![stockfish chess rating stockfish chess rating](https://decodechess.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/stockfish12-decodechess-in-action-300x300.png)
To me, it wasn’t all that surprising, but I think for everyone on the outside, they definitely didn’t expect it.ĭuring the third leg of the Grand Prix, you were mixing online events with the over-the-board event. In a longer game, especially in classical where you can think for 20 minutes on a given move, I found that I enjoyed having that extra time and it was more beneficial than anything. One thing that I would say about streams, and I think anybody who’s watched my streams - or at least the competitive events that I’ve played in - is there are a lot of moments and critical games that I play in blitz where - and this even happened yesterday for that matter - I’ll feel like something is wrong with the position, and my intuition generally is very good, but I won’t be able to figure it out. I did some review of the openings, but more or less I showed up, did some preparation during the event, and just tried to play good chess. So I didn’t do anything special in terms of training. I think a lot of people assumed there was some difference. That actually really contributed to why I did so well. Nakamura doing commentary during PogChamps 3Įven though it was online versus over-the-board, at the end of the day, having that experience was invaluable. They saw the popularity and that’s why they invited me.Īs you were saying, it wasn’t intentional, but this was the first classical time control tournament you had played in over two years. I was the highest-rated player who was not part of the FIDE Grand Prix series, even though I had been inactive. I could be wrong on that, so you have to fact check on Vishy, but there were three players who could not make it.
![stockfish chess rating stockfish chess rating](https://cdn.tarskitheme.com/app.packs.stockfishengine2.png)
![stockfish chess rating stockfish chess rating](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cMa-rQFBWsc/VJBa9HjaBBI/AAAAAAAAG5k/2qaLttydvOo/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/jcer.2014.12.16.jpg)
Ding found a way to get the required number. The problem was that FIDE, with the regulations, put themselves in a very bad spot because there were three players who were essentially excluded: myself, Ding Liren and Vishy Anand, because none of us had played the required number of games at that time. It was not something that I was advocating for. It did really come out of the blue in terms of invitation. There were still some negotiations about a couple of little points, things of that nature. But even once they initially invited me, I didn’t automatically accept. I think also they saw my popularity with streaming, and that’s why I got the wild card. I think that, over at FIDE, they did notice that. But when I look at some of the tournaments that I was intending to play - like the Grand Swiss in Latvia, which I chose not to play because of the pandemic - it was more circumstances that prevented me from playing as opposed to not wanting to play. There was a certain narrative, at least from certain people in the chess world, that I was trying to avoid playing over-the-board chess. There are a couple different narratives here, I’m sure we’ll touch upon this in other questions as well because it all ties together. It was more or less an offer that came out of the blue. Was this something that you were advocating for behind the scenes or was it an offer that came to you out of the blue? Let’s backtrack a little bit, because I think some people were a little surprised that you were given the wild card by Dvorkovich. Everyone talking about it when I’m streaming and so forth, but it really wasn’t something that I was thinking about. Prior to that, I knew there were chances. I never really was thinking about until I won this game against Levon in the fourth round of the third FIDE Grand Prix. decent results.īefore the third event started, I knew the groups weren’t very favorable with Levon being in mine. Then in the second event, probably one of the worst possible results occurred with Richard Rapport winning, and Maxime and Anish having fairly. I wanted to see how it would go, but there were really no illusions - or delusions, you could say - of qualifying for the Candidates for me.Įven after the first event, which I did win, it was not anything that I was thinking about in a serious way. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I still feel I am quite competitive. As most people know, I’ve been streaming a lot over the last couple of years. I went into the event wanting to see if I could still cut it against the best players in the world. I was very fortunate to be granted a wild card by the FIDE president, Arkady Dvorkovich. It was not really an objective of mine when I chose to play in the (2022) FIDE Grand Prix. Hikaru Nakamura: First and foremost, it comes as a very pleasant surprise. What does it mean to you at this point in your career to be a Candidate once more? Chess Life: Let’s begin by talking about your return to the Candidates tournament.