Pentala Harikrishna, Poland's no. 2
Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Sweden's no. 1
Nils Grandelius are excellent replacements.
Then, on the eve of the tournament, Daniil Dubov was also forced to cancel after someone close to him tested positive for COVID-19. His late replacement is 22-year-old German Grandmaster
Carlsen has won the Masters group of the event a record 7 times since 2008, when he shared 1st along with Levon Aronian. Caruana is the reigning champion and in fact only three other players (Levon Aronian in 2012 and 2014, Hikaru Nakamura in 2011 and Wesley So in 2017) have managed to win the event in the last 10 years.
Whether Carlsen can triumph again may depend on whether he recovers his form from earlier in 2020. The 30-year-old had an immensely successful year, winning a total of 9 online events and one over-the-board event (Norway Chess), but Wesley So crashed his 30th birthday party by winning the Skilling Open final, while his Airthings Masters came to an end in the quarter-final as Daniil Dubov proved superior.