So...how is this even possible? I mean, I realize there are only a finite number of spots but it seems anyone who is a fixture within a 5 year time period should definitely have been in one or more of them almost no matter what.

Are Naka and Caruana not eligible for certain qualifying events? That is the only explanation I can come up with besides them simply going to the qualifying events and struggling to perform in them. That, or they have not gone to qualifying events which seems really, really stupid so I have a hard time believing that. I'd assume any qualifying event is pretty much priority #1 to anyone in the top 10 (probably top 20, although maybe some of them feel they simply aren't strong enough quite yet to qualify).

It's not quite that he didn't have opportunities to qualify, it's just that they're few and far between and highly random making them hard to take advantage of. Naka played in the 2013 World Cup, as well as the 2012-13 Grand Prix, but failed to finish top-two in either and so missed out on the 2014 Candidates Tournament.

http://reddit.com/r/chess/comments/2...27_ama/cljfskn