17 June 2022

Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana Begin FIDE Candidates Tournament with Wins

The event kicked off in Madrid.

Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage
Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage


The FIDE Candidates Tournament, which will determine Magnus Carlsen's challenger, has begun in the Spanish capital. The total prize fund is € 500,000.

In the first round, Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE) delivered a spectacular attack as Black on the position of the Chinese grandmaster Ding Liren to get a bright victory. Another winner of the day was Fabiano Caruana (USA), who had coherently outplayed his compatriot Hikaru Nakamura. The games Radjabov (Azerbaijan) - Firouzja (France) and Duda (Poland) - Rapport (Hungary) were drawn.

Standings after Round 1:

1-2. Fabiano Caruana, Ian Nepomniachtchi - 1
3-6. Alireza Firouzja, Richard Rapport, Teimour Radjabov, Jan-Krzysztof Duda - 0.5
7-8. Ding Liren, Hikaru Nakamura - 0.

Round 2 pairings:

Rapport - Firouzja, Nakamura - Radjabov, Nepomniachtchi - Caruana, Duda - Ding.

Official website