In 2013, proper after Magnus Carlsen received the Candidates event in London, a body captured by Norwegian photographer Morten Rakke went viral. In it, the grandmaster is captured behind a door, slumped on the handrail of a staircase, shirt untucked, his face buried into his arm. An ominous signal on the wall behind Carlsen learn: “Watch out for the steps.”
Barely had the world championship challenger caught his breath after qualifying for the world championship, he was interviewed by Worldwide Grasp Lawrence Trent, who requested him how he deliberate to rejoice his victory. Carlsen’s reply was revealing. “My ideas haven’t gone additional than getting again to my lodge and mendacity down. That’s what’s subsequent for me.”
Trent prodded him additional, asking if he was extra exhausted bodily or emotionally. “It’s a deadly mixture proper now,” provided Carlsen.
Within the decade that has adopted, Carlsen scythed his approach via the world of chess, racking up 5 crowns after battling via 5 World Championship jousts, earlier than finally abdicating his throne.
A case might be made that the World Championship battle is extra forgiving than the Candidates. When you err, you come again with redrawn battle plans and tackle the identical opponent as soon as extra. On the Candidates, although, one loss can out of the blue grow to be a slippery slope.
It’s into this event of struggling that R Praggnanandhaa, D Gukesh, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi. Koneru Humpy and R Vaishali — head for the following three weeks. Every participant within the eight-man open occasion and the eight-women corresponding event will play the opposite opponents twice and the winner after 14 rounds will earn the proper to problem the world champions subsequent yr.
The lacking Magnus impact
Srinath factors out that Magnus’s determination to forsake his crown and never compete on the present Candidates cycle within the open occasion implies that gamers, even first-timers, will need to win this time, figuring out a better battle awaits them on the World Championship towards Ding Liren. There may be additionally a chance that the world no.1 Carlsen may determine to compete within the subsequent Candidates, thus making that yet one more troublesome to win.
“Defeating anybody else within the World Championship is certainly comparatively simpler than making an attempt to beat Magnus in a match,” Srinath stated. (FIDE/Stev Bonhage)
“Defeating anybody else within the World Championship is certainly comparatively simpler than making an attempt to beat Magnus in a match. This makes profitable the 2024 Candidates extra profitable. Ding has not been in his greatest form in any respect prior to now one yr. He has a yr extra and even a weakened Ding is under no circumstances simple. But when he performs at his present type on the World Championship, then the challenger would be the favorite towards Ding,” factors out Srinath.
Nonetheless, Srinath warns towards making an attempt to ground the pedal in a determined bid to come back out flying from the beginning of the event.
“For any participant competing for the primary time, ideally it’s vital to not get overawed by the event. Throwing the kitchen sink may really backfire. This isn’t the form of occasion the place you may blitzkrieg your opponent. It’s actually vital to attend to your possibilities,” says Srinath.
Expertise issues
Among the biggest final names on the planet of chess — Petrosian, Najdorf, Euwe, Spassky, Tal, Fischer, Korchnoi, Karpov, Anand, Topalov, Kramnik, Carlsen and Liren — have fought their approach out of the trenches of the Candidates event earlier than they had been deemed worthy of taking a crack on the king’s throne.
For all three Indian contenders within the open class (and Vaishali within the ladies’s occasion), the Candidates will probably be their first brush with an occasion with the stakes so excessive.
There are two methods of neatly dividing the eight-man open class. The 30 somethings — Ian Nepomniachtchi, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura — who’ve been round for some time on the elite stage, and have appreciable expertise of easy methods to deal with such occasions. Then come the gamers of their late 20s: Vidit Gujrathi and Nijat Abasov. And the ultimate group is the one which has made the world sit up and take discover for the reason that pandemic, 20-year-old Alireza Firouzja, 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa and 17-year-old Gukesh, who’s the second youngest participant ever on the Candidates after Bobby Fischer.
“In lots of senses it’s a battle of generations. It’s a great platform for kids to make their mark on the highest stage,” says RB Ramesh, who’s Pragg’s coach and has additionally been instrumental within the improvement of Vaishali.
The opposite approach of separating the eight-man pack is prior Candidates expertise. On one aspect are the haves: Nepomniachtchi (enjoying at his third consecutive Candidates event and chasing his third win), Caruana (fifth Candidates look), Nakamura and Firouzja. And the have nots: Vidit, Gukesh, Pragg and Abasov.
Within the ladies’s class too, Viashali steps into her first Candidates occasion, whereas Humpy has been there final time.
Over the following three weeks, Pragg, Gukesh, Vaishali, Vidit and Humpy will attempt to climb the staircase, one treacherous step at a time via a haze of opponents, to have the ability to tackle Liren and Ju Wenjun within the World Championship battle.
However they have to be cautious. Because the signal behind Carlsen warned, “Watch out for the steps.”