Candidates Tournament 2013

The 2013 Candidates Tournament was an eight-player chess double round-robin tournament that took place in the Institution of Engineering and Technology, Savoy Place, London, from 15 March to 1 April 2013.[1]

Candidates Tournament 2013
Magnus Carlsen, the winner of the Candidates Tournament 2013, advanced to the World Chess Championship 2013 match.
VenueInstitution of Engineering and Technology, Savoy Place
LocationLondon, United Kingdom
Dates15 March – 1 April 2013
Competitors8 from 6 nations
Winning score8.5 points of 14
Champion
Magnus Carlsen
See also: World Chess Championship 2013

This was the first time in 51 years that the round-robin format had been used for a Candidates, though it had been used for the 2005 (FIDE) and 2007 world championships.[2]

Participants

The participants were:[3]

Qualification path Player Age Rating (March 2013) World Ranking
The top three finishers in the Chess World Cup 2011 Peter Svidler 36 2747 14
Alexander Grischuk 29 2764 10
Vassily Ivanchuk 43/44 2757 13
The three highest rated players in the world, excluding any of the above or below
(average from July 2011 and January 2012 FIDE rating lists)		 Magnus Carlsen 22 2872 1
Levon Aronian 30 2809 3
Vladimir Kramnik 37 2810 2
Candidates Tournament Organizing committee's
wild card (FIDE rating in January 2012 at least 2700)[3][4]		 Teimour Radjabov 26 2793 4
Loser of the World Chess Championship 2012 Boris Gelfand 44 2740 18

Prize fund

The tournament had a prize fund of €510,000 ($691,101). Prize money was shared between players tied on points; tiebreaks were not used to allocate it. The prizes for each place were as follows:[3]

  • 1st place – €115,000
  • 2nd place – €107,000
  • 3rd place – €91,000
  • 4th place – €67,000
  • 5th place – €48,000
  • 6th place – €34,000
  • 7th place – €27,000
  • 8th place – €21,000

Summary

Before the tournament Carlsen was considered the favourite, with Kramnik and Aronian being deemed his biggest rivals. Ivanchuk was considered an uncertain variable, due to his instability, and the other players were considered less likely to win the event.[5][6]

During the first half of the tournament, Aronian and Carlsen were considered the main contestants for first place. At the halfway point they were tied for first, one-and-a-half points ahead of Kramnik and Svidler. In the second half Kramnik, who had drawn his first seven games, became a serious contender after scoring four wins, while Aronian lost three games, and was thus left behind in the race. Carlsen started the second half by staying ahead of the field, but a loss to Ivanchuk allowed Kramnik to take the lead in round 12 by defeating Aronian.[7] In the penultimate round Carlsen pulled level with Kramnik by defeating Radjabov, while Kramnik drew against Gelfand.[8]

Before the last round only Carlsen and Kramnik could win the tournament; they were equal on 8½ points, 1½ points ahead of Svidler and Aronian. Carlsen had the better tie break (on the first tie break the score from their individual games was 1–1, but Carlsen was ahead on the second tie break due to having more wins), and this would not change if they both scored the same in the final round. Therefore, Kramnik, who had black against Ivanchuk, needed to outperform Carlsen, who had white against Svidler. Carlsen played to win, since that would guarantee him the tournament victory regardless of Kramnik's result; similarly, Kramnik knew that the odds of Carlsen losing with white were minute, and he went all-in against Ivanchuk with the Pirc defense. This backfired and Ivanchuk obtained an early advantage, while Carlsen got a level position against Svidler. Carlsen later got into serious time trouble and did not defend adequately against Svidler's attack, which gave Svidler a winning endgame. Meanwhile, Ivanchuk had outplayed Kramnik, who resigned a few minutes after Carlsen lost. Thus the tournament was won by Carlsen on the second tiebreak.[9] Carlsen's win earned him the right to challenge the reigning world champion, Vishy Anand for the world title.

Standings
Final standings of the 2013 Candidates Tournament[10]
RankPlayerRating
March 2013[11] 		1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 PointsTiebreaks[3]
H2HWins
1 Magnus Carlsen (NOR) 2872 ½½ 01 ½½ 11 1½ 0½ ½1 8½15
2 Vladimir Kramnik (RUS) 2810 ½½ 1½ ½1 ½½ ½1 ½0 1½ 8½14
3 Peter Svidler (RUS) 2747 01 ½0 1½ ½½ ½½ 1½ 1½ 81½4
4 Levon Aronian (ARM) 2809 ½½ 0½ ½0 10 ½½ 11 11 8½5
5 Boris Gelfand (ISR) 2740 00 ½½ ½½ 10 ½½ ½½ ½1 6½12
6 Alexander Grischuk (RUS) 2764 ½0 0½ ½½ ½½ ½½ 1½ ½½ 6½11
7 Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR) 2757 ½1 1½ ½0 00 ½½ ½0 10 6—3
8 Teimour Radjabov (AZE) 2793 0½ ½0 ½0 00 0½ ½½ 10 4—1

Results by round

Pairings and results.[9] First named player is white. 1–0 indicates a white win, 0–1 indicates a black win, and ½–½ indicates a draw. Numbers in parentheses indicate players' scores prior to the round.

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References
  1. Doggers, Peter (15 March 2013). "FIDE Candidates' Tournament officially opened by Ilyumzhinov". ChessVibes. Archived from the original on 17 March 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  2. Doggers, Peter (11 March 2013). "FIDE Candidates: a historical perspective". ChessVibes. Archived from the original on 14 March 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  3. "Rules & regulations for the Candidates Tournament of the FIDE World Championship cycle 2011–2013" (PDF). FIDE. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  4. Doggers, Peter (10 February 2012). "The Candidates' in London; is FIDE selling its World Championship cycle?". ChessVibes. Archived from the original on 14 April 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
  5. Doggers, Peter (13 March 2013). "FIDE Candidates: Predictions". ChessVibes. Archived from the original on 16 March 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  6. Unudurti, Jaideep (8 March 2013). "Even as a student, you have to watch the games live: Viswanathan Anand". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  7. Doggers, Peter (30 March 2013). "Candidates R12 – full report, pictures, videos". ChessBase News. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  8. Doggers, Peter (1 April 2013). "Candidates R13 – pictures and postmortems". ChessBase News. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  9. Ramírez, Alejandro (1 April 2013). "Candidates R14 – leaders lose, Carlsen qualifies". ChessBase News. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  10. "Tournament standings". FIDE. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  11. "FIDE Top players – Top 100 Players March 2013". FIDE. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
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