The Name and the Named

After disqualification of Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin on political grounds, Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi — who emerged as the challenger to Magnus Carlsen in the previous cycle — will be the only one to represent Russia in the 2022 Candidates Tournament. No doubt his curriculum makes him worthy of such an honour and such responsibility, and, as 12th World Chess Champion Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov noted, it would be very imprudent not to pay him due respect. “丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) is the one I would initially single out, but I read that, owing to COVID restrictions in China, he travelled to Spain alone.”, Karpov said. “And 丁 (Dīng), as I understand, is used to travelling with coaches and comrades. I don’t know how he may feel about it, and whether it will upset him. Hence, I name four Grandmasters as my favourites — 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén), Fabiano Caruana, Alireza Firouzja, and Ian Alexandrovich. Not to mention two dark horses, Hikaru Nakamura and Jan-Krzysztof Duda. They could also win the tournament, but I think they have less of a chance”.