The event of the year

Every time I type out Candidates Tournament, I want to adorn it with an apostrophe, as with Parents’ Evening or Residents’ Association. Hear me out: Women’s Tournament sounds natural whereas Women Tournament sounds clumsy; the word is possessive rather than attributive. Be that as it may, the prevailing wind has swept the apostrophe away.

Anyway, the greatest chess event of the year has begun in Toronto, and in an important sense it does belong to the players. Its legitimacy depends on the fact that qualifying spots are awarded not by invitation, but fiercely contested in elite events throughout the previous year.

In the Candidates Tournament, the favourites are Ian Nepomniachtchi (who has won the previous two events), Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura, the world no. 2 and 3 respectively. Alireza Firouzja’s recent form has been patchy, but at his best he is undoubtedly capable of winning it. The remaining four players are making their debut at this elite event, and three of them are from India: Santosh Gujrathi Vidit and the brilliant teenagers Dommaraju Gukesh and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa. The rank outsider is Nijat Abasov from Azerbaijan.

For the first time this year, the Women’s Candidates Tournament is being held directly alongside and there it is even harder to rank the favourites. Both finalists from the 2022/2023 event – a knockout – are present: Lei Tingjie and Tan Zhongyi, the latter being the early leader. On paper, the top seed is Aleksandra Goryachkina, but Kateryna Lagno, Humpy Koneru and Anna Muzychuk are all plausible winners as well. The outsiders are Nurgyul Salimova and Rameshbabu Vaishali; the latter is Praggnanandhaa’s older sister.

We go to press around the halfway mark, but the event runs for 14 rounds. As ever, there are commentary streams to suit all tastes. Viswanathan Anand and Irina Krush provide the official Fide commentary, while the major chess platforms (including chess.com