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Candidates’ line-up complete!

Palma de Mallorca, capital of the beautiful Spanish island part of the Balearic archipelago, hosted the 4th FIDE Grand Prix, to assign the last two spots in the Candidates' Tournament, which will decide the next World Champion's challenger.

Mamedyarov and Grischuk were awaiting the results as they led the standings but didn't play in Palma. As it was, Radjabov and MVL couldn't improve their scores sufficiently to catch them.

Dmitry Jakovenko won the event on tiebreaks over Levon Aronian, who continues his fantastic year. Jakovenko is known for his unconventional style of play, which has not always paid out when confronted with the top players of the class.  This time the 34-year-old Russian GM managed to edge out Aronian in the third tiebreak and grab the title. Here is his win over Vachier-Lagrave in the last and decisive round:
 

 

The final list of FIDE Candidates: 
Runner-up 2016: Sergey Karjakin; 
World Cup winner: Levon Aronian;
World Cup Runner-up: Ding Liren;
Grand Prix 2017 Winner: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov; 
Grand Prix Runner-up: Alexander Grischuk; 
Rating #1 (by the average of all 12 lists in 2017): Fabiano Caruana;
Rating #2 (by the average of all 12 lists in 2017): Wesley So;
Wildcard nomination of the organizers (Agon): Vladimir Kramnik.

After revealing Japan, South Korea, and some other exotic venues as the place to host the Candidates' tournament, FIDE/Agon have decided for Berlin, Germany.
The dramatic tournament, which will decide the next challenger to the throne, will take place from March 10 — 28, 2018.

But 2017 is not over yet!

In a few days, starting on December the 1st, London hosts the 9th Classic, one of the most important elite tournament of the year and, traditionally, the year-closing event.

The line-up is impressive:
Carlsen, Aronian, Caruana, Vachier-Lagrave, So, Anand, Nakamura, Karjakin, Nepomniachtchi and local herp Adams will gather in the beautiful city to battle for the last title of the year.
The average rating is 2799, making the Classic a category XXII tournament.

Here is the schedule, taken from the official website
All times are London UK (EST -5): 
Rounds 1, 2, 7 and 8 start at 9:00 AM EST
Rounds 3, 4, 5, and 6 start at 11:00 AM EST
Last round starts at 7 AM EST (ICC time)
 

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