The next event on the international calendar is the Candidates Tournament in Berlin, which runs March 10-28. The eight contenders are Levon Aronian of Armenia; Sergey Karjakin, Alexander Grischuk, and Vladimir Kramnik of Russia; Ding Liren of China; Shakira Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan; and Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So of the United States.

There has been much debate on who is the favorite. My choice is Aronian, with perhaps Kramnik a distant second. Chess.com did a survey and the clear favorite, with nearly a third of the votes, was Aronian, with last year’s winner, Karjakin, second with 13 percent. Kramnik got 8 percent. The inexperienced Liren was clear last with just 4 percent. Checking the betting sites, I found Aronian a clear favorite, with Kramnik second. The Americans seem to be mired in the middle of the bookmakers’ thoughts.

Once again, Agon is the organizer and once again they seem to be doing a very poor job promoting it. With only 10 days to go, the tournament website is not up yet. And there has not been any announcement of the actual site in Berlin. Also, there has been no assurance issued by either FIDE or Agon that they have the money to be able to pay the prize fund. FIDE’s bank has frozen the organization’s account due to issues with the FIDE president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

Coming events: March 11, Future Masters Scholastic Chess Tournament, New England Movement Arts Art School, 123 Muller Rd., Burlington, www.nemovementarts.com/chess-tournament; April 1, Mass Girls Championship, Boylston Chess Club, www.MassChess.org

Recent results: Metrowest CC Groundhog Day Swiss, (74 players), Open, 1st: Alan Song, 3/4, 2nd–4th Denys Shmelov, Alex Yu, Mathew Fishbein, 2.5/4; U2000, 1st: Neil Cousin, 3.5/4, U1700, 1st: Henry Forber-Pratt, 4/4

Answer to today’s problem: A cute study by Bron, 1.c5+! Qxc5 (1…Kxc5 2. Ne4+) 2.Na4+! bxa4 3.Be3! Qxe3 4.Nc4+ wins.

Chris Chase can be reached at BostonGlobeChessNotes@ gmail.com.