# Candidates Tournament 2022
The **Candidates Tournament 2022** was an eight-player chess tournament held in Madrid, Spain, from June 16 to July 5, 2022, to determine the challenger for the [World Chess Championship](https://www.edgepedia.org/world-chess-championship). [Ian Nepomniachtchi](https://www.edgepedia.org/ian-nepomniachtchi) won it with a round to spare, earning the right to face the reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a match.[1](https://candidates2022.fide.com/madrid2022/regulations) • [2](https://en.chessbase.com/post/fide-candidates-2022-r13)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Dates and venue | June 16 to July 5, 2022, at the Palacio de Santoña, a historic Madrid mansion built in 1730[1](https://candidates2022.fide.com/madrid2022/regulations) • [3](https://www.fide.com/fide-candidates-2022-venue-and-schedule-announced/) |
| Format | Double round-robin (all play all twice), 14 rounds, 56 games in total[1](https://candidates2022.fide.com/madrid2022/regulations) • [4](https://www.fide.com/2022-fide-candidates-tournament-came-to-a-close-in-madrid/) |
| Winner | Ian Nepomniachtchi, his second consecutive Candidates victory; only the third player after Vasily Smyslov and Boris Spassky to win the Candidates twice[2](https://en.chessbase.com/post/fide-candidates-2022-r13) • [5](https://www.candidates2024.fide.com/players) |
| Other placings | Ding Liren finished second after beating Hikaru Nakamura in the final round; Teimour Radjabov took third[6](https://en.chessbase.com/post/fide-candidates-2022-r14) • [7](https://www.chess.com/news/view/2022-fide-candidates-tournament-round-14) |
| Prize fund | €500,000[1](https://candidates2022.fide.com/madrid2022/regulations) |
| Time control | 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20, then 15 minutes to the end, with a 30-second increment from move 61[1](https://candidates2022.fide.com/madrid2022/regulations) |
| Draw rule | No agreed draws before Black's 40th move; a draw claim before then was allowed only for threefold repetition or stalemate[1](https://candidates2022.fide.com/madrid2022/regulations) |
| Stakes | The winner became the challenger to Magnus Carlsen; if Carlsen did not defend, the top two finishers would play a match for the title[1](https://candidates2022.fide.com/madrid2022/regulations) • [7](https://www.chess.com/news/view/2022-fide-candidates-tournament-round-14) |
## Field and qualification
Eight grandmasters took part, listed with their ratings at the time: [Ding Liren](https://www.edgepedia.org/ding-liren) (China, 2806), [Alireza Firouzja](https://www.edgepedia.org/alireza-firouzja) (France, 2793), [Fabiano Caruana](https://www.edgepedia.org/fabiano-caruana) (USA, 2783), Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE, 2766), Richard Rapport (Hungary, 2764), Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 2760), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan, 2753), and Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland, 2750).[1](https://candidates2022.fide.com/madrid2022/regulations)
Ding Liren's path to the start line required unusual effort. To fulfill the requirement of 30 rated games played in the previous year, he played 26 games in about a month before the May 1 cutoff point.[9](https://candidates2022.fide.com/madrid2022/road)
## Format and playing conditions
The tournament was a double round-robin in which each pair of players met twice, once with each color, over 14 rounds. The schedule included four free days, one after every three rounds.[3](https://www.fide.com/fide-candidates-2022-venue-and-schedule-announced/) An anti-collusion rule required players from the same country to face each other as early as possible, which paired Caruana and Nakamura, both American, in the first round.[10](https://www.chess.com/article/view/meet-the-candidates-2022)
A new tiebreak system was in place. Following a FIDE Council decision of December 27, a tie for first place would be resolved by a playoff rather than the tie-break criteria used in previous editions, after a majority of the qualified players favored a playoff. The playoff could run to three stages: two rapid games (15 minutes plus a 10-second increment) for a two-way tie, or a rapid round-robin for three to six tied players; then blitz games (3 minutes plus 2 seconds); then, if still tied, single blitz games with colors drawn by lot, repeated with reversed colors and then until a decisive result.[11](https://www.fide.com/fide-candidates-2022-tiebreaker-playoff-format/) No playoff was needed, as Nepomniachtchi finished clear of the field.[2](https://en.chessbase.com/post/fide-candidates-2022-r13)
