Toronto: India's D Gukesh made a brilliant comeback to outclass compatriot Vidit Gujrati and take the joint lead with Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi after the eighth round of the Candidates Chess Tournament here.
On a day when R Praggnanandhaa played out a draw with France's Firozha Alireza, Hikaru Nakamura cemented his dominance in the All-American duel against Fabian Caruana and is back in the reckoning for top honours.
Overnight sole leader Nepomniachtchi faltered in the early stages, allowing tie ender Nizat Abbasov to bow out with an easy draw in the second game of the eight-player double round-robin event. With six rounds left, Gukesh and Nepomniachtchi have 5 points and They are followed by Nakamura and Praggnananda who have 4.5 points.
Caruana is now in fifth place with four points.Gujarati is next to Alireza with 3.5 points, while Abbasov is still at the back of the table with 2 points.
Gukesh had his work cut out and went for a rare variation, surprising Gujarati in the fourth move itself. Gujarati got lost in a long thought and lost about twenty minutes on the clock. In the next few moves Gukesh equalized without much ado, while Gujarati was trying to make some gains on both sides.
In the midgame, Gukesh gained control of the only open file and used the hi queen and rook for complete dominance.Vidit tried hard to protest but the pressure was quite unforgiving, especially when he had less time.
The dice were thrown when Gukesh entered the eighth rank and it was a picturesque finale as White's king was taken for a walk before checkmate was inevitable. The game lasted 38 moves. When Gukesh was asked if he was surprised by how he won as black, he said, "Such clean games are rare at this level, he made a few mistakes in the beginning And their situation was unpleasant, I was in control, it was a good game." Without much retaliation.
Praggnanandha could not achieve anything special with his white pieces.Alireza appointed Sicilian Taimanov and the Indian adopted another variation that has not been regularly tested at the top level.
However, for once, Alireza found it easy to advance thanks to some timely queen successes and leveled without any problems. The players leveled shortly after trading queens on the 30th move, The result was never in doubt. After ten moves a draw was agreed upon.
Hikaru Nakamura has dominated and has clearly proved to be a foe for world number two Caruana in major matches, especially when the former has had weaker players.It started at the Norway Chess Tournament when Nakamura won by defeating Caruana in the final round and continued at FIDE's Grand Swiss where he again won as white in the final round. In the game, one point off the leaderboard, Nakamura took a high chance at closing Ruy López and was duly rewarded as Caruana went for some unfair complications after gaining a level position in the middle game.
Caruana was also short of time and failed to formulate a strategy in a difficult situation. It was all over in just 35 moves.
Abbasov could not perform at his best but in this round Azerbaijan won the first half point with the black pieces.Nepomniachtchi was moved to the Exchange French Defense and the resulting position was tied until the longest game of the day ended after 63 moves. In the women's section, Koneru Humpy won over compatriot R Vaishyal in the queen pawn game and reached 3.5 points. Gone.
The tone of the event changed slightly in this section as China's Tingjie Lei opened the event by defeating her Chinese teammate Zhongyi Tan, but Zhongyi's dominance came to a halt as Russia's Alexandra Goryachkina and Lei moved ahead of her with five points. Done. Out of a possible eight.
Russia's Kateryna Lagno is a long way away from the three leaders with 4 points, while Humpy and Nurgul Salimova are fifth with 3.5 points. Ukraine's Anna Muzychuk is seventh with three points, while Vaishali is last with 2.5 points. Are on.Vaishali may have played out a draw but the exchange down endgame against Hampi required a high level of accuracy. Hampi, known for his technical skills, took advantage of the opportunity and his pair of rooks ultimately proved superior to Vaishali's bisho and rook.
The ninth round will see a very important encounter from the Indian point of view, with Gukesh taking on Praggnanandha in the men's category, while the Gujarati will face the in-form Nakamura. Round 8 results (unless specified) Indian ): R Praggnanandhaa (4.5) beat Firozha Alireza (Fr, 3); Vidit Gujrati (3.5) lost to D Gukesh (5); Hikari Nakamura (USA, 4.5) defeated Fabiano Caruana (USA, 4); Ian Nepomniachtchi (Fed, 5 draws) with Nizat Abbasov (AZ, 2.5).
