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TheFIDE Candidates, thelongest-ever chess tournament, came toanend, with Ian Nepomniachtchi being thenext challenger ofMagnus Carlsen. Although Nepo secured anearly tournament win inRound 13, thefinal round had many surprises.

Photo byLennart Ootes/FIDE

Ian Nepomniachtchi is already thenext challenger fortheWorld Title, butinRound 13 he was found inavery unpleasant situation against Ding Liren. After apoor opening reaction, it was clear that thegame wasnt going togo Ians way. Hecouldnt resolve any ofhis problems andended up resigning on move 35.

Afterwards, Ian said: Yesterday I was very motivated, buttoday when I woke up I felt like my motivation significantly went down. I wasnt very happy that I had yet one more game toplay. On theother hand, Ding Liren wished thetournament wasnt over andhe seemed very satisfied with his three consecutive wins.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave had arough second-half, butatthelast rounds he showed skills, like theaccuracy that he handled theBerlin endgame against Wang Hao. TheChinese Grandmaster didnt defend theposition theway he should, which caused him lots oftrouble andabitterness after his defeat.

This win andGiris defeat against Alekseenko, gave MVL thesecond game ofthetournament. Unfortunately, Wangs performance wasnt asimpressive andhe finished thetournament last. Right after that, he announced his retirement from professional competitive chess. Is it adisappointment oris he really retiring?

Dana Reizniece-Ozola, FIDE Executive Director, making theceremonial first move atthelast round oftheCandidates Photo byLennart Ootes/FIDE

Anish Giri was very close tothetop after R12, butthelast 2 rounds didnt go asplanned. After his R13 defeat from Grischuk, Anish had lost his chance tobe thechallenger, butR14 cost him thesecond place aswell.

Anish seemed very optimistic inanotso clear position, sacrificed up apawn without clear compensation, andeventually lost. Alekseenkos win though didnt give him thewild result he hoped forandhe finished 7th with 5 points.

Atthelast game, Grischuk fought impressively against Caruanas constant pressure, andmanaged towin half apoint. Thetwo grandmasters were thelast tofinish andtheir game was one ofthose games which we are going toremember andanalyze foralong time!

WGM Dina Belenkaya andGM Ernesto Inarkiev, asevery day at5 pm GMT, hosted theLive Breakdown LShow, andcommented on thefinal games ofR14 with GM Susan Polgar. Watch thebroadcast below.

Caruana - GrischukGiri 0-1 AlekseenkoDing 1-0 NepomniachtchiMaxime Vachier-Lagrave 1-0 Wang

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Time to say Dubai - World Chess