[4][5] Following the event Gukesh went on to become the youngest World Champion by defeating Ding Liren in the 14th round of Classical Chess.

"[19] As a result, Nijat Abasov, who finished fourth at the World Cup, qualified to the Candidates Tournament 2024 as Carlsen's replacement.

FIDE promised that more details would follow, but later announced qualification paths excluding the Grand Chess Tour, without providing an explanation for the change.

These matches, held in Chartres, France, were collectively referred to as "Alireza Firouzja's Race to Candidates".

[27] On December 25, FIDE announced new rules, effective immediately, requiring events with at least one player rated over 2700 (or at least one woman player rated over 2500) to be registered at least one month in advance; however, the rule would not be applied retroactively for Alireza Firouzja's Race to Candidates tournament.

Firouzja won all 7 games, including a win against former world championship challenger Gata Kamsky.

The players affected in the 2024 Candidates are R Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi and Gukesh Dommaraju from India, and Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura from the United States.

Former world champions Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen echoed this opinion, albeit also thinking that Nakamura should likewise be counted among the favorites, with Nepomniachtchi and Firouzja also in contention.

Vidit used his preparation to surprise and ultimately defeat Nakamura, while Praggnanandhaa outprepared Gukesh, but overestimated his position and ended up losing.

Caruana outplayed Abasov in a positional domination, and Nepomniachtchi–Firouzja was a back-and-forth affair that Nepomniachtchi eventually won.

[44] In round 3, Abasov and Nakamura agreed to an uneventful draw, while Gukesh was able to put Nepomniachtchi under pressure, but could not convert.

Praggnanandhaa, on the other hand, launched the highly adventurous Ruy Lopez Jaenisch Gambit Deferred, catching Vidit by surprise.

[45] Round 4 saw more fighting chess, but only one decisive game: Nepomniachtchi defeated Vidit in a Berlin endgame, propelling him into the sole lead.

Tail-ender Abasov held a draw with Black against Nepomniachtchi, while Gukesh came back from his heartbreaking 7th round loss by defeating Vidit Gujrathi in spectacular fashion.

[54] Nakamura bounced back immediately in the next round with a win against Abasov after getting into a bad position, while Caruana also won against Firouzja.

The top-of-the-table clash in round 10 between Gukesh and Nepomniachtchi ended in a draw, leaving the two still in the lead, with Caruana, Nakamura and Praggnanandhaa half a point behind.

This put Nepomniachtchi, Nakamura and Gukesh in a three-way tie for first, Caruana half a point behind, and no other player able to win the tournament.

Caruana played some exemplary chess to gain a winning advantage, but Nepomniachtchi defended stubbornly, constantly posing problems.

A very complicated endgame resulted in which the engine evaluation oscillated back and forth, but Caruana made the last inaccuracy, and Nepomniachtchi successfully held the draw.