The second half of the 2022 Candidates Tournament has begun and little by little the main candidates are affirming their positions. Ian Nepomniachtchi remains in the lead after drawing Ding Liren in a game where queens were exchanged before move 20, and on move 32 an endgame was reached with opposite colored bishops. In other words, a game with no more relevance than the 0.5 point obtained by the Russian, which allows him to continue being the leader.
However, round 8 had two wins, one of which involved an American player. The first of them was the one obtained by the Hungarian Richard Rapport against Jan-Krzysztof Duda (whose performance is beginning to be very disappointing), who thanks to the point achieved, is now in fourth place, 2 points behind the leader.
The other victory was the one obtained by the famous streamer Hikaru Nakamura against his compatriot Fabiano Caruana, who despite this remains second in the standings. However, thanks to the point obtained in this game, “Naka” is in third place, 1.5 points behind “Nepo”. In the fourth game of round 8, Firuozja (the only rival against whom Carlsen would defend his title according to what he said a few months ago) drew against the Azeri Teimour Radjabov.
2022 Candidates Tournament: Round 9th Clashes
The next round, that will have the game between the two best of the tournament, will take place on Monday, June 27 at 9 AM (ET).
Ding Liren vs Jan-Krzysztof Duda
Alireza Firouzja vs Richard Rapport
Teimour Radjabov vs Hikaru Nakamura
Fabiano Caruana vs Ian Nepomniachtchi
2022 Candidates Tournament: Standings after 8 rounds
| Player | Points |
| Ian Nepomniachtchi | 6 |
| Fabiano Caruana | 5 |
| Hikaru Nakamura | 4.5 |
| Richard Rapport | 4 |
| Ding Liren | 3.5 |
| Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 3 |
| Teimour Radjabov | 3 |
| Alireza Firouzja | 3 |