## Course of the tournament
Nepomniachtchi led throughout the second half of the event. In round 11 he won while Caruana, who had been in contention, lost a decisive game against the standings.[12](https://en.chessbase.com/post/fide-candidates-2022-r11) He secured first place after round 13, and [Garry Kasparov](https://www.edgepedia.org/garry-kasparov), the former world champion, said in an interview that Nepomniachtchi's preparation for the World Championship match was a key factor in his victory.[2](https://en.chessbase.com/post/fide-candidates-2022-r13) Nepomniachtchi also produced what the [United States Chess Federation](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-states-chess-federation)'s cover story called perhaps the best game of the tournament, his round-six win against Duda.[13](https://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/CL-AND-CR-ALL/CL-ALL/2022/2022_09.pdf)
The final round on July 5 settled the remaining places. Ding Liren beat Nakamura in a hard-fought game to finish in sole second place, while Radjabov claimed third; the round produced three decisive results and one draw.[6](https://en.chessbase.com/post/fide-candidates-2022-r14) Commentating on Nakamura's play, grandmaster [Daniel Naroditsky](https://www.edgepedia.org/daniel-naroditsky) said the only imperfect aspect of his tournament was that he had misevaluated positions at critical moments.[7](https://www.chess.com/news/view/2022-fide-candidates-tournament-round-14)
## Aftermath
Nepomniachtchi qualified for the 2023 World Championship against [Magnus Carlsen](https://www.edgepedia.org/magnus-carlsen), but FIDE provisions indicated that if the titleholder did not defend, the top two finishers would play a match for the world championship, with Ding playing instead.[7](https://www.chess.com/news/view/2022-fide-candidates-tournament-round-14) • [10](https://www.chess.com/article/view/meet-the-candidates-2022) Carlsen ultimately did not defend, and the 2023 match in [Kazakhstan](https://www.edgepedia.org/kazakhstan) paired Nepomniachtchi, competing under a neutral flag, against Ding Liren.[14](https://www.axios.com/2023/04/11/chess-world-championship-magnus-carlsen-crossroads) At the closing ceremony in Madrid, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich announced the start of the process of organizing the title match and the next world championship cycle.[4](https://www.fide.com/2022-fide-candidates-tournament-came-to-a-close-in-madrid/)
## References
1. [General Information, FIDE Candidates Tournament 2022 official site](https://candidates2022.fide.com/madrid2022/regulations)
2. [Ian Nepomniachtchi wins second consecutive Candidates Tournament, ChessBase](https://en.chessbase.com/post/fide-candidates-2022-r13)
3. [FIDE Candidates 2022 venue and schedule announced, FIDE](https://www.fide.com/fide-candidates-2022-venue-and-schedule-announced/)
4. [2022 FIDE Candidates Tournament came to a close in Madrid, FIDE](https://www.fide.com/2022-fide-candidates-tournament-came-to-a-close-in-madrid/)
5. [Players, FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024 official site](https://www.candidates2024.fide.com/players)
6. [Candidates R14: Ding beats Naka, grabs second place, ChessBase](https://en.chessbase.com/post/fide-candidates-2022-r14)
7. [Ding Beats Nakamura To Finish 2nd Behind Nepomniachtchi; Radjabov Claims 3rd Place, Chess.com](https://www.chess.com/news/view/2022-fide-candidates-tournament-round-14)
8. [History of the Candidates tournaments, FIDE Candidates 2022 official site](https://candidates2022.fide.com/page28024085.html)
9. [Road to Candidates, FIDE Candidates 2022 official site](https://candidates2022.fide.com/madrid2022/road)
10. [Meet The 2022 Candidates, Chess.com](https://www.chess.com/article/view/meet-the-candidates-2022)
11. [FIDE Candidates 2022: tiebreaker playoff format, FIDE](https://www.fide.com/fide-candidates-2022-tiebreaker-playoff-format/)
12. [Candidates R11: Nepo wins, Caruana collapses, ChessBase](https://en.chessbase.com/post/fide-candidates-2022-r11)
13. [The Candidates cover story, Chess Life, September 2022, US Chess](https://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/CL-AND-CR-ALL/CL-ALL/2022/2022_09.pdf)
14. [Chess is at a crossroads, Axios](https://www.axios.com/2023/04/11/chess-world-championship-magnus-carlsen-crossroads)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Board, card, and puzzle games › Chess › Chess competitions › World Chess Championship 1993–present*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
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