It was a day of wins mostly, Alireza Firouzja also scored a win against the Hungarian GM Richard Rapport. Whereas, Ding Liren scored a win over Jan-Krzysztof Duda. With 6.5 points, Ian maintains a point lead against the number two Fabiano Caruana. Caruana is 5.5 points in second place, followed by Hikaru Nakamura at 4.5. With the win, Ding is also at 4.5 points and fourth in the table. Radjabov, Alireza, and Richard are tied at 4, with Duda at the bottom with 3 points. Furthermore, the coming rounds are very crucial in deciding the outcome of the Candidates. Anyone’s victory against Ian can change the outcome of the tournament in a very dramatic way. The fans are expecting a twist to happen soon.

Let’s take a look at the matches for a clearer idea.

Also Read: Hikaru Vs Fabiano Candidates 2022: Battle Of The Americans- Who Came Out On Top?

FIDE Candidates 2022: Ian Vs Fabiano

The top two were against each other in round 9 of FIDE Candidates 2022, which was supposedly a tough battle. To everyone’s surprise, Ian started with Caruana’s favorite, The Petrov Opening, which left everyone in shock, including Fabiano. It looked as if the American was still not over his defeat against Nakamura in the previous round. He seemed a little shook, and the game progressed slowly. Fabiano’s reply to Ian’s opening was quite an impressive one. Probably for the first time in the tournament, Ian looked a little stumped. Later he even revealed, “I couldn’t recall any of my prep because surely I have some, but I just decided to play on my own, which I think was not the optimal way.” As the game progressed, Fabiano looked in control of the match. Everyone started thinking that it might be the first defeat for Ian, and it did look that way. So many minutes were spent in a single move, Ian was trailing in the match by quite a bit. Looked like Caruana would equal the points tally, and he was really close to doing that.

Unfortunately for him, he was not able to convert his great position into a win. Ian took the opportunity and drew the match, still maintaining the one-point lead going into round 10.

Emotional Hikaru

Having won an amazing game in round 8, Hikaru was unable to keep the momentum going. He defeated his fellow countrymen in round 8 of FIDE Candidates 2022, Fabiano, in such epic fashion. Moreover, he looked confident enough to reduce the gap between him and the top two. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. He lost the game and gave the first win to Teimour Radjabov in the Candidates. He looked teary-eyed after the game ended. Not a pleasing sight to see for his fans.

Looking forward to Round 10 of the FIDE Candidates 2022. Hoping for a nice turnaround.

Also Read: FIDE Candidates 2022: What Has Happened So Far

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Currently, Ian is at top of the leaderboard, leading by a point against the number two Fabiano. Hikaru is only half a point behind Caruana. While Ian is the favorite to win the tournament, one slip-up might lead to things becoming even more interesting. Fair to say as of now, the remaining players have almost zero chances of winning the candidates. If anything has to happen, it will happen in between the top three. If Ian wins the Candidates, chances are that Magnus Carlsen will not come to defend his World Championship title. He already beat Ian last year and needs a new competition that can motivate him to defend his title for the sixth time.

Hikaru Vs Fabiano Candidates 2022: What Happened In the Match?

The match was so interesting, Hikaru vs Fabiano that the starting itself set the entire tone of the match. In a classical match, Hikaru played his first 20 moves in the first  3 minutes only. Maybe he forgot that it was a classical game and not blitz or rapid. Hikaru had white pieces and Fabiano got black. Since 2010, both Americans played 47 classical games with each other. Back in 2015, in Norway Chess, Hikaru had beaten Fabiano. Since then, only Fabiano had won and the others were just drawn. Many experts believe the reason for Fabiano’s loss is the opening he played.

The Dilworth Opening, is used very rarely by players, a sort of gamble maybe to surprise the other player. After Hikaru won the match, he stated something regarding the match. He said, “I think today being a streamer helped me, because I think Fabiano, for whatever reason, just assumed that I’m chilling on the beach all day, and I am not studying openings before this tournament. Because playing the Open Spanish, going into this whole line which is very sharp, it’s just inexplicable honestly. I don’t understand this decision by him at all. It’s insane.”

