Most of them won some big tournament to get in. It goes something like defending candidates winner (Nepo), 5 big tourney winners, and the next 2 highest rating. Pragg is only in because he won a big tournament. You can see how Alireza is 3 points ahead of So. He did so by France making up a bogus tournament right before the rating cutoff. Some of these rankings may have changed a bit, since. I think the cutoff was in January.
Gukesh is also in this by winning a big tournament.
Hikaru and Gukesb both won. The Persian lost again. Nice. Heās tied for last.
The guy from Uzbekistan is like 50th in the world. Heās tied for last.
Pragg is in 4th. Maybe thereās hope. India is kicking ass here.
Pragg won against the worst player in the tournament with white. He probably felt like he had to. It will probably be Caruana or Nepo, but Pragg has a chance. My guess will be Caruana. He could win 5 in a row and it wouldnāt be shocking.
Gukesh plays Firouzja next who has been awful and Nepo gets Hikaru.
Gukesh is just 17 and heās clearly first. Look out for this guy. Heās even younger than Pragg.
So much for Alireza being the next crown.
Heās only 20. Donāt count him out yet. I notice he plays for France and not Iran.
My money is still on Pragg or Gukesh for the future, though. Theyāre kids and have a lot of time to mature. Both would be horrible from a public relations perspective. Even Magnus never resonated with the public the way Kasparov or Fischer did. As I see it, competitive chess is dying.
Edit: Gukesh just lost to Firouzja. This is going to get boring in a hurry.
It is. It will be the two Americans and Nepo. Nepo will probably win. Heās ahead and has 4 white games to 3 black.
Hikaru just beat Caruana. Gukesh won with black! Nepo is close to a draw with white against the worst player in the tournament. If that ends in a draw, after 8 roundsā¦
Gukesh 5/8
Nepo 5/8
Hikaru 4.5/8
Pragg 4.5/8
Actually the Nepo game just ended in a draw.
Pragg is only half a point back. Although Iād also be happy if Gukesh won. Honestly Iād take any of the top 4 (except Nepo) over Ding. Nakamura would be the most irritating WC ever but Iād still take him over Ding.
Hikaru lost to Vidit. For the 2nd time. Everything else was a draw.
Gukesh 5.5/9
Nepo 5.5/9
Pragg 5/9
Hikaru 4.5/9
Caruana 4.5/9
Vidit 4.5/9. Vidit has 3 wins, 3 draws, 3 losses.
Nepo has white against Gukesh tomorrow. Gukesh betfer draw. Anyone but Nepo. If he wins, I just wonāt watch the championship.
Odd that Vidit owns Hikaru in this tourney at least. Odd that I donāt miss Magnus at all. In fact itās more exciting with him gone as he would just win and it would be boring.
Nakamura and Caruana won. Caruana was flawless
Nepo and Gukesh drew. Rest day tomorrow.
Gukesh 6/10
Nepo 6/10
Pragg 5.5/10
Hikaru 5.5/10
Caruana 5.5/10
Vidit 5/10
Awful tournament for Alireza. He lost again. He complained the arbiter told him to stop walking because his shoes were too loud. According to the arbiter, who has no reason to lieā¦The arbiter suggested to Alireza to pace somewhere else because at least one player was complaining about his shoe stomping. The arbiter suggested he change his shoes. Alireza blames the arbiter for choking against Nepo. I can see why nobody likes him.
I saw the interview with the arbiter. He comes across as 100% credible. I believed him totally.
Hikaru just beat Pragg with the black pieces. Nepo beat Vidit with black. Vidit played awful down the stretch. Nepo can thank him if he wins. Viditās 4th loss. In Viditās defense, he had to win out.
Nepo 7/11
Hikaru 6.5/11
Gukesh 6.5/11
Caruana 6/11
Pragg 5.5/11
Hikaru has black against Nepo in round 13. Not looking good. If Hikaru can get to tiebreakers, heās the favorite.
Thatās disappointing.
Hikaru, Gukesh and Caruana all won. Pragg tied Nepo with black. A good day. Hikaru is on a roll.
Hikaru 7.5/12
Gukesh 7.5/12
Nepo 7.5/12
Caruana 7/12
Rest day tomorrow and then Nepo vs Hikaru in round 13.
Hikaru drew Nepo with black.
Caruana beat Pragg with black.
Gukesh beat Alireza with white! He still is not necessarily the favorite even though heās ahead.
Gukesh 8.5/13
Hikaru 8/13
Caruana 8/13
Nepo 8/13
Tomorrowā¦
Hikaru with white vs Gukesh
Caruana with white vs Nepo
Obviously they all have to win. Caruana and Nepo will play for a win. So if Gukesh can get a draw, which wonāt be easy, that will probably only get a tiebreaker.
Nepo has not lost yet. 3 wins. 10 draws.
I was wrong. It didnāt get boring. Four players within half a point is not boring. Pragg is done but he stayed right in it until close to the end.
Caruana and Nepo have both had their chance to be WC and couldnāt beat Carlsen. Any of the others would be fine for me. Even Hikaru. I just wonāt watch his interviews. I already stopped watching his Youtube.
