CHENNAI: THE visas have come. The players have arrived. The chess sets have landed. The preparations are complete, well almost. In a few hours, the first moves will be made in Toronto to identify the next two Challengers to take on the respective world champions in two title matches later this year. In terms of pressure, the two World Championships (Open and Women) stand alone. But in the world of elite chess, the Candidates is a sort of Worlds before the actual Worlds. For it is long, brutal and involves duelling against seven of the world’s best twice in three weeks for a shot at the world title.
For decades, Russia dominated the Candidates. They have generally had multiple participants in the Open section (the Women’s Candidates is a recent addition to the cycle). That sort of hegemony broke in 2022 when there was only one in Ian Nepomniachtchi. The status quo remains unchanged two years later with Nepomniachtchi taking his place in the field as the finalist from 2022.
Instead, there’s an emerging superpower. India.
In 2024, 31.5% of the field are from the country (three in the Open and two in the Women). In fact, the tournament sees two all-India clashes on the opening day (it’s a form of tradition in the Candidates). In the Open section, D Gukesh (the second-youngest to feature in the history of the tournament after the legendary Bobby Fischer) faces off against Vidit Gujrathi on Thursday. In the women’s, R Vaishali faces Koneru Humpy. There’s a reason why many believe that the future of chess is India. The young talent at the elite level is overflowing with so many players threatening to rise in the ratings. While age can be a wonderful thing, in long tournaments like this, experience generally counts for a lot. It’s why the likes of Magnus Carlsen, one of the biggest fans of this generation of Indian players, think it will be a ‘shock’ if an Indian wins the event in the Open section. “(Hikaru) Nakamura and (Fabiano) Caruana are the best and most consistent players there,” he had said.
Thursday’s pairings: Open: Fabiano Caruana vs Hikaru Nakamura, Nijat Abasov vs Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alireja Firouzja vs R Praggnanandhaa, D Gukesh vs Vidit Gujrathi; Women: Aleksandra Goryachkina vs Kateryna Lagno, Anna Muzychuk vs Nurgyul Salimova, Lei Tingjie vs Tan Zhongyi, R Vaishali vs Koneru Humpy.