Chess can sometimes be a funny sport, but it’s the math of it that has always been brutal. If you want to become the World Champion, being one of the best is only an entry ticket. The actual path to the summit is a labyrinth of endurance where, in simple terms, you must first qualify for the qualifying event of the qualifying event. While the World Championship match is the ultimate showdown between two players for the glorious title, the Candidates Tournament is the real engine that drives the biennial chess cycle. It is fueled by a gatekeeping system so exclusive that the prestige of the Candidates Tournament often rivals that of the world title itself. To get there, you must survive one of two gauntlets. You could play the long game to test your supreme consistency and maintain an elite rating across every format for an entire year, which guarantees a spot in the Candidates through FIDE Circuit Ratings. Or, you plunge into the chaos of the Grand Swiss, where a hundred players fight …