It was a day of mixed results for Indians at the 2024 FIDE Candidates tournament as D Gukesh, who jointly led the standings until the previous round, lost to Alireza Firouzja, while R. Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi secured draws to move up the ladder in the Open section on Friday. Ian Nepomniachtchi has the sole lead now, with Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Fabiano Caruana snapping at his heels.
Over in the women's section, Koneru Humpy's wait for a win continued as she drew with Anna Muzychuk, while R. Vaishali was beaten by China's Lei Tingjie.
Results in round 7 (of 14):
FIDE Candidates Tournament (Open):
Alireza Firouzja beat D Gukesh (IND)
Hikaru Nakamura (USA) drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS)
Fabiano Caruana (USA) drew R Praggnanandhaa (IND)
Nijat Abasov (UZB) drew Vidit Gujrathi (IND)
FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament:
Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS) drew with Zhongyi Tan (CHN)
Kateryna Lagno (RUS) drew with Nurgyul Salimova (BUL)
Anna Muzychuk (UKR) drew with Koneru Humpy (IND)
Lei Tingjie (CHN) beat Vaishali R (IND)
Pragg climbs up, Gukesh slips
Praggnanandhaa continued his rich vein of form as a day after beating Abasov, he clinched a creditable draw against one of the title favorites in Caruana. They both began with a French advance variation, before the game eventually petered out to a draw. The result sees join Gukesh in the 2-4 bracket on the standings.
Gukesh lost his joint-lead with Nepomniachtchi as he was beaten by Firouzja. Gukesh, playing with White, was up a pawn and had Firouzja on the ropes when when he miscalculated and went for 27...Nxf2, a piece sacrifice that he thought was winning. Firouzja played 31. Qb3 to restore parity. He found himself down a piece, but his queenside passed pawns proved to be sufficient counterplay. Gukesh was undone by time pressure in the end game and made errors, which allowed Firouzja back into the game and the tournament.
Vidit followed up his draw with Nakamura by splitting the points with Abasov. The Indian had the advantage and a chance to snap up a win, but it wasn't meant to be. He remains tied with Nakamura on 3.5 points.
Praggnanandhaa: "The experience has been really good; the games have been really interesting; I have been playing quite well, so I am happy!" #FIDECandidates
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Humpy draws, Vaishali loses in women's section
India had little luck in the women's section as Humpy drew with Ukraine's Muzychuk. The result does not help Humpy's chances as she remains at the bottom of the standings.
Vaishali had a bad day in the office as she lost to Tingjie. This was the Chinese players' second win on the trot after beating Humpy in round six. This was also the only decisive result in the women's section on Friday.
"I think the game was very complicated, and at some point in the opening, I was a little worse," said Tingjie after the game. "Later on, the position was very strange with those four knights in the center. Generally, I think this game was not so good." With this win, she climbed to joint third place alongside Lagno and is now half a point behind Goryachkina in second place.
Note - There are five Indians playing the Candidates for the first time, which is a winner-takes-it-all tournament between the top 8 players in the world to decide who will compete in the World Championship match to challenge the reigning world champion.
Standings after Round 7 (of 14):
FIDE Candidates Tournament (Open):
1: Nepomniachtchi (4.5)
2-4: Caruana (4), Praggnanandhaa (4), Gukesh (4)
5-6: Nakamura (3.5), Vidit (3.5)
7: Firouzja (2.5)
8: Abasov (2)
FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament:
1: Zhongyi (5)
2: Goryachkina (4.5)
3-4: Lagno (4), Tingjie (4)
5: Salimova (3)
6-8: Muzychuk (2.5) Vaishali (2.5), Humpy (2.5)
Schedule
OPEN CATEGORY
WOMEN'S CATEGORY