FIDE Candidates Tournament 2022: Everything you need to know
The 2022 Candidates Tournament runs from June 17th through July 5th, in Madrid, Spain. It’s one of the most important events of the year as the world’s chess elite will compete for a chance to dethrone the invincible Magnus Carlsen and win the 2023 World Championship title.
Eight players compete in a double round-robin tournament (14 rounds), with 4 rest days, a final tiebreak in case of a draw, and a €500,000 prize pool.
Players
This year’s Candidates Tournament features eight of the best players in the world, with the chess community keeping an eye on the professional streamer Hikaru Nakamura who qualified from the Grand Prix cycle, and Ding Liren who managed to play 30 games between 1 June 2021 and 30 April 2022 to take over Karjakin’s spot as the highest-rated player.
The final participants of the 2022 Candidates tournament are:
| Ian Nepomniachtchi | 2766 | Russia | 2021 World Chess Champion Match runner-up |
| Alireza Firouzja | 2791 | France | Grand Swiss winner |
| Fabiano Caruana | 2783 | United States | Grand Swiss runner-up |
| Jan-Krzystof Duda | 2750 | Poland | World Cup winner |
| Hikaru Nakamura | 2760 | United States | Grand Prix winner |
| Richard Rapport | 2764 | Hungary | Grand Prix runner-up |
| Ding Liren | 2806 | China | Replacement for Karjakin and the highest-rated classical player in May |
| Teimour Radjabov | 2753 | Azerbaijan | Wild Card |
Schedule
Each round starts at 13:00 UTC and players have 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, then 15 minutes for the rest of the game with a 30-second increment per move starting on move one.
Dates:
June 16 – Opening ceremony
June 17 – Round 1, 13:00 UTC
June 18 – Round 2, 13:00 UTC
June 19 – Round 3, 13:00 UTC
June 20 – Rest day
June 21 – Round 4, 13:00 UTC
June 22 – Round 5, 13:00 UTC
June 23 – Round 6, 13:00 UTC
June 24 – Rest day
June 25 – Round 7, 13:00 UTC
June 26 – Round 8, 13:00 UTC
June 27 – Round 9, 13:00 UTC
June 28 – Rest day
June 29 – Round 10, 13:00 UTC
June 30 – Round 11, 13:00 UTC
July 1 – Round 12, 13:00 UTC
July 2 – Rest day
July 3 – Round 13, 13:00 UTC
July 4 – Round 14, 13:00 UTC
July 5 – Tiebreaks and Closing Ceremony
Broadcasting
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. Watch the 2022 Candidates with our community, chat, and send your questions to the commentators Chess Grandmaster Daniil Yuffa and Woman International Master Fiona Steil-Antoni.
