Latest news with #Candidates'
Indian Express
a day ago
- Sport
- Indian Express
‘Not the first time Hikaru made factual claims without proper knowledge': FIDE CEO's response to Nakamura's Candidates rating spot reserved for Carlsen's claim
The International Chess body (FIDE) CEO Emil Sutovsky has rebutted Hikaru Nakamura's criticism of the Candidates' rating qualification spot, calling the American GM's claims 'factually incorrect.' Nakamura has said that the only reason FIDE is still giving away a ratings spot is to keep the door open to former world champion Magnus Carlsen, who has repeatedly said that he's not interested in playing either the Candidates or the World Championship. After winning the world championship all the five times he contended, Carlsen walked away from the throne. Since then, China's Ding Liren and then Indian teenager Gukesh have taken their place on it. In this response, Sutovsky said, 'Hikaru often makes statements in good faith, but without knowing all the facts and that's a problem. Of course, he has a larger platform, which makes it difficult to refute him from a smaller one. But that's… well, acceptable,' he said to Chessbase India YouTube channel. While Nakamura insists the rule exists solely to lure back Magnus Carlsen, Sutovsky notes the spot has existed for years and now covers the top two players 'ironically benefitting Hikaru himself.' 'He (Hikaru) claims we designed the rating spot for Magnus, but that's completely illogical. This rating qualification has existed for years – there was always a rating spot (in fact, there used to be two). If it were specifically for Magnus, we would have limited it to only the world No. 1. Instead, the regulation states either No. 1 or No. 2 can qualify by rating. Ironically, one could argue we actually designed it for Hikaru in this case – why else would we leave it open to the top two?' added Sutovsky. Sutovsky detailed how past cycles shaped the current format, stressing it ensures the Candidates feature the world's elite. 'Let me explain the logic: In the previous cycle, the highest-rated player who didn't qualify through other paths could enter (that's how Alireza Firouzja qualified, though his method wasn't entirely kosher – he was around World No. 6 in the world at the time). We later decided this was unfair. We maintain the rating spot to ensure the Candidates include players clearly among the world's best – the top eight. However, we realised we shouldn't go all the way down to No. 6 or No. 7, where rating differences become negligible. It's more logical to reward players who nearly qualified through other means. That's why we limited it to the top two – the Candidates simply shouldn't exclude the world No. 2,' said Sutovsky. 'The reasoning is straightforward: It had nothing to do with Magnus. We never expected his return – why would he come back now? Would he suddenly return after losing 50 rating points? The suggestion makes no sense,' he added. The FIDE rating spot will be given to the highest-rated player according to the 6-month average rating based on FIDE Standard Rating Lists from August 1st 2025 till January 1st 2026 provided the respective player has played at least 40 games calculated for FIDE Standard Rating Lists from February 1st 2025 till January 1st 2026 (including at least 15 games in any of the 6 consecutive rating lists). He went on to say, 'This isn't the first time Hikaru has made factual claims without proper knowledge. When we introduced the FIDE Circuit, he immediately called it 'a stupid system,' claiming he could just win some random open with a 2900 performance. Only later did he realise you can't earn many points in weekly tournaments – he simply hadn't read the rules properly. I suspect the same happened here.'
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Sport
- Indian Express
Divya Deshmukh defeats Harika Dronavalli in all-Indian clash to make her way to FIDE Women's World Cup semifinals
Divya Deshmukh on Monday knocked out her compatriot GM Harika Dronavalli 2-0 in the Rapid tiebreaks of the quarterfinals and moved to the semifinals of FIDE Women's World Cup. The 19-year-old will be up against China GM Tan Zhongyi in the last 4. On Sunday, the match between two had ended in a draw which necessitated the tie-break games where Divya came up trumps on Monday. Much like Saturday's 31-move encounter, both players avoided significant risks on Sunday, though their 60-move duel lasted nearly twice as long before ending in an agreed draw, clearly conserving energy for the decisive tiebreaks. On Sunday, Koneru Humpy played out a fine counterattacking game to hold International Master Yuxin Song of China and march into the semifinals. Having won the first game with white pieces, Humpy was only a draw away from reaching the last four stage, and she achieved it after a keenly contested second game against the Chinese. With fourth place assured, Humpy will get two chances to reach the top three which will also guarantee her a place at next Women's Candidates' tournament for which the top three from here qualify. Grandmaster R Vaishali ran out of luck as she lost from slightly better prospects against former world women's champion Zhongyi Tan of China. Vaishali who had drawn the first game lost by the same score as Song. Apart from Tan, top seed Tingjie Lei of China also made it to the semifinals at the expense of Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia. Yuxin Song had to win to stay in the hunt against Humpy and her preferred choice was the Jobava's London, an opening that is fancied these days by many strong Grandmasters. Humpy equalised without much ado but then sacrificed two pawns in tandem to give white some hopes. However, Song's pawn structure was really broken with three pawns standing on a sole file and Humpy found her counter play in the centre. Recovering the pawns Humpy was happy to lead the game to a level rook and pawns endgame. Song tried in vain for 53 moves before splitting the point. (With agency inputs)
Hindustan Times
05-07-2025
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Humpy starts as fourth seed in her bid to qualify for Candidates
Batumi , Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy has been seeded fourth and will start as one of the favourites in the FIDE World Women's Chess Cup, where the top three finishers will qualify for the Candidates' tournament. Humpy starts as fourth seed in her bid to qualify for Candidates China's Lei Tingjie, Jiner Zhu and Zhongyi Tan are the top three seeds. Along with Humpy they spearhead the Asian challenge in the section that has seen Asian dominance now for quite some time. The winner in the Candidates will earn the right to challenge reigning women's champion Wenjun Ju of China in the next championship. The top-21 rated players have been given a direct seeding in to the second round and the Indian list includes as many as four players – Humpy, GM D Harika, GM R Vaishali and Divya Deshmukh among those. It is an interesting format wherein 86 players will compete under the knockout format and the 43 winners will be joined by the 21 seeded players to round it off to 64. Each round will be knockout with two classical games and one reserved day for the tie-break games of shorter duration to decide the winner. Apart from the four seeded players, Vantika Agrawal is the other Indian who can spring more than a few surprises while Padmini Rout and P V Nandhidhaa has an impressive resume to stake their claim to cause some upsets. Kiran Manisha Mohanty and K Priyanka complete the Indian line-up. On rating Lei Tingjie has been quite consistent but the rise of Jiner Zhu has been phenomenal in recent years. The Indian women team had won the last chess Olympiad ahead of China but still on rating the Chinese women have been higher ranked and thereby favourites. R Vaishali and Divya Deshmukh are two young players who can find themselves at the top of the tables. Vaishali has already played one candidates' tournament and Divya recently defeated highest ranked woman player Yifan Hou, also from China, the world rapid and blitz team championship. Top pairings round 1: Carissa Yip Hannah Wilson ; Evi Yuliana Stavroula Tsolakidou ; Bella Khotenashvili Caxita Esperanca ; Ning Isabelle Yixuan Valentina Gunina ; Anna Ushenina Jesse February ; Ruelle Canino Anna Shukhman ; Yuxin Song Kiran Manisha Mohanty ; Tania Miranda Rodriguez Kulon Klaudia ; Azhar Puteri Munajjah Az-Zahraa Antoaneta Stefanova ; Zsoka Gaal K Priyanka ; Lala Shohradova Vantika Agrawal ; Padmini Rout Zhang Lanlin ; Ortiz Verdezoto Anahi P V Nandhidhaa . This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