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68 Moves Game

It took 68 moves for Hikaru to win the match against his fellow American, his nemesis. After almost 60 moves, Hikaru was almost +6 in the game and there was no way for Fabiano to make a comeback. A bitter-sweet victory for Hikaru, one he must cherish. He has displayed a great fighting spirit after a disappointing first two or three days at the Candidates. Now, he should be proud of himself for the comeback that he did and hopefully will play even better chess in the games to come.

Also Read: FIDE Candidates 2022: What Has Happened So Far

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All these players are above 2700+ rating in classical. The competition is so high that there is no guarantee as to who will come out as the perfect candidate. As far now, after 5 rounds of matches, Ian has a clear lead with Caruana behind him. If things continue the way they are now, Ian will again compete in the World Championship. Candidates 2022 are taking place in the Four Seasons Hotel in Madrid, Spain. The tournament started on 16 June and will go on till 5 July.

Let’s take a  close look at all the days and how they unfolded.

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FIDE Candidates 2022- Day 1-3

16 June FIDE Candidates started off with an exciting set of matches. Duda started off his campaign against Hungary’s No 1 Richard Rapport. The battle was intense between the two, and after the end of the two matches, they both shared half a point each. The second lineup was Ian vs Ding, where the highest-rated player faced defeat in the very first encounter of the tournament. We could see Ding extremely disappointed having the ‘Hands on the head’ moment. A big blunder cost him the match, and Nepo is not the type of guy to leave such a chance. The third lineup was the most exciting. Battle of the Americans took place, the speed god Hikaru Nakamura vs the ever precise Fabiano Caruana.

In the first game, the two were very intense and looked like anybody’s game for most portions of the match. Eventually, the players ran out of ideas, the pieces were equally balanced, and they both settles for a draw. However, the second game saw Fabiano taking his game to the next level and sealed the match. He earned his first victory, taking him top of the leaderboard. The last encounter was between Alireza Firouzja and Teimour Radjabov. The Frenchman did not look in his best form at all and could not convert his chances. Half a point went in Radjabov’s favor.

Day 2 featured a tough Ian vs Fabiano encounter with Nakamura vs Radjabov following them. Rapport vs Alireza was a tough matchup, and Duda, Ding battled it out against each other. After the end of day 2, Caruana was at the top of the leaderboard. Day 3 was a day of draws. Before a day’s break, everyone felt tired and looked only for draws. The 3rd day also ended with Caruana on top.

FIDE Candidates 2022- Day 4-5

After a day’s break, players looked all set to resume the fight. As much as Chess seems a very physically limited sport, the amount of work the brain does is very heavy for the mind and body. All the players need to be physically and mentally fit. Day 4 of the Candidates started off with Rapport vs Nakamura, followed by Nepomniatchi vs Firouzja. Particularly this match was the highlight of the day due to the silly blunder made by Firouzja, which cost him the match against Nepo. Like earlier, Nepo is not the one to miss such an opportunity, and Firoujza looked all lost. Duda and Rajda fought against one another, on the other hand, Ding took on Caruana. The day ended with Nepo replacing Caruana for the top spot.

Day 5

Ian Nepomniachtchi is by far looking like the most consistent player in the tournament and followed it up on day 5. His match was against Nakamura, who the previous showed some great defensive skills to draw the match. Other matches included Duda vs Firouzja, Radjabov vs Ding, and Richard vs Caruana. The Day again ended with Ian in the sole lead.

The most surprising performance thus far has come from Alireza. Despite all the ingredients to be the champion, the Grand Swiss winner has not been able to perform in the Candidates. He finds himself at the bottom of the tournament. Two places above him, Ding, who entered by virtue of rating, has been poor, considering his rating is the highest. These two players need to step up their game as the coming days are going to get tougher.

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