Participation of Magnus Carlsen

Despite qualifying for the Candidates Tournament by winning the 2023 FIDE World Cup,^[13][14] former World Champion Magnus Carlsen officially decided not to compete in Toronto.^[15] He had previously stated his disinclination after reaching the semifinals of the World Cup, stating that "under the current format there is absolutely no chance" he will play the Candidates.^[16] In January 2024, after official confirmation of candidates list, Magnus Carlsen formally confirmed his decision to decline FIDE's invitation to play in the Candidates Tournament by stating "I would say the main reason is that I don't enjoy it. It's as simple as that."^[17] As a result, Nijat Abasov, who finished fourth at the World Cup, qualified to the Candidates Tournament 2024 as Carlsen's replacement.^[18][19]

FIDE and Grand Chess Tour agreement

In April 2022, before announcing all the qualification methods, FIDE announced that the top two finishers in the 2023 Grand Chess Tour would qualify to the 2024 Candidates Tournament. FIDE promised that more details will follow, but later announced qualification paths excluding the Grand Chess Tour, without providing an explanation for the change.^[20][21] However, the Grand Chess Tour tournaments counted toward the qualifying path of the FIDE Circuit.^[8]

FIDE Rating qualifier

The highest rated player in the January 2024 rating list who has not yet qualified for the Candidates or World Championship, and has participated in at least four FIDE Circuit classical events, qualified for the Candidates.^[22][23][24]

The rating qualifier turned out to be hotly contested. After a poor showing in the 2023 Sinquefield Cup, rating spot front-runner Alireza Firouzja lost nearly thirteen rating points, putting him behind Wesley So in the live ratings. In an attempt to surpass So, the Chartres Chess Club organized three two-game matches between Firouzja and grandmasters Alexandre Dgebuadze (52 years old, rated 2439), Andrei Shchekachev (51 years old, rated 2506), and Sergey Fedorchuk (42 years old, rated 2546). These matches, held in Chartres, France, were collectively referred to as "Alireza Firouzja's Race to Candidates". Firouzja needed to win all six games (or win the first five and not play the sixth) to overtake So in the live ratings. He indeed won the first five games after some controversy (such as Shchekachev resigning in a position that turned out to be equal in game 3), but decided to play the sixth game anyway. In what was effectively a must-win game, Firouzja overpushed and landed in a terrible endgame, but with both players in time trouble, Fedorchuk accepted Firouzja's draw offer. The 5.5/6 result still left Firouzja behind So in the live rating list.

The last-minute nature of the event as well as the hand-selecting of opponents drew criticism, including from So, who revealed he turned down similar opportunities because he disagreed with the morality of such events. Shortly after these matches were announced, FIDE affirmed that it had the right to not rate any specific event, and the United States Chess Federation called on FIDE to not rate Firouzja's games. FIDE's response drew criticism from many, including Ian Nepomniachtchi, who pointed out that Ding Liren had also played last-minute games to qualify for the Candidates Tournament 2022, to no reaction from FIDE.^[25]

On December 25, FIDE announced new rules, effective immediately, requiring events with at least one player rated over 2700 (or at least one woman player rated over 2500) to be registered at least one month in advance; however, the rule would not be applied retroactively for Alireza Firouzja's Race to Candidates tournament. Such requirement could be waived with the approval of the FIDE president or QC Chairman. That same day, Alireza Firouzja's matches (as well as another match in Chartres in which Firouzja did not play) were removed from FIDE's website.^[26][27]

Having fallen short, Firouzja withdrew from the World Rapid and Blitz championship to participate in the Open de Rouen tournament,^[28] which was a minor Swiss tournament with a top prize of €700, a relatively paltry sum for a super-GM. Firouzja won all 7 games, including a win against former world championship challenger Gata Kamsky. This gained Firouzja enough rating to surpass So on the January 2024 rating list even if the Chartres event was not rated, which turned out to be the case.^[29] Firouzja was officially confirmed as the rating qualifier in the January ratings list.^[30]

Top ten in the January 2024 rating list

Ranking	Player	Rating	Candidates	FIDE Circuit	Eligible for rating qualification
1	Magnus Carlsen	2830	Qualified[31]	4+	No
2	Fabiano Caruana	2804	Qualified[32]	4+	No
3	Hikaru Nakamura	2788	Qualified[33]	4+	No
4	Ding Liren	2780	World Champion[23]	2	No
5	Ian Nepomniachtchi	2769	Qualified[23]	4+	No
6	Alireza Firouzja	2759	Qualified	4+	Yes
7	Wesley So	2757	-	4+	Yes
8	Leinier Domínguez	2752	-	4	Yes
9	Sergey Karjakin	2750	-	0	No
10	Anish Giri	2749	-	4+	Yes

Regulations

The time control is 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game, plus a 30-second increment per move starting from move 61. Players get 1 point for a win, ½ point for a draw and 0 points for a loss.

Tiebreaks are addressed as follows:^[5]

• Players would play two rapid chess games at 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move. If a three- to six-way tie had occurred, a single round-robin would be played. If seven or eight players had been tied, a single round-robin would be played with a time limit of 10 minutes plus 5 seconds per move.
• If any players had still been tied for first after the rapid chess games, they would play two blitz chess games at 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move. In the case of more than two players being tied, a single round-robin would be played.
• If any players were still tied for first after these blitz chess games, the remaining players would play a knock-out blitz tournament at the same time control. In each mini-match of the proposed knock-out tournament, the first player to win a game would win the mini-match.

Ties for places other than first were broken by, in order: (1) Sonneborn–Berger score; (2) total number of wins; (3) head-to-head score among tied players; (4) drawing of lots.

The prize money is €48,000 for first place, €36,000 for second place, and €24,000 for third place (with players on the same number of points sharing prize money, irrespective of tie-breaks), plus €3,500 per half-point for every player, for a total prize pool of €500,000.^[5]

Schedule