Giri Anish 2798 - GM Karjakin Sergey 2769 1
4 GM Anand Viswanathan 2784 - GM Caruana Fabiano 2787 7
5 GM Topalov Veselin 2780 - GM Aronian Levon 2792 6

Round 4 on 2016/03/15 at 14.00
8 GM Svidler Peter 2751 - GM Aronian Levon 2792 6
7 GM Caruana Fabiano 2787 - GM Topalov Veselin 2780 5
1 GM Karjakin Sergey 2769 - GM Anand Viswanathan 2784 4
2 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 - GM Giri Anish 2798 3

Round 5 on 2016/03/16 at 14.00
3 GM Giri Anish 2798 - GM Svidler Peter 2751 8
4 GM Anand Viswanathan 2784 - GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 2
5 GM Topalov Veselin 2780 - GM Karjakin Sergey 2769 1
6 GM Aronian Levon 2792 - GM Caruana Fabiano 2787 7

Round 6 on 2016/03/17 at 14.00
4 GM Anand Viswanathan 2784 - GM Svidler Peter 2751 8
5 GM Topalov Veselin 2780 - GM Giri Anish 2798 3
6 GM Aronian Levon 2792 - GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 2
7 GM Caruana Fabiano 2787 - GM Karjakin Sergey 2769 1

Round 7 on 2016/03/19 at 14.00
8 GM Svidler Peter 2751 - GM Caruana Fabiano 2787 7
1 GM Karjakin Sergey 2769 - GM Aronian Levon 2792 6
2 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 - GM Topalov Veselin 2780 5
3 GM Giri Anish 2798 - GM Anand Viswanathan 2784 4

Round 8 on 2016/03/20 at 14.00
8 GM Svidler Peter 2751 - GM Karjakin Sergey 2769 1
7 GM Caruana Fabiano 2787 - GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 2
6 GM Aronian Levon 2792 - GM Giri Anish 2798 3
5 GM Topalov Veselin 2780 - GM Anand Viswanathan 2784 4

Round 9 on 2016/03/21 at 14.00
5 GM Topalov Veselin 2780 - GM Svidler Peter 2751 8
4 GM Anand Viswanathan 2784 - GM Aronian Levon 2792 6
3 GM Giri Anish 2798 - GM Caruana Fabiano 2787 7
2 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 - GM Karjakin Sergey 2769 1

Round 10 on 2016/03/23 at 14.00
8 GM Svidler Peter 2751 - GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 2
1 GM Karjakin Sergey 2769 - GM Giri Anish 2798 3
7 GM Caruana Fabiano 2787 - GM Anand Viswanathan 2784 4
6 GM Aronian Levon 2792 - GM Topalov Veselin 2780 5

Round 11 on 2016/03/24 at 14.00
6 GM Aronian Levon 2792 - GM Svidler Peter 2751 8
5 GM Topalov Veselin 2780 - GM Caruana Fabiano 2787 7
4 GM Anand Viswanathan 2784 - GM Karjakin Sergey 2769 1
3 GM Giri Anish 2798 - GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 2

Round 12 on 2016/03/25 at 14.00
8 GM Svidler Peter 2751 - GM Giri Anish 2798 3
2 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 - GM Anand Viswanathan 2784 4
1 GM Karjakin Sergey 2769 - GM Topalov Veselin 2780 5
7 GM Caruana Fabiano 2787 - GM Aronian Levon 2792 6

Round 13 on 2016/03/27 at 14.00
7 GM Caruana Fabiano 2787 - GM Svidler Peter 2751 8
6 GM Aronian Levon 2792 - GM Karjakin Sergey 2769 1
5 GM Topalov Veselin 2780 - GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 2
4 GM Anand Viswanathan 2784 - GM Giri Anish 2798 3

Round 14 on 2016/03/28 at 14.00
8 GM Svidler Peter 2751 - GM Anand Viswanathan 2784 4
3 GM Giri Anish 2798 - GM Topalov Veselin 2780 5
2 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 - GM Aronian Levon 2792 6
1 GM Karjakin Sergey 2769 - GM Caruana Fabiano 2787 7

[Prashant]

What's the deal with Kramnik? Does he not participate in these cycles any more?

Or did the organizers just pick Aronian over him for the discretionary slot?

[PKBasu]

Anish Giri sounds like an NRI. I don't think we had noticed his rise before on this forum...

[prasen9]

PKB, we have been talking about him since 2009 here. Viji, first mentioned him. Half nepali, half Russian. In 2010, he helped Anand prepare for the World Championship. I expect (okay, more like "hope") him to be a challenger to Carlsen.

[arjun2761]

PKB, we have been talking about him since 2009 here. Viji, first mentioned him. Half nepali, half Russian. In 2010, he helped Anand prepare for the World Championship. I expect (okay, more like "hope") him to be a challenger to Carlsen.

Yes, he's half Nepali, half Russian by ethnicity of his parents but all Dutch by nationality!

