All posts tagged: Candidates 2024

Gukesh draws against Nepomniachtchi, Vaishali registers win

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Indian GM D Gukesh continued his lead at the top of the Candidates 2024 standings after playing a draw with joint leader Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia on Monday in the 10th round. The much-anticipated clash between the table toppers fizzled out in a draw after 40 moves. Gukesh started with a Spanish opening against Ian but both players agreed to a draw after more than two hours of Chess. Both players will stay on top of the standings with four games remaining in the prestigious tournament. The other game of Round 10 involving Indians — the clash between Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Santosh Gujrathi — ended in a draw by three-fold repetition. Pragg thus stayed on the heels of Gukesh and Nepomniachtchi, just half a point behind. Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana claimed wins against Nijat Abasov and Alireza Firouzja to join Pragg in the third spot. Standings | After Round 10 | #FIDECandidates Ian Nepomniachtchi and 🇮🇳 Gukesh D are co-leaders after 10 rounds. They are closely followed by a pack of 3 tailing by …

Gujrathi defeats Nakamura in 9th round, Gukesh remains joint topper

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Vidit Gujrathi, 29, handed out a crushing defeat to the United States of America’s Hikaru Nakamura in the ninth round of the Candidates 2024 at the Great Hall of Toronto on Sunday night. On the other hand, the all-Indian duel between 17-year-old D Gukesh and 18-year-old R Praggnanandhaa ended in a draw. Following this draw, Gukesh remained on top of the standings alongside Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia, who was forced to play out a draw against France’s Firouza Alireza, with 5.5 points out of possible nine. Results | Round 9 | #FIDECandidates 🇮🇳 Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 1-0 🇺🇸 Hikaru Nakamura🇮🇳 Gukesh D ½-½ 🇮🇳 Praggnanandhaa R🇫🇷 Alireza Firouzja ½-½ Ian Nepomniachtchi 🇦🇿 Nijat Abasov ½-½ 🇺🇸 Fabiano Caruana pic.twitter.com/lAebW7GJvx — International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) April 14, 2024 Azerbaijan’s Nijat Abasov held his forte against American Fabiano Caruana and pulled off a draw. Even though he lost to compatriot Gukesh, Gujrathi remained firm and decided to continue with the Italian opening and got rewarded as Nakamura went for a side variation by pushing his kingside pawns …

D Gukesh joint topper after 8th round, Humpy beats Vaishali

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D Gukesh rose to the top of the Candidates 2024 chart on Saturday night as he defeated compatriot Vidit Gujrathi in round eight, capitalising on the open a-file and infiltrating Vidit’s territory and pressuring his king to seek escape. The 17-year-old chess prodigy from Chennai is currently holding the pole position with Ian Nepomniachtchi, who was forced to play out a draw by Nijat Abasov, the lowest-rated player in the Candidates 2024. With Abasov holding Nepomniachtchi to a draw for the second time, Gukesh managed to go up a spot in the ladder board after a disappointing result in the seventh round. There are still six rounds left at the Great Hall of Toronto to determine the challenger for the world champion Ding Liren in the World Chess Championships next year. 🇮🇳 Gukesh D (2743) makes a comeback, defeating 🇮🇳 Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2727). Gukesh capitalized on the open a-file, infiltrating Vidit’s territory and pressuring his king to seek escape. After this win, Gukesh expressed his happiness in playing a good game and coming back… …

Scowling, banging pieces, wild expressions: In chess, being stoic is art form but emotional players add to its theatre | Chess News

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As a dense fog of complexity envelops the board during the Candidates game between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Hikaru Nakamura, the faces of the two men in charge of marshalling the 24 wooden pieces betray their inner thoughts. Here’s Ian Nepomniachtchi, planting his palm on the side of his face, seemingly struck by how he’s allowed the game to get so complicated. He mutters to himself. Scowls at his pieces. He wears the desperation of a man sitting on a ticking explosive trying to guess which wire to disconnect. He looks skywards, as if beseeching Caissa, the goddess of chess, for inspiration. He plants both palms on his temple as if trying to block his thoughts from leaking out. He lowers his head to stare at the board from a different angle, hoping for a fresh perