Two Americans are bringing home first-place trophies from the 2024 World Cadet Rapid and Blitz Championships held April 25 through 29 in Durres, Albania.
For the better part of Sunday's last-round games in Toronto, at least one of the 2024 FIDE Candidates events appeared headed to a playoff match. Instead, both challengers were determined in regulation.
“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: