TWO MORE ROUNDS LEFT! In the FIDE candidates 2016

[Akrazotile]

So far it's been a decently entertaining tournament, with a few memorable moments of high drama.

The good news is that an American, Fabiano Caruana, is tied for first with two rounds to go. The bad news is that his co-leader, Russian player Sergey Karjakin, holds the tiebreaker over him. The awesome news is that they're actually paired together on the final day in what will basically be the game that decides the tournament.

Yesterday, as some of you may know ( ) Viswanathan Anand - who was actually in shared first at the time - got absolutely scalped by Nakamura, which basically ended his tournament hopes. He was visibly devastated in the aftermath. Naka, who is the other American in the tournament, scored his first win after what has been an otherwise very disappointing and forgettable debut in the Candidates cycle.


Anyway, this is relevant, because for the first time in a handful of years the World Chess Championship will actually be played here in the States, in November. The winner of the ongoing tournament earns the right to take on Magnus Carlsen in match play, for a 2 million dollar purse and the title of World Chess Champion.


The penultimate round will begin from Moscow tomorrow morning at 8am EST.


Stay tuned, won't you!



(You won't).

[Akrazotile]

Well, as has been expected for a couple days now, today's final round between Caruana and Karjakin will DECIDE THE TOURNAMENT. This is for all the marbles, folks.

Karjakin holds the head-to-head tiebreaker if they draw, however the twist is that IF Vishy beats Peter Svidler and Caruana/Karjakin draw, Caruana actually holds the three-person tiebreak due to some technicality. So if Caruana and Karjakin tie, and Vishy loses or draws, it's Karjakin. If they tie and Vishy wins, it's Caruana. Of course, either player can claim the tournament outright with a victory.

Vishy is eliminated no matter what, meaning he has little incentive to push for a win agianst Svidler. So realistically Caruana needs a win today with the black pieces, which will be very hard to do. He's going to have to take some atypically aggressive chances, which should make for very entertaining chess for us spectators.

Final Round - FIGHT!

Enjoy, everyone