Ian Nepomniachtchi is the winner of the 2022 Candidates Tournament, something already known to all since his victory came a round earlier, when yesterday he made the draws he needed to be champion against Richard Rapport. Today he completed an excellent tournament with a draw against Jan-Krzysztof Duda, closing with 9.5 points out of a possible 14 and a total performance valued at 2909 elo points.
Another who also had a great tournament, or to tell the truth a very good second half of the tournament, was Teimour Radjabov, who with his victory against Richard Rapport reached 7.5 points. Without a doubt, if he had had a different start to the tournament, everything would have been different for the Azeri. In addition, the French prodigy, Alireza Firouzja, beat Fabiano Caruana and thus avoided being last. Bad tournament for the American from whom much more was expected.
The most anticipated game of this round would be the duel between Hikaru Nakamura and Ding Liren, second and third in the standings respectively, since the second place in the tournament would be defined between them, something important not only because the biggest prize money for the runner-up is better, but also because if Carlsen doesn’t finally defend his title, the runner-up will have to play the world championship match with “Nepo”. Finally, the Chinese achieved a great victory thus obtaining the precious second place.
2022 Candidates Tournament: Final standings
| Player | Points |
| Ian Nepomniachtchi | 9.5 |
| Ding Liren | 8 |
| Teimour Radjabov | 7.5 |
| Hikaru Nakamura | 7.5 |
| Fabiano Caruana | 6.5 |
| Alireza Firouzja | 6 |
| Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 5.5 |
| Richard Rapport | 5.5 |
