We are at the halfway point of a wildly entertaining 2024 FIDE Candidates! Ian Nepomniathchi continues to lead the Open Section, while Tan Zhongyi is in front in the Women’s Candidates This is the first part of what will be 2 podcasts discussing the tournament through 7 rounds. In this solo pod, I briefly run through the standings, upcoming pairings and share a few thoughts on the tournament. For part 2 (coming soon to this feed), I will be interviewing GM Daniel King of the Powerplay Chess YouTube Channel.  Links Mentioned: Live stream of my chat with GM Daniel King Friday at 9AM EDT/1PM GMT on the Powerplay Chess YouTube Chess  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiOR9OnXOEk (and later to this feed) Mentioned:  Final moments of Firouzja-Gukesh: https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/1c1sxzb/final_moments_of_gukesh_vs_firouzja/ Be sure to tune in for tomorrow Candidates interview with GM Daniel King, as well as our regular Tuesday weekly pod.  If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess via Patreon you can do so here: https://www.patreon.com/perpetualchess Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices