The Candidates is known as the toughest chess tournament, with eight of the world's best players competing in a league system over two weeks for a shot at the World Championship title. The winner-take-all format is what makes the Candidates unique - and brutal.
Only one Indian man has ever taken part in this tournament before: Viswanathan Anand, who became a five-time World Champion. This time, we have five Indians - three men and two women - all except Koneru Humpy making their debut.
With the tournament itself much of a mystery, we asked Anand to explain just what makes it so tough.
'Winning is much more important than second place'
"On the face of it, it's not different at all from any top elite tournament with the same players," Anand tells ESPN. "It's slightly longer than the norm because it's eight players, a double-round-robin format which comes to 14 games. You get to play with black and white pieces. That's not that common these days. Otherwise, there is no real difference. And if you approach it like there is no real difference, that's a pretty reasonable strategy."
But that's just on the surface. "There is clearly a huge prize here. Winning is so much more important than second place. Normally you're collecting rating points or circuit points or something. At the Candidates, this is it: this is what you've been collecting the points for. Honestly, if you leave out first place, I think most players wouldn't care if they finish second or seventh. That's the big difference, that there is a huge prize to play for," he says.
There is a prize - the chance to face off against the reigning champion - but also a price to pay. The price you pay is all the work you've put in towards qualifying for the Candidates over the last two years and if you don't win, then all that goes to nought and you have to hit the reset button. It comes with a harsh dose of reality.
"At the end of the day, to some degree, no one will really care [about finishing 2nd or 8th]. There is some prize money and some FIDE circuit points, but that's a bit like saying I'll collect points towards competing in the same event again.
"This is where you want to do well. Every time you miss a World Championship or don't qualify for one, you have lost another two or three years. So the event does take a lot out of people. Your psychology is important. Also, it's one of these events where you have to do well now, you can't correct it. You have to do well when it comes by."
'The psychological pressure is huge'
The Candidates isn't for the weak-hearted, the pressure you face in a tournament with such high stakes can be overwhelming, even for the elite of the sport. Anand recalls how Fabio Caruana, who won the 2018 Candidates in commanding fashion, slipped up in the next edition in 2020.
"I have seen even the greats [face the pressure] - Caruana qualified quite easily in 2018. Now I wouldn't say "easily", but it appeared very dominant. But in 2020, it seemed like things were not going his way. From the outside, it looked like he was trying his best to provoke a struggle, anything to get a win - slightly the act of a desperate person. And then it went wrong and he did not qualify."
"Then you see that these players then lose two or three because there's so much disappointment. That psychological pressure is huge. Famously, Magnus and Kramnik lost their last games [in their bid] to qualify for that match against me. [Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik were equal on 8 ½ points going into the final round and both had a chance to win the 2013 Candidates, but both ended up losing. Carlsen was declared the winner as he had more wins, and he would go on to beat Anand for the World Championship title.]"
'It's very hard to prepare for the Candidates'
Plus, get off to a bad start and you'll know soon enough that you've fallen way behind the leading pack. But that's where your approach comes into play, as Anand points out.
"The pressure is in your head. You realize there's something big now. If at some point, in the second half of the tournament, you realize that you have a real chance, then the tension increases. You start to think about it more. You start to think what could go wrong. You're putting pressure on yourself as well. You know the prize. You know that if you win, you can go back and everyone's eyes will be on you - the stakes are very, very high.
"You can separate it: say "I'm going to play the first few rounds and settle in and then see how it goes". Or if you're very confident, you can go for broke at the beginning. But I think the price of failure is very high. I mean, you start with two or three defeats, probably you've ruled out first place, which then makes the whole tournament a bit of a drag. I think it's only that which separates [it from other tournaments]."
The Candidates is accompanied by an added layer of complexity: it comes around only once in two years and you have to treat it differently because you need to prepare for seven different opponents.
"It's very hard to prepare because these events don't come along every year. It's every two years and it was even longer earlier. It's one of those things you can't get ready too much for, but if you've been playing for the World Championship cycle, this is already your second or at least your third event. If you win this, you play the World Championship. So you have a feeling of having invested a lot of time and effort in this. And that again puts a lot of pressure. But on the board, there is no apparent reason why it should be different."
'Routine is everything'
One of the toughest aspects of the Candidates is that you're playing continuously for three weeks. Non-stop high-intensity chess against the world's best. It becomes so much more important in such a situation to be able to stay mentally fresh, especially when results don't go your way and one bad move could see you lose the board.
"It's a routine. You're used to it. You've played at many, many tournaments where you play four or five games without a rest day and then you get a rest day and then thing and then you're used to that.
"[As a player] you know that. I always divided these tournaments into blocks. "Okay, till the next rest day I will do this and then I'll figure it out after that". That way I'm separating the tasks. Different people have different methods, but they're used to their methods. But keep in mind that the Candidates will have some extra X-factor, which will play in your head and you shouldn't underestimate it. You shouldn't fear it because you can't control it, but being aware of it is helpful."