Khanty-Mansiysk Chess Candidates 2014: Aronian, Kramnik Favourites to Win, says World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

The World Chess Championship Candidates to be held in March, in Khanty Mansiysk, will decide the Challenger for reigning World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen.
 

In an exclusive interview to ArmenPress, Magnus Carlsen has said the favourites to win the Chess Candidates 2014 are the Armenian GM Levon Aronian and the Russian GM Vladimir Kramnik. 

 

"The favorites of the Candidates Tournament are probably Aronian and Kramnik, but It's difficult to predict. For me the most important thing is to try to improve as a player. It's for the others to fight to become the most serious competitor," Carlsen said.

To the question how the new world chess champion feels to be the youngest title holder, Carlsen answered frankly and directly: It felt good, and I'm of course very happy to have become World Chess Champion."

 We saw several times chess players, after becoming the World Champions, reduce participation in international tournaments. Notwithstanding, Magnus Carlsen does not share their standpoint. In particular, Magnus Carlsen underscored: "I plan to continue to play tournaments as I think that's both fun and important to maintain my strength."

Candidates Tournament will be held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from 11 March (arrivals) to 1 April 2014. The participants are: Vishy Anand (IND, former world chess champion), Vladimir Kramnik (RUS, world cup 2013 winner), Dmitry Andreikin (RUS, world cup 2013 finalist), Veselin Topalov (BUL, grand-prix 2012-13 winner), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE, grand-prix 2012-13 runner-up), Levon Aronian (ARM, rating list 2012-13), Sergey Karjakin (RUS, rating list 2012-13), Peter Svidler (RUS, host nominee).

In case Viswanathan Anand does not play, the slot would go to Fabiano Caruana.

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