[prasen9]

He was the youngest GM at one point of time and is about four years junior to Carlsen. So, hopefully, he will develop to challenge the king. Currently, he is world #3.

The other young guy is two years younger than Carlsen and is world #5, I believe. Carauna. Another promising player. But I have more faith in Giri.

There is a young Chinese. Yangyi Yu. World #19.

[ajay]

12/2013

Here is the latest list of the world's top-100 players:

http://ratings.fide.com/top.phtml?list=men

Anand has slipped to 9th. But there is an interesting name there, 19-year-old Anish Giri, who is ranked #20 and is the best under-20 player in the world. I'm surprised nobody has noticed this NRI or PIO yet. In all, there are 4 Indians (apart from Giri) in the top-100. The others are #42 P Harikrishna, #77 Parimarjan Negi and #83 Krishnan Sasikaran.

12/2013 In reply to PKB's comment (there were replies from others too)

A simple search in this forum would show that we discovered Anish Giri almost 5 yrs back (Jan 2009) when he was just 14 and came to the limelight as a youngest GM at that time. I remember reading his analysis for previous world championship games. He has already earned respect from the top players and he is considered a bright prospect. Yes, it would be great to see Giri challenging Carlsen soon.

2/2016

Anish Giri sounds like an NRI. I don't think we had noticed his rise before on this forum...

No need to explain to PKB as he will never read these post, and in 2018 he'll be surprised again why Anish Giri is unknown to this forum.

[suresh]

[Sin Hombre]

Happens with age

[prasen9]

This is hilarious now [sorry PKB] I was surprised but I thought maybe PKB does not read the Chess threads that closely.

[PKBasu]

I obviously hadn't read your responses to my first post about this in 2009…thanks for the reminders!!

[PKBasu]

OK, he is basically Russian, despite having a Nepali father. He speaks some Nepali apparently, but is more conversant in Russian, Dutch and English. Lives in the Netherlands (having previously lived in Japan), is married to a Georgian grandmaster who is 4 years older, and is a product of the Russian chess machine. Nepal wants to claim him, but he has shown no real interest. Got it: not an NRI/PIO by any means.
But obviously a great chess talent -- and a prodigy like Anand was. (The first Indian prodigy I remember was Dibyendu Barua, but he didn't quite live up to the potential, while Anand soared from the start). Anand became a GM at 18, Barua at 25, while Giri became one at 14. Wow! (Although being an Indian pioneer, I'm sure things were tougher for Anand -- and, before that, Barua -- than it was for someone within the Russian system).

[ajay]

PKB, glad to see you come back to this thread. I couldn't resist having some fun as I stumbled on your earlier inquiry about Giri.

Anyway regarding chess prodigy and the young grandmasters, you may be surprised to know that Parimarjan Negi at the age of 13 years, 4 months, 22 days became the youngest ever Indian grandmaster and 2nd youngest ever grandmaster in the world in 2006 (beating Magnus Carlsen by 5 days ). However, Negi stopped playing competitive chess in 2014 to pursue his under-graduation study in Stanford University. Negi (ELO 2664) is still a top 100 player in the world and third best Indian after Anand (now ranked 12th ) and Harikrishna (ranked 14th)

And by the way the world record for youngest GM is held by Russian Sergey Karjakin who is among the eight player field in this candidate tournament. He became GM at the age of 12 years, 7 months in 2002. There are other chess prodigy too in this tournament. Fabiano Caruana became GM at the age of 14 years, 11 months, 20 days

[ajay]

Good start for Anand as he is the only winner in Round one, beating Topalov.

Candidates Tournament 2016,
Round 1
Nakamura ½ : ½ Caruana
Giri ½ : ½ Aronian
Anand 1 : 0 Topalov
Karjakin ½ : ½ Svidler

Anand was White, he began with 1.e4, his opponent replied 1…e5, and his was the only decisive game of the round, and the tournament was in Russia. All of these things happened today and also in Candidates 2014! Talk about Déjà vu! Whether Anand will win this year’s Candidates or not is still a question that is a long way off, but he surely he made a good start. Playing the Anti Berlin with 4.d3, the former World Champion improvised on the existing games with a novelty on move 12. Topalov faced hardly any difficulties to equalize.
As Anand said in the press conference, “I had to take the bait on b7, otherwise all my pieces would just end up looking silly.” The pawn surely was not for free as Topalov got loads of activity in return. In fact on the 20th move he even had a combination starting with 20…Bxf2+! which would have given the Bulgarian a clear advantage. Veselin didn’t go for that line and instead chose a variation that turned the evaluation 180 degrees. Anand held the advantage, and although his technique was not the best, he managed to win the game and take home the full point.

[prasen9]

Hmm. No Kramnik. No Vachier-Lagrave. Of course, I would love Anand to win out. But, if he does not, I would hope one of Caruana or Giri wins. It would be fun to see what these generation next can do against Carlsen. Especially Giri.