What was mentioned by FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich in mid-January is now official: the FIDE Candidates Tournament will resume in the second half of April in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The news was announced today by FIDE.
The new official dates for the second half of the tournament are April 19-29, with the eighth round to be played on April 20.
The first half of the tournament was played March 17-25, 2020, also in Yekaterinburg. FIDE interrupted the event halfway, postponing the second half when an interruption of air traffic between Russia and other countries was imminent because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The event was initially planned to resume on November 1, 2020, but had to be postponed once again. The bottleneck was the situation with the Chinese participants, GMs Ding Liren and GM Wang Hao, who had not received clearance to travel abroad and play.
Participants:
1. Fabiano Caruana (2842)
2. Ding Liren (2805)
3. Alexander Grischuk (2777)
4. Ian Nepomniachtchi (2774)
5. Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime(2767)
6. Anish Giri (2763)
7. Wang Hao (2758)
8. Kirill Alekseenko (2704)
STANDINGS AFTER ROUNd 8
1 Nepomniachtchi, Ian 5 18.75
2 Caruana, Fabiano 4.5 18.5
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 4.5 17.75
4 Giri, Anish 4 15.75
Wang, Hao 4 14.5
6 Grischuk, Alexander 3.5 14.25
Alekseenko, Kirill 3.5 13.5
8 Ding, Liren 3 12
PGN:
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 8. Qd2 Qxb2 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. e5 h6 11. Bh4 dxe5 12. fxe5 Nfd7 13. Ne4 Qxa2 14. Rd1 Qd5 15. Qe3 Qxe5 16. c3 Bc5 17. Bg3 Qd5 18. Bc4 Qxc4 19. Bd6 Nf6 20. Nxc5 Nd5 21. Qe5 Rg8 22. Ndxe6 fxe6 23. Nxe6 Qxc3+ 24. Qxc3 Nxc3 25. Nc7+ Kf7 26. Rd3 Ne4 27. O-O Kg6 28. Nxa8 Nc6 29. Nb6 Rd8 30. Nxc8 Rxc8 31. Ba3 Rc7 32. Rf4 Nf6 33. Bb2 Ne7 34. Bxf6 gxf6 35. h4 h5 36. Rg3+ Kf7 37. Rg5 Rc1+ 38. Kh2 Ng6 39. Rf2 Nxh4 40. Rxh5 Ng6 41. Rh7+ Ke6 42. Rxb7 Ne5 43. Rb6+ Rc6 44. Rxc6+ Nxc6 45. Kg3 Kf7 46. Rc2 Nb4 47. Rd2 Nc6 48. Kf4 Kg6 49. Rd6 Ne5 50. Rxa6 Nf7 51. Ke4 Nh6 52. Ra5 Nf7 53. Ra3 Nd6+ 54. Kf4 Nf5 55. Rd3 Nh6 56. Rg3+ Kf7 57. Ke4 Ng8 58. Kf5 Ne7+ 59. Kf4 Nd5+ 60. Kg4 Kg6 61. Kf3+ Kf7 62. Ke4 Ne7 63. Kf4 Nd5+ 64. Kf5 Ne7+ 65. Ke4 Ng8 66. Rh3 Kg6 67. Ra3 Kf7 68. Kf4 Nh6 69. Rg3 Ng8 70. Kg4 Ne7 71. Kh5 Nd5 72. Rf3 Ke6 73. g4 Ke5 74. Kg6 1-0
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