Round 1
The FIDE Candidates Tournament is the ultimate qualifier for the FIDE World Championship. Eight prominent grandmasters compete for the top spot in a double round-robin (all play all) event in Madrid. The first place is all that matters, as the winner qualifies to face the reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen in the match for the chess crown.
The tournament is played as a double round-robin (all play all twice) with 14 rounds. The time control for each game is 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 61.
More information: regulations, schedule, players, pairings…
Schedule and pairings
The schedule includes four free days, one after every three rounds:
- June 16: Technical meeting and opening ceremony
- June 17-19: Rounds 1-3
- June 20: Rest day
- June 21-23: Rounds 4-6
- June 24: Rest day
- June 25-27: Rounds 7-9
- June 28: Rest day
- June 29 – July 1: Rounds 10-12
- July 2: Rest day
- July 3-4: Rounds 13-14
- July 5: Potential tiebreaks
