Its March in 2018- the year of the World Chess Championship Match! And its this time that all eyes are on Berlin, Germany for the Candidates Tournament that’ll decide the Challenger to World Chess Champion for the Title Match in November! With a grueling schedule of double round robin format this is the most exhaustive tournament for any chess player, but one everyone aspires and works hard- over the last year to qualify to secure a berth! It’s a sure test of stamina, skills, perseverance and determination for all the participants.
So lets take a look- the tournament starts March 10, 2018 and goes through March 28, 2018- that’s nineteen (19) days for sixteen (16) rounds – eight players, top of the league and rhetorically speaking – eight players at the base camp to a summit that’s pretty much the top of the world – out of all the highly qualified and talented chess players the world has to offer. They surely earned their spots but more’s to be earned. How much more do they want? How much more do they have to give to get what they want out of this? How much more they’ll have to give after this if they qualify for the Title Match? The World Champion sits atop- looking down on the ‘mere mortals’ fighting for a chance to face off in the Title Match.
Arguably, its too much of a luxury afforded to the World Champion, but that’s the norm for Chess for generations, since 1948 that FIDE took over officiating and conducting this prized event and before- post early to mid 1800s. But the Champ can sure look out for a tough contest~ novelties and improvements in what is now already broadly and exhaustively studied chess theory! So with that said, lets look at the league of Super Grand Masters that’ll duel it! All ratings are from the February 2018 FIDE Rating List.
#1 Sergey Karjakin (2763, Russia):
Deserving to be mentioned here first on his merit of being the runner up in the previous World Chess Championship Match Sergey Karjakin put a stellar but lacking performance against the World Champion. After being one game up in the 8th game of the 12 game match Sergey squandered badly in the 10th game to take the match to the tiebreaker Rapid and beyond too the Blitz playoff. Carlsen had the obvious upper hand under these scenarios being the World Champ in the Rapid category in 2015. That puts into question if World Championship should be so decided given the fact that the World Champion already enjoys the luxury of facing the challenger unchallenged through the cycle.
Having said that Sergey’s road to the World Championship wasn’t totally convincing. He played the Candidates matches solidly but the win was never convincing. Having tied with Fabiano Caruana of the U.S. Sergey Karjakin faced off with him in the last round and won the Candidates Tournament just half a point ahead of Vishwanathan Anand of India.
Fabi playing Black in a Sicilian game played aggressively to keep up his chances for an outright win alive. This took a toll on him over the game as the pressure to bring about the win and carrying the hopes of the United States of producing a World Championship Challenger got the better of him.
Here Fabi played 36… Re4? overlooking the forthcoming combination after 37.Rxd5 exd5, 38.Qxd5 Qc7, 39.Qf5… it was clear Fabi overlooked this simple maneuver that effectively is the fatal blow. Fabi resigned on move #42 sinking American hopes for presenting the first World Championship Challenger since Bobby Fischer!
That’s six moves later when Fabi called it a day, congratulating Sergey- once for winning the game, and again for earning the right to challenge the World Champ! But I won’t take anything from Sergey, he earned it and earned himself the reputation of playing ice cold chess- no emotions, just solid chess, and embodying formidable defensive resourcefulness! The sorts that can exhaust the opponent and push him to succumb!
#2 Levon Aronian (2797, Armenia):
Qualifying on the merits of winning the Chess World Cup in 2017 Levon is a great talent. He’s come close, perilously close, but hasn’t gotten there… yet. Building a solid reputation over his years of presence in the top ten of the World Rankings, mostly in the top five until a rough period in 2014-2015. But he has come back stronger since and showed no signs of backing off. Much as the potential he has and he has displayed in tournaments – an absolute consistency with resolve – he’s just fallen short in previous candidates. Placed a joint first halfway through the Candidates Tournament in 2016 he stumbled thereafter losing two games and effectively placing at Karjakin’s heels thereafter. Levon’s form in 2017 was stellar, featuring victories in Norway Chess, the GRENKE Chess Classic, the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz and the Tbilisi World Cup, with that 2nd World Cup victory qualifying him for the 2018 Candidates Tournament in Berlin. Perhaps his time has finally come? Perhaps the “Levee” gonna burst open?
#3 Ding Liren (2769, China):
Qualifying on the merits of being the runner up at the 2017 Chess World Cup Ding Liren is a terrific talent the Chinese jūnhuǒ chǔbèi (arsenal). China has to offer some of the finest Chess Talents- already four top the top 25 world players in the FIDE List are Chinese. It was only a matter of time before one of them made it to the Candidates Tournament. They’ve been knocking at the door over the past few years, but never quite making it there. Ding Liren has played one of his notable games against Levon last year at the FIDE Sharjah Grand Prix. Playing white, showing a stellar insight of positional play he produced a fascinating combination almost out of thin air!
