Chess 2024 Candidates: D Gukesh and Ian Nepomniachtchi Draw to Maintain Joint Lead
Following an easy draw in the chess tournament’s tenth round in Toronto, Indian Grandmaster D. Gukesh and Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi maintained their joint first position.
While Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura overcame Firouza Alireza and Nijat Abasov, respectively, to close the gap on the two leads, the all-Indian fight between R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi ended in a tie.
Gukesh and Nepomniachtchi lead the field with six points each going into the last four rounds of the largest tournament of the year, while Praggnanandhaa, Caruana, and Nakamura are only half a point behind.
Gujrathi, with six points, is the only person in sixth place, while Alireza and Abasov, with 3.5 and 2 points, respectively, are effectively eliminated from the race.
Nepomniachtchi is the only player still undefeated after ten rounds since he hasn’t been taking many chances in the competition with any color.
After the opening exchange, the Russians had just a little edge because Ruy Lopez was white. However, Gukesh, then 17 years old, quickly restored parity with some well-timed moves that resulted in a rook and pawn endgame.
With the exception of the opening phase, the match was rather unremarkable. To get to a theoretically drawn situation in the endgame, the players traded another pair of rooks and a few pawns.
With the exception of a single defeat against Gukesh early in the second round, Praggnanandhaa has also performed well. The 18-year-old was up against Gujrathi’s Berlin defense, who quickly equalized since he was black.
The rook and opposite-colored bishop endgame did not exactly provide opportunities for either side, with three minor pieces and the queen departing the board early. After 39 moves, the game ended in a tie.
Caruana defeated Alireza’s Sicilian team, Najdorf by securing the win with a side variation. After gaining a pawn on the 29th move, Caruana maintained his lead in the endgame despite the opponents’ ignorance of a straightforward move. Alireza persisted in fighting, but the outcome of the match was always certain.
Nakamura increased pressure on the queen side by transposing to a French exchange in response to a Petroff defensive.
Abasov once lost a rook for a bishop in a convoluted middle game because he misread the position’s thread. The American resolved the situation in 58 moves, and the remaining steps were merely a question of time.
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In the women’s division, Tinjie Lei of China broke Russian Aleksandra Goryachkina’s winning streak and reclaimed a shared lead with her countrymate Zhongyi Tan, who drew with Koneru Humpy.
In a thrilling match against Bulgaria’s Nurgyul Salimov, R Vaishali recovered from a run of defeats, while Russian Kateryna Lagno tied with Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine.
Lei and Tan, two Chinese players, are leading Goryachkina and Lagno by a whole point with 6.5 points each.
Despite the win, Humpy remains a distant sixth with 4.5 points, half a point clear of Salimova, Muzychuk, and Vaishali, who are all tied for last place with 3.5 points.
Humpy needed to win to preserve her prospects, and despite her best efforts, Tan proved to be a difficult nut to crack.
After 72 moves, the Chinese were able to divide the point in the conflict.
Out of a Grunfeld defensive game, Vaishali played a game of varying fortunes versus Salimova. Salimova had the upper hand in the middle game, but Vaishali came back, and in the last game, the Indian, despite making mistakes, was able to reverse the position. This was an 88-move game.
The fight will continue on Wednesday, with Tuesday being a respite day.
Round 10 results (Indians unless otherwise noted)
Men: Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 5.5) defeated Nijat Abasov (Aze, 3); Fabiano Caruana (USA, 5.5) defeated Firouza Alireza (Fra, 3.5); Ian Nepomniachthi (6) drew with D Gukesh (6); R Praggnanandhaa (5.5) drew with Vidit Gujrathi (5).
Women: Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus, 5.5) lost to Tingjei Lei (Chn, 6.5); Kateryna Lagno (Fid, 5.5) drew with Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 4); Nurgyuaal Salimova (Bul, 4) lost to R Vaishali (3.5). Zhongyi Tan (6.5) drew with Koneru Humpy (4.5).
