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The FIDE Candidates Tournament begins on April 4 in Toronto, Canada, and I could not be more excited to see who gets to challenge for the FIDE World Championship. As is tradition on Perpetual Chess, we have a few great guests joining to help discuss the action. First up is 7-time Brazilian champion & Correspondence GM,\xa0Rafael Leit\xe3o. In addition to a vast resume as a player, Rafael regularly annotates top-level games for Chess.com news coverage. Reviewing these games in detail on a daily basis gives Rafael unique insights into the tendencies of the world\u2019s top players.\xa0Rafael and I discuss what to watch for in each player\u2019s performance, fun facts, and what opening choices we might see from each player.\n\xa0Following Rafael, I am joined by Tai Pruce Zimmerman, a/k/a Chess by the Numbers. Tai shares and discusses the win probability of both the open and the women\u2019s candidates, and we also compare the output of Tai\u2019s probabilistic model to the betting markets. Last but not least, I am joined by \u201cOn the Queenside,\u201d who has built a large following on Twitter and Lichess for covering Women\u2019s Chess in detail. We discuss whether it is a good idea to run the Women\u2019s Candidates concurrently with the open, and which players we are excited to watch. As always, the timestamps of the guests, as well as the topics and players discussed can be found below.\n0:00- Thanks to our sponsor, Chessable.com. New courses include Introduction to Chess Calculation, and GM Ganguly\u2019s Lifetime Repertoires: Sidelines and Flank Openings for Black\xa0\n\xa0If you use the link below to sign up for a Chessable pro membership, it helps to support the pod!\xa0\nhttps://www.chessable.com/pro/?utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=benjohnson&utm_campaign=pro\n0:01- Format notes on the FIDE Candidates, including tournament schedule, tiebreak rules, and the Perpetual Chess\u2019 plan for covering the event.\xa0\nMentioned: More info on the Candidates here, including tiebreak info:\nMore from Chess.com here\n09:30- GM Rafael Rafael Leit\xe3o joins me for a detailed Candidates discussion!\nMentioned: Rafael\u2019s prior interview was episode 147.\xa0\n15:00- Can Ian Nepomniatchtchi \u201cthreepeat\u201d at the Candidate?\xa0\n21:50- GM Nijat Abasov.\n25:30- GM Fabiano Caruana\nMentioned: Leitao-Caruana 2010\xa0\n30:00- GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshababu\n32:30- Hikaru Nakamura\nMentioned: GM Daniel King\u2019s YT Candidates Previews:\nGelfand-Nakamura 2010\xa0\n37:45- Alireza Firouzja\n44:00- GM Vidit Gujirathi\n47:00- GM Gukesh Dommaraju\n51:30- Who does Rafael predict will win?\xa0\nMentioned: Bwin\u2019s betting market on the Candidates:\n54:00- Rafael shares his thoughts on the Women\u2019s Candidates. More info here:\xa0\n59:00- Rafael discusses his own chess career, and what is new from our prior interview. This includes a compelling argument for Chess960.\xa0\nMentioned:GM Luis Paolo Supi, \xa0Supi-Carlsen 2020\xa0\n1:09:00- Thanks to Rafael for joining me! Here is how to keep up with him:\nYoutube- https://www.youtube.com/@rafaelleitaogm\nX/Twitter- https://twitter.com/rafpig?lang=en\nWebsite- https://rafaelleitao.com/articles/\n1:10:00- Tai Pruce Zimmerman aka Chess by the Numbers rejoins me to talk Candidates statistiics!\xa0\n\xa0Mentioned: Betting market here\n1:31:00- What does Tai\u2019s model say on who is most likely to win the Woman\u2019s Candidates?\n1:41:00- Thanks to Tai for joining me! Follow him on X here:\n1:42;00- On the Queenside joins. Is it a good idea to have the Women\u2019s Candidates run concurrently with the Open Candidates for the first time?\xa0\nMentioned: On the Queenside\u2019s preview of the Reykjavik Open\n1:50:00- Be sure to follow On the Queenside on Twitter/X and on Lichess!\nTwitter/X\nLiChess\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices