Candidates Chess Tournament 2024

About Candidates Chess Tournament

• It is the final event in the World Championship cycle before the World Championship match itself.
• The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has organized the World Championship cycle since 1948 and the Candidates Tournament since 1950.
• Since 2013, the Candidates Tournament has occurred every two years.
• The number of players in the tournament varied over the years, between eight and fifteen players. Currently, it is an eight-player, double round–robinevent (that is all-play-all with both colours).
• Why is the Candidates Tournament Important?
  • It is the second most important tournament in the World Championship cycle, as the winner of the Candidates Tournament plays the reigning world championin the championship match.
  • Multiple tournaments are part of the World Championship cycle, but the real point of all of them is to qualify for the Candidates Tournament. 
• How to qualify for the Candidates Tournament? The methods used to qualify each of the players for the Candidates Tournament most recently were:
  • The runner-up in the previous World Championship match,
  • The top three finishers of the FIDE World Cup,
  • The top two finishers of the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament,
  • The winner of the FIDE Circuit, which tracks tournament results from January to December of the year before the Candidates Tournament,
  • And the player with the highest FIDE ratingon January of the year of the Candidates Tournament.

Q1: What is the International Chess Federation (FIDE)?

The International Chess Federation is the translated name of Federation International des Echecs (where the abbreviation FIDE comes from). FIDE was founded in Paris on July 20, 1924, which was the last day of the first unofficial Chess Olympiad. The founding day of July 20 is also the annual celebration of International Chess Day. FIDE is now based in Switzerland and is the governing body of international chess competitions. They work with almost 200 national federations (as of 2020), and FIDE’s motto is “Gens una sumus,” which is Latin for “We are one family.”

Sources: How much prize money did D Gukesh earn by winning Candidates Chess tournament?