Caruana wins Candidates Tournament 2018

To totally avoid the tiebreaks, Fabiano Caruana went for a win, and win he did, with the black pieces at that, against Alexander Grischuk in the final round of the Candidates 2018. It was the only decisive game of the round. [replay]

Thus, Caruana is the clear winner of the tournament being a full point ahead over the second place. He will be the challenger to the World Championship match in November this year in London against the reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen.

Candidates 2018 Final Ranking

RkSNoNameFEDRtgPtsTB1TB2TB3
14Caruana FabianoUSA278490557
27Mamedyarov ShakhriyarAZE280981.5354.75
32Karjakin SergeyRUS276380.5454.75
46Ding LirenCHN27697.50152.5
51Kramnik VladimirRUS28006.51341.5
68Grischuk AlexanderRUS27676.51244
75So WesleyUSA279960140.5
83Aronian LevonARM27944.50133

Replay all the games in the tournament here.

Caruana takes back the lead with 1 round to go – Candidates 2018

Fabiano Caruana regained his +3 win-loss margin when he defeated Levon Aronian in the penultimate round of the Candidates Tournament 2018. As a result, he also regained the sole lead leading to the final round. Moreover, this is Aronian’s 6th loss in the tournament.

Meanwhile, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov won his Round 13 game against Alexander Grischuk, thus joining Sergey Karjakin in second place. Karjakin drew against Wesley So.

Karjakin and Mamedyarov are still within striking distance of the sole leader, Caruana.

Candidates 2018 Round 13 Results

[csvtable file=”http://chesshive.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/candidates2018-r13-results.csv”]

Karjakin beats Caruana in Round 12 to share the lead in Candidates Tournament 2018

The previous winner of the Candidates tournament, Sergey Karjakin, may have been at the bottom of the standings by the end of Round 6 when he scored just 2 points out of 6 games, or a -2 win/loss record, but he came out strong after that, winning 4 of the next six games, including his Round 12 win against the then leader Fabiano Caruana.

In another match, Ding Liren finally broke his drawing streak with a win over Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.

Replay the Round 12 games below:[replay]

After this win, Karjakin joins Caruana in the lead:

Caruana leads Candidates 2018 with 4 rounds to go

10 rounds down and 4 to go, and Fabiano Caruana leads the pack in the race to the right to challenge the world champion.

Candidates 2018 Final Ranking

RkSNoNameFEDRtgPtsTB1TB2TB3
14Caruana FabianoUSA278490557
27Mamedyarov ShakhriyarAZE280981.5354.75
32Karjakin SergeyRUS276380.5454.75
46Ding LirenCHN27697.50152.5
51Kramnik VladimirRUS28006.51341.5
68Grischuk AlexanderRUS27676.51244
75So WesleyUSA279960140.5
83Aronian LevonARM27944.50133

Is it gonna be Caruana vs. Carlsen in the world championship this year?

Replay all the games in Candidates Tournament 2018.

Round 8

As we move closer to the finish line, Fabiano Caruana still leads the Candidates. Will he be the next challenger?

Round 8 Results:
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar – Karjakin, Sergey ½-½
Grischuk, Alexander – Kramnik, Vladimir 1-0
Ding, Liren – Aronian, Levon ½-½
So, Wesley – Caruana, Fabiano ½-½

Here’s how Round 8 happened:[replay]

Round 8 Standings: 1st Caruana 5.5pts, 2nd Mamedyarov 5pts, 3rd Grischuk 4.5pts, 4th Ding Liren 4pts, 5th Kramnik 3.5pts, 6th Karjakin 3.5pts, 7th Wesley So 3pts, 8th Aronian 3pts.

Candidates 2018 Final Ranking

RkSNoNameFEDRtgPtsTB1TB2TB3
14Caruana FabianoUSA278490557
27Mamedyarov ShakhriyarAZE280981.5354.75
32Karjakin SergeyRUS276380.5454.75
46Ding LirenCHN27697.50152.5
51Kramnik VladimirRUS28006.51341.5
68Grischuk AlexanderRUS27676.51244
75So WesleyUSA279960140.5
83Aronian LevonARM27944.50133

Replay all the games in the Candidates.

Mamedyarov and So win in Round 6 Candidates Tournament 2018

Vladimir Kramnik may have started the Candidates Tournament 2018 exceptionally strong, as he scored 2.5 points in the first three games. Yet, he scored just 0.5 points in the 3, as he lost his Round 6 game against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Mamedyarov then joins Caruana in the top of the standings.

Meanwhile, after losing his first 2 games followed by 3 draws, Wesley So finally won a game in this tournament, at the expense of Levon Aronian.

Replay Round 6 games below:[replay]

The rest of the games were draws:

Draws Abound Round 5 of Candidates Tournament 2018

Far from uneventful round, but they were all draws just the same. Levon Aronian even missed several winning lines in his drawn game against Alexander Grischuk.

Candidates Tournament 2018 Round 5 Results

[csvtable file=”http://chesshive.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/candidates2018-r5-results.csv”]

Replay Round 5 games below:[replay]

Round 5 standings: 1st Caruana 3.5pts, 2nd Kramnik 3pts, 3rd Mamedyarov 3pts, 4th Aronian 2.5pts, 5th Grischuk 2.5pts, 6th Ding Liren 2.5pts, 7th Karjakin 1.5pts, 8th Wesley So 1.5pts.

Candidates 2018 Final Ranking

RkSNoNameFEDRtgPtsTB1TB2TB3
14Caruana FabianoUSA278490557
27Mamedyarov ShakhriyarAZE280981.5354.75
32Karjakin SergeyRUS276380.5454.75
46Ding LirenCHN27697.50152.5
51Kramnik VladimirRUS28006.51341.5
68Grischuk AlexanderRUS27676.51244
75So WesleyUSA279960140.5
83Aronian LevonARM27944.50133

Replay all Candidates Tournament 2018 games.

FIDE Candidates Tournament 2018 – Caruana beats Kramnik and grab the lead at Round 4

FIDE’s Candidates Tournament 2018 is an 8-player, 14-game, double round-robin tournament featuring the select top players of the world to compete against each other, the winner of which will claim the right to challenge the throne of the World Champion Magnus Carlsen.

Vladimir Kramnik may have taken sole lead by the end of Round 3, but Fabiano Caruana defeated him in Round 4 to grab the lead from the former.

Levon Aronian may have experienced a setback in Round 3 as he lost to Kramnik, but gained grounds as he defeated the former challenger, Sergey Karjakin, in Round 4.

[csvtable file=”http://chesshive.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/candidates2018-r4-results.csv”]

See Round 4 games below:[replay]

Kramnik leads at the end of Round 3 – Candidates Tournament 2018

Vladimir Kramnik scored 2.5 points in 3 games to lead the Candidates Tournament 2018 at the end of 3 Rounds.

Candidates Tournament 2018 – Round 3 Results

[csvtable file=”http://chesshive.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/candidates2018-r3-results.csv”]