Here black has just played 36… Qb6-a7, and Liren responded with 37.Rd6! Aronian didn’t make much of the move and played 37… Bxd6 only to find himself throwing in the towel after seven moves!
Levon resigned here as 43.Bh6+ is looming followed by 44.Bxf6+ to win the black Queen. It remains to be seen if the Chinese are enroute to mount another challenger to the zenith of yet another sport. Definitely not a foregone conclusion.
#4 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2814, Azerbaijan):
The World #2 on the current FIDE List and deservedly so. Mamedyarov has had a terrific year in 2017 overall. He’s shown solid performance qualifying for the Candidates Tournament in 2018 by winning the FIDE Grand Prix Series in 2017. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov has been a regular feature of elite tournaments for a decade, and yet he seems to have recently made a breakthrough, winning almost everything in sight in 2017 and climbing the Elo list to challenge World Champion Magnus Carlsen.
Replay one of his most notable games from 2017 below
Making quick work of Michael Adams in a most efficient fashion Mamedyarov played some of his finest games in 2017 to march up the World Rankings and his form is at peak levels! May be 2018 has some pleasantries in store for him.
#5 Alexander Grischuk (2767, Russia):
Qualified on the merits of his position as a runner up in the 2017 FIDE Grand Prix Series Sacha’s rating doesn’t do him justice. He consumes tremendous time on the clock in standard or any format games only to up the ante under time pressure. Sacha is most confident in time pressure situations with acute skills at Blitz Chess. It almost seems that Sacha plays every game with the last two or three minutes of time control in mind. He works on getting into decisive positions toward time controls only to blitz out the obvious moves that result in desired outcome. Having won three World Blitz Championships (2006, 2012 & 2015) Sacha is a most vocal advocate for Blitz Chess. Although Sacha has maintained an active presence at elite level tournaments he’s never reached the position of being a contender at World Championship Candidates Tournaments. Despite (or perhaps because of) Grischuk’s blitz skill he has a tendency to fall into desperate time trouble in his slower games, although in such situations he displays a composure that few of his colleagues can match. We’ll have to wait to get a glimpse of the power he’s going to pack in his punches this time around.
#6 Fabiano Caruana (2784, USA):
Qualifying on the merits of being one of the top two highest rated players from the 2017 rating lists Fabiano has made it despite not making it through any of the above qualifications and having played in ‘either’ World Cup or Grand Prix. Fabi has to work hard to make his case this time around, and he has the talent and potential, but it remains to be seen if his form will support him at this stage he’s made it to.
The game below from Wijk in January against Anand gives a stark look into Fabi’s current form
#7 Wesley S0 (2799, USA): Immigrated and plucked from the Philippines by the U.S. Wesley has great potential and having qualified on the merits of his top two rankings from last year’s average he is USA’s best hope to make the most of this opportunity. Wesley’s jump to the top of the elite came thanks to an excellent series of results in the second half of 2016, when he took first place in the last two events of the Grand Chess Tour, the Sinquefield Cup and the London Chess Classic. These results, naturally, allowed him to take the first prize in what has become the most demanding series of tournaments on the circuit. The finishing touch was his victory at the 2017 Tata Steel Masters, where he finished first with a convincing 9/13, leaving Magnus Carlsen relegated to second place. At that point in time it was declared that the American might be, in practice, the best player in the world. #8 Vladimir Kramnik (2800, Russia): The only player from the last generation of chess players to make it to the Candidates Tournament in 2018 Vladimir Kramnik was the Organizers’ Wild Card entry into the Tournament! Showing a consistent and solid form over the last few years Kramnik has remained in the top 5 consistently. The depth of his knowledge and experience at the highest level for the past couple of decades is enough to have all his competitors take a very serious look at this chance that he has to make it to the zenith of World Chess. Again. Kramnik is currently the 3rd best rated player in the world, with a 2800 rating. The Russian has been participating in World Champioship cycles of all kinds since 1994. In fact, since the unification of the world title Kramnik has been part of either the Candidates or the World Championship of all cycles, except the last one. He will be the organizers’ nominee at the 2018 edition. Kramnik himself, in the press release: “I’d like to thank everyone who helped my nomination to the Candidates. Usually, the chess world’s attention is drawn to the tournament and taking part in it is a challenge for any grandmaster. I hope to show worthy performance and fight for first prize!”