The Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi was the last winner of the Candidates Tournament and, therefore, the last challenger that Magnus Carlsen had for his world title. And in this 2022 edition, everything seems to indicate that he will again be the official challenger, although that is not yet a fact. What should happen so that “Nepo” does not win? Here we tell you.
Only two rounds remain until the end of the 2022 Candidates Tournament, so each player can get a maximum of 2 points, for which of course they should win the two games they have left to play. The leader Nepomniachtchi has had a very good performance obtaining a total of 8.5 points out of a possible 12.
In other words, the Russian player has obtained 70% of the points, which in a tournament as demanding as this is undoubtedly enormous. And the fact that his chess has been truly great can be seen not only in the points obtained, but also in the evaluation of his total performance: no less than 2937 elo points. Levels only comparable to Karpov in Linares 1994.
How could Nepomniachtchi lose first place in this tournament?
First of all, it should be noted that Nepomniachtchi can no longer lose first place. But a combination of results could see him share that top spot with someone else, and then other tiebreakers would have to be applied. Those who are still able to match “Nepo” are Hikaru Nakamura and Ding Liren, both with 6.5 points (2 less than the Russian player).
In short, for Ian Nepomniachtchi to share first place with the American or the Chinese (or both), he would have to lose the two games he has left to play (to Richard Rapport in the 13th round and Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the 14th) and that any of the mentioned players won their last two games. Practically impossible.