Women: Zhongyi Tan (5) lost to Tingjie Lei (CHN, 5); Koneru Humpy (3.5) beats Vaishali (2.5); Nurgul Salimova (Bull, 3.5) beat Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine, 3) and Lagno Katerina (Fide, 4.5) beat Alexandra Goryachkina (Fide, 5).or atk
On a day when R Praggnanandhaa played out a draw with France's Firozha Alireza, Hikaru Nakamura cemented his dominance in the All-American duel against Fabian Caruana and is back in the reckoning for top honours.
Overnight sole leader Nepomniachtchi faltered in the early stages, allowing tie ender Nizat Abbasov to bow out with an easy draw in the second game of the eight-player double round-robin event. With six rounds left, Gukesh and Nepomniachtchi have 5 points and They are followed by Nakamura and Praggnananda who have 4.5 points.
Caruana is now in fifth place with four points.Gujarati is next to Alireza with 3.5 points, while Abbasov is still at the back of the table with 2 points.
Gukesh had his work cut out and went for a rare variation, surprising Gujarati in the fourth move itself. Gujarati got lost in a long thought and lost about twenty minutes on the clock. In the next few moves Gukesh equalized without much ado, while Gujarati was trying to make some gains on both sides.
In the midgame, Gukesh gained control of the only open file and used the hi queen and rook for complete dominance.Vidit tried hard to protest but the pressure was quite unforgiving, especially when he had less time.
The dice were thrown when Gukesh entered the eighth rank and it was a picturesque finale as White's king was taken for a walk before checkmate was inevitable. The game lasted 38 moves. When Gukesh was asked if he was surprised by how he won as black, he said, "Such clean games are rare at this level, he made a few mistakes in the beginning And their situation was unpleasant, I was in control, it was a good game." Without much retaliation.
Praggnanandha could not achieve anything special with his white pieces.Alireza appointed Sicilian Taimanov and the Indian adopted another variation that has not been regularly tested at the top level.
However, for once, Alireza found it easy to advance thanks to some timely queen successes and leveled without any problems. The players leveled shortly after trading queens on the 30th move, The result was never in doubt. After ten moves a draw was agreed upon.
Hikaru Nakamura has dominated and has clearly proved to be a foe for world number two Caruana in major matches, especially when the former has had weaker players.It started at the Norway Chess Tournament when Nakamura won by defeating Caruana in the final round and continued at FIDE's Grand Swiss where he again won as white in the final round. In the game, one point off the leaderboard, Nakamura took a high chance at closing Ruy López and was duly rewarded as Caruana went for some unfair complications after gaining a level position in the middle game.
Caruana was also short of time and failed to formulate a strategy in a difficult situation. It was all over in just 35 moves.
Abbasov could not perform at his best but in this round Azerbaijan won the first half point with the black pieces.Nepomniachtchi was moved to the Exchange French Defense and the resulting position was tied until the longest game of the day ended after 63 moves. In the women's section, Koneru Humpy won over compatriot R Vaishyal in the queen pawn game and reached 3.5 points. Gone.
The tone of the event changed slightly in this section as China's Tingjie Lei opened the event by defeating her Chinese teammate Zhongyi Tan, but Zhongyi's dominance came to a halt as Russia's Alexandra Goryachkina and Lei moved ahead of her with five points. Done. Out of a possible eight.
Russia's Kateryna Lagno is a long way away from the three leaders with 4 points, while Humpy and Nurgul Salimova are fifth with 3.5 points. Ukraine's Anna Muzychuk is seventh with three points, while Vaishali is last with 2.5 points. Are on.Vaishali may have played out a draw but the exchange down endgame against Hampi required a high level of accuracy. Hampi, known for his technical skills, took advantage of the opportunity and his pair of rooks ultimately proved superior to Vaishali's bisho and rook.
The ninth round will see a very important encounter from the Indian point of view, with Gukesh taking on Praggnanandha in the men's category, while the Gujarati will face the in-form Nakamura. Round 8 results (unless specified) Indian ): R Praggnanandhaa (4.5) beat Firozha Alireza (Fr, 3); Vidit Gujrati (3.5) lost to D Gukesh (5); Hikari Nakamura (USA, 4.5) defeated Fabiano Caruana (USA, 4); Ian Nepomniachtchi (Fed, 5 draws) with Nizat Abbasov (AZ, 2.5).
Women: Zhongyi Tan (5) lost to Tingjie Lei (CHN, 5); Koneru Humpy (3.5) beats Vaishali (2.5); Nurgul Salimova (Bull, 3.5) beat Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine, 3) and Lagno Katerina (Fide, 4.5) beat Alexandra Goryachkina (Fide, 5).or atk
