The countdown of the FIDE Candidates 2024, the first-ever such competition in America, began on February 28 in Toronto, Canada with the drawing of lots for the Candidates and the Women’s Candidates. It was held in the famous Torontian chess pub Madison Avenue by the Chief Arbiter Aris Marghetis (Canada), assisted by the key members of the local Organizing Committee for the FIDE Candidates, WGM Anna Burtasova, Salim Belcadi, and GM Evgeny Bareev in the presence of over a hundred of chess fans. 

For the first time in history, both open and women’s events will take place simultaneously in the same venue.

The participants of both competitions, 8-player double round-robins, received the following starting numbers:

FIDE Candidates 2024: 

FIDE Women’s Candidates 2024:

Order of drawing

In accordance with the General Rules and Technical Recommendations for Tournaments / 06. Restricted Drawing of Lots, the players of the federation with the most number of representatives were drawn first. Where two or more federations had the same number of representatives, precedence was determined by the alphabetical order of the FIDE country code. Among players of the same federation, precedence was determined by the alphabetical order of their names.

Candidates 2024: first draw 3 Indian players, then draw 2 USA players, then draw 3 remaining players.

Women’s Candidates 2024: first, draw 2 China players, then draw 2 FIDE players, then draw 2 Indian players, then draw 2 remaining players.

Note that standard Berger Tables for both double round robins have been modified so that none of the players ever has the same colour three times in a row. It is achieved by switching rounds 6 and 7, which has been a longstanding practice.

FIDE Candidates and Women’s Candidates 2024 full pairings

You can watch the entire drawing of lots on FIDE YouTube channel. 

Photos: John Upper