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Fabiano Caruana, the world No 3, reigning US champion and 5-2 favourite to win the world title Candidates at the Cap St Georges Resort, Pegeia, Cyprus, from 29 March to 16 April, planned to warm up with two events at his home town St Louis, but events have not followed the script.
Caruana was second to the former Russian, Mikhail Antipov, in the Saint Louis Masters, though he was unbeaten with 7/9, so this was still a good result. But then, in the American Cup, a double elimination format knockout, he lost to both Wesley So and Levon Aronian in similar fashion, winning the first classical game with White, losing the second with Black, then losing the speed tie-break 1.5-2.5.
Both defeats followed a pattern where Caruana was gradually ground down in middle games and endgames without queens, a weakness on which his opponents in Cyprus are sure to focus. So won in 68 moves, while Aronian took only 40, and already had a decisive advantage by move 21.
Hikaru Nakamura, the world No 2 and popular streamer, and Javokhir Sindarov, the Uzbek who won the 2025 World Cup, are co-second favourites for the Candidates at around 5-1.
Arguably the event is more open after Caruana’s stumble this week, so that China’s Wei Yi, India’s Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Anish Giri from the Netherlands, Germany’s Matthias Blübaum, and Russia’s Andrey Esipenko will all have their supporters. There is also the lurking caveat that instability in the region could derail the event.
Who do you think will win the Candidates? Let us know in the comments.
The Women’s Candidates, playing for the right to challenge China’s Ju Wenjun, takes place in Pegeia at the same time. It includes India’s Koneru Humpy, Vaishali Rameshbabu and Divya Deshmukh; China’s Zhu Jiner and Tan Zhongyi; Russia’s Aleksandra Goryachkina and Kateryna Lagno; and Kazakhstan’s Bibisara Assaubayeva. Any one of them could win, but my narrow preference is for Goryachkina.
The British Rapidplay Championship, the national title for one-hour chess, or more precisely in this case all moves in 15 minutes, plus a 10 seconds per move increment from move one, takes place at Peterborough over 11 rounds and two days this Saturday and Sunday.
Prizes have been increased to more than £6,500 in total, with £1,500 for the winner and £750 for the women’s champion. More than 200 players have entered. There is just a single tournament, with no Major, Minor or Novice sections.
The standard £35 entry fee applies to all entrants, and around half of the current list of more than 200 players are rated below 1800, the landmark for a moderately skilled amateur.
There are seven grandmasters in the field, with the favourites the England internationals Gawain Maroroa Jones and Michael Adams, plus England’s youngest GM Shreyas Royal, 17.
Junior talents with an opportunity to break through include Stanley Badacsonyi, Supratit Banerjee, Freddy Waldhausen Gordon, Oleg Verbytski and Kai Hanache.
A current problem for all classical English tournaments is that too few experts and masters rated 2100-2400 compete. Some are put off by high entry fees, others fear underrated juniors. The proportion of sub-2000 players who only want to compete in Majors and Minors is growing, while experts now often confine their play to the Four Nations Chess League and county matches.
Congresses in France, Germany and Spain often have a single Open of hundreds of players with, for nine-round classical events, enough GMs, IMs and 2300s to make title norms realistic. In last week’s Aeroflot Open in Moscow there was even a minimum 2300 rating requirement, with higher entry fees for players in the low 2300s.
The English model is difficult to change, but risks perpetuating a situation where the standard of over the board play here is lower than in the rest of Europe.
4015 1 Bh5+! Kxh5 2 Qxg7 (threat 3 g4+ and mate) Qe4 3 Rxf5+! R or Qxf5 4 g4+ Qxg4 5 Qxg4 mate.
