Candidates 2022: Meet our Commentators
The 2022 Candidates Tournament kicks off today with the Opening Ceremony in Madrid, Spain. World Chess’ coverage starts from Round 1 on June 17th at 13:00 UTC and lasts until Round 14 on July 4th or Tiebreaks on July 5th, and it’s time to introduce you to our commentators!
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For the next 20 days, eight elite players will compete for their chance to become the 2023 Challenger in a Championship match that we’re not sure yet that the reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen will appear! Nevertheless, the excitement for the winner of the 2022 Candidates is on with chess enthusiasts from all over the world spreading their predictions.
In a broadcast that will have top-level analysis, Q&As, special guests, chess stories, and a fun spirit – as always – GM Daniil Yuffa will be our main commentator accompanied by WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni, WGM & IM Elizabeth Paehtz, WIM Anna-Maja Kazarian, and WIM Jesse February. Let’s get to know them a bit better!
GM Daniil Yuffa is a Russian-Spanish GM born in 1997. Yuffa earned his GM title in 2016 and in September 2017, he appeared on the Russia-1 talent show “Amazing People”, playing three blindfold simultaneous games while performing classical music pieces on the piano! In 2021, Yuffa won the Roquetas de Mar Festival with a score of 7.5/9, and since October 2021 he represents the Spanish Chess Federation.
WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni was taught to play chess by her father and quickly established herself as one of the leading female players in Luxembourg. She won the national Women’s Championship several times, but her biggest success is the individual gold medal at the 2006 Chess Olympiad in Turin. Nowadays, Fiona is well-known as a chess host/presenter and streamer – you can find her on Twitch and various social platforms under the nickname ‘Fionchetta’.
IM/WGM Elisabeth Paehtz is the strongest German female player since her youth and a leader of the national team, for which she played in more than 10 Chess Olympiads. Her latest tournament successes include the bronze medal in the 2017 Women’s World Rapid Chess Championship, gold in the 2018 Women’s European Rapid Championship, and bronze in the 2019 Women’s European Individual Chess Championship. Recently, Paehtz gave an exclusive interview to World Chess about her experience in the army, women’s chess in Germany, recent successes in chess tournaments and much more.
WIM Anna-Maja Kazarian is born in 2000 and has been the under-16 girls’ European Youth Champion. In 2020 she also became the Dutch Women’s Internet Chess Champion. Kazarian reached a peak FIDE rating of 2320 in 2016, and has represented the Netherlands at the Chess Olympiad and the European Team Chess Championship. The young WIM began streaming on Twitch in early 2020, focusing on chess content, and now she has more than 25k followers and has signed with the Alliance esports organization.
Jesse February is a South African WIM, two-time South African Women’s Champion, African Women’s Champion, and chess streamer. She won the Women’s South African Chess Championship in 2017 and 2019, as well as the 2021 Women’s African Individual Championship. Jesse likes to identify as a chess player/coach/content creator/potato eater on her upcoming Twitch channel which now has more than 3,5k followers.
Watch the 2022 Candidates with our community, chat, and send your questions to our commentators.
