The penultimate round of the 2024 FIDE Candidates’ Tournament and Women’s Candidate Tournament took two divergent paths on Saturday in Toronto. In the Women’s event, five players entered with a mathematical chance (albeit a slim one for three of them), but now the situation is clear. GM Tan Zhongyi wins the tournament outright with at least a draw, whereas a loss and then a GM Lei Tingjie win forces a tiebreak. This scenario where the leaders have separated from the field by the 14th round of play is what we can call the “normal” outcome.
“Only” half of the eight games played during Thursday’s 12th round of the 2024 FIDE Candidates and Women’s Candidates tournaments ended in decisive games (down from six on Wednesday), serving to illustrate just how high the “baseline” for drama and suspense has risen over the course of the last few weeks in Toronto. Enjoy a number of annotations from WGM Gulrukhbegim "Begim" Tokhirjonova, including incredibly detailed and instructive analysis of Nakamura – Firouzja and Salimova – Tan!
The players have finally reached the halfway point of the event. After today’s rest day, round eight resumes tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. CDT, with the players picking up the second leg of the Double Round Robin event. All players will play each other in the same order, with colors reversed.
The second round of the 2024 FIDE Candidates Tournament saw four decisive results in the Open section. Today was the Women's Candidates Tournament's turn to deliver four victors. Without further ado: