American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura has called the FIDE Candidates Tournament a lottery. His sentiment reflects the unpredictable nature of the tournament and also the challenges that players face in order to secure a spot to challenge the World Chess Champion.
Nakamura is currently World No 2 and feels that the Candidates Tournament is more about luck than skill and it is unlikely that he will take part in the next Candidates Tournament as he finds the requirement of playing 40 qualifying games is not realistic.
He now has to make the choice between Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour or classical tournaments. According to him, other players might also skip the Candidates Tournament to go in for the new format.It is becoming the trend of top players choosing private leagues over FIDE tournaments.
