The participants were:^[3]

The tournament had a prize fund of €510,000 ($691,101). Prize money was shared between players tied on points; tiebreaks were not used to allocate it. The prizes for each place were as follows:^[3]

Before the tournament Carlsen was considered the favourite, with Kramnik and Aronian being deemed his biggest rivals. Ivanchuk was considered an uncertain variable, due to his instability, and the other players were considered less likely to win the event.^[5][6]

During the first half of the tournament, Aronian and Carlsen were considered the main contestants for first place. At the halfway point they were tied for first, one-and-a-half points ahead of Kramnik and Svidler. In the second half Kramnik, who had drawn his first seven games, became a serious contender after scoring four wins, while Aronian lost three games, and was thus left behind in the race. Carlsen started the second half by staying ahead of the field, but a loss to Ivanchuk allowed Kramnik to take the lead in round 12 by defeating Aronian.^[7] In the penultimate round Carlsen pulled level with Kramnik by defeating Radjabov, while Kramnik drew against Gelfand.^[8]

Before the last round only Carlsen and Kramnik could win the tournament; they were equal on 8½ points, 1½ points ahead of Svidler and Aronian. Carlsen had the better tie break (on the first tie break the score from their individual games was 1–1, but Carlsen was ahead on the second tie break due to having more wins), and this would not change if they both scored the same in the final round. Therefore, Kramnik, who had black against Ivanchuk, needed to outperform Carlsen, who had white against Svidler. Carlsen played to win, since that would guarantee him the tournament victory regardless of Kramnik's result; similarly, Kramnik knew that the odds of Carlsen losing with white were minute, and he went all-in against Ivanchuk with the Pirc Defense. This backfired and Ivanchuk obtained an early advantage, while Carlsen got a level position against Svidler. Carlsen later got into serious time trouble and did not defend adequately against Svidler's attack, which gave Svidler a winning endgame. Meanwhile, Ivanchuk had outplayed Kramnik, who resigned a few minutes after Carlsen lost. Thus the tournament was won by Carlsen on the second tiebreak.^[9] Carlsen's win earned him the right to challenge the reigning world champion, Viswanathan Anand, for the world title in the World Chess Championship 2013.

Final standings of the 2013 Candidates Tournament^[10]

Rank	Player	Rating March 2013[11]	CAR		KRA		SVI		ARO		GEL		GRI		IVA		RAD		Points	Tiebreaks[3]
																				H2H	Wins
1	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	2872			½	½	0	1	½	½	1	1	1	½	0	½	½	1	8½	1	5
2	Vladimir Kramnik (RUS)	2810	½	½			1	½	½	1	½	½	½	1	½	0	1	½	8½	1	4
3	Peter Svidler (RUS)	2747	0	1	½	0			1	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	1	½	8	1½	4
4	Levon Aronian (ARM)	2809	½	½	0	½	½	0			1	0	½	½	1	1	1	1	8	½	5
5	Boris Gelfand (ISR)	2740	0	0	½	½	½	½	1	0			½	½	½	½	½	1	6½	1	2
6	Alexander Grischuk (RUS)	2764	½	0	0	½	½	½	½	½	½	½			1	½	½	½	6½	1	1
7	Vasyl Ivanchuk (UKR)	2757	½	1	1	½	½	0	0	0	½	½	½	0			1	0	6	—	3
8	Teimour Radjabov (AZE)	2793	0	½	½	0	½	0	0	0	0	½	½	½	1	0			4	—	1

Pairings and results.^[9] First named player is white. 1–0 indicates a white win, 0–1 indicates a black win, and ½–½ indicates a draw. Numbers in parentheses indicate players' scores prior to the round.

Points by round edit

For each player, the difference between wins and losses after each round is shown. The players with the highest difference for each round are marked with green background.