Much has been said about the FIDE Candidates Tournament, the postponement of the second half and the situation regarding GM Teimour Radjabov. It's easy to forget that chess fans saw a marvelous (half) tournament, one that provided a wealth of great pictures.
Before looking at the photography, we'll first share some more content that might provide some extra entertainment during the coronavirus crisis. First, here are all games that were annotated by GM Dejan Bojkov:
And here's a playlist of all YouTube Game of the Day videos:
As a tribute to the tournament and the photographers, here's a selection of their pictures that, barring a few exceptions, didn't make it to our news reports.
Tip: Zoom out with your browser (Ctrl + on Windows, Command + on Mac) to view the photos at a larger scale. They have been uploaded at 1600px width.
Arriving at the opening ceremony, from left to right: Chief arbiter Nebojsa Baralic, Chinese-language commentators GM Zhaoqin Peng and GM Hou Yifan, and Chairman of the Appeals Committee Jeroen van den Berg. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich and 12th world champion Anatoly Karpov sitting together at the much-debated opening ceremony. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Karpov giving his signature to a young boy. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.A ballet performance at the opening ceremony. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Music at the opening ceremony. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Playing chess without spectators. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.Mineral water with the logo of the Sverdlovsk Region Chess Federation. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Some of the cameramen were wearing face masks... Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE....and finding the time to play some chess on the Chess.com iOS app, which, by the way, made it to the number-one position in the app-store for "chess" earlier this week. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.Ian Nepomniachtchi had a wide repertoire of poses... Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.Here he is in his game with Anish Giri. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Fabiano Caruana. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Giri resigning his game with Nepomniachtchi... Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com....and discussing it at the board. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Wang Hao apologizing with a smile as Giri kindly declined a handshake before the start of round two. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Alexander Grischuk arriving late for the second round—It's unclear what was being discussed here. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.During his interviews, Grischuk put a smile on the faces of his fans and his competitors. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Wang Hao and Giri discussing their draw in round two... Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE....and some more. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Ding Liren, with two bottles of hand sanitizer. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.Giri using it at the start of round three. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Wang Hao arriving and being checked for carrying devices, following standard anti-cheating protocol at major events. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Giri and Vachier-Lagrave discussing their draw in round three. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Giri stating that he finds the elbow shake "creepy." Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.A suffering Ding Liren during the first half. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Grischuk, seen from one of the cameras... Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE....during one of his many time troubles. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Caruana and Nepomniachtchi. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Giri is sponsored by Optiver, a Dutch proprietary trading firm. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.MVL trying one of Nepomniachtchi's poses? Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Grischuk arriving late. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Fabiano Caruana in deep thought. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Nepomniachtchi just beat Wang Hao. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.The Chinese player always seemed to be in good spirits. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.A cheerful interview with Caruana and Giri. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.More smiles among Ding and Grischuk... Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.But Wang Hao beats them all. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Kirill Alekseenko. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Ding stops the clock and resigns against Nepomniachtchi, who increased his lead to a full point in the sixth round. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Alekseenko loses a drawn knight endgame to Giri... Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com....who was visibly relieved after having won his first game at a Candidates tournament. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Nepomniachtchi strolling along the boards. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.The broadcast production room. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.Russian Chess Federation press officer Eteri Kublashvili. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.FIDE's interviewer Anna Burtasova. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Photographer Lennart Ootes. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Photographer Maria Emelianova. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.Jeroen van den Berg thankfully using one of the two "overly comfortable" chairs that were rejected by Ding Liren and Alexander Grischuk. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.Commentator GM Sergey Shipov. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.Ding Liren in the Chinese broadcast with Hou Yifan... Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE....and interviewed with everyone wearing face masks. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.Emelianova with Vachier-Lagrave, who joined the Chess.com broadcast twice and now co-leads the tournament. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
