MOSCOW, June 15, Oleg Bogatov. Russian Yan Nepomniachtchi has a chance to win in the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Candidates Tournament, if he managed to fully psychologically recover after the defeat in the match for the world crown, said XII world champion Anatoly Karpov. 3.5:7.5. The 2022 Candidates Tournament starts in Madrid on June 17. Nepomniachtchi's opponents will be Ding Liren (China), Alireza Firouzja (France), Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura (both from the USA), Richard Rapport (Hungary), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) and Jan- Krzysztof Duda (Poland). «Jan Nepomniachtchi is a very high-class chess player,» said Karpov. «But there is only one caveat: after the match with Magnus Carlsen, at the end of which he crumbled, he had serious psychological problems. If Jan managed to get rid of them «if he is completely in order, then he has a chance to win the tournament again. And if he hasn't got rid of it, then there is no chance. But I can't say anything about his psychological state.» «I think that from the point of view of further developments, only the victory of Iranian Alireza Firouzja or Chinese Din Liren will be of interest to the championship match,» the source said. «And, perhaps, Fabiano Caruana, because the defeat in the match with Carlsen was for him not as big an injury as for Nepomniachtchi.»
