Rewired

Finally, FIDE had to raise the white flag of surrender and postpone the second coming of the Candidates Tournament to the spring of next year. Most of the reasons given concern the COVID-19 surge, but, as stated in the official communiqué, the temporary unavailability of Chinese authorities to enable 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) and 王皓 (Wáng Hào) to travel abroad proved to be far more daunting than dealing with health and safety protocols. But there’s nothing to fear, because FIDE says they will announce the new venue and the date details with two months advance, which may suggest that negotiations must have started much earlier.