The history of the Candidates Tournaments and Candidates Matches dates back to 1950. In its anniversary year, FIDE is looking forward to the Candidates Tournaments in Toronto in April 2024 and provides an overview of the history of these competitions. | Photos: Via FIDE
Four players are sharing the lead with 5½ points each after six rounds of play at the Chessable Sunway main tournament in Sitges. Sethuraman S.P. (India), Dominik Horvath (Austria), Brandon Jacobson (United States) and Iniyan Pa (India) are the current co-leaders in the 10-round open event. Two side stories from Sitges dominated the news cycle these days, though: Leinier Dominguez’s withdrawal and Faustino Oro’s participation in Sunday’s blitz tournament. | Photo: David Llada
In what turned out to be an extremely close fight for first place, DuoBeniaján emerged victorious at the Spanish League in Linares. C.A. Silla obtained the same number of match points and individual points as the champions, but had a worse tiebreak score i.e. they had lost the direct confrontation against the team from Murcia. C.A. Solvay, the defending champions, finished in clear third place. | Photos: FEDA
The Honour Division of the Spanish League is taking place on September 16-22 in Linares, Jaén. Eight teams take part in the single round-robin competition. Each match is played over six boards, with the obligatory inclusion of a female representative on each team’s roster. After three rounds, rating favourites DuoBeniaján Costa Cálida lead the standings with 6/6 match points. Magic Extremadura and defending champions C.A. Solvay stand a match point behind. | Pictured: Pia Cramling (C.A. Silla) facing Alberto Quintín (MyInvestor Casablanca) | Photo: FEDA
Nijat Abasov, the 69th seed in the open section of the FIDE World Cup, has all but secured a spot in the next edition of the Candidates Tournament, as he beat Vidit Gujrathi with white to knock him out of the event. Since Magnus Carlsen, his next opponent, also reached the semifinals and is very likely to skip the Candidates, the Azerbaijani will not even need to finish among the top-3 to reach the 8-player World Championship qualifier. Fabiano Caruana also advanced to the semifinals, while Praggnanandhaa bounced back in his match against Arjun Erigaisi. Among the women, Aleksandra Goryachkina drew Tan Zhongyi and made it through to the final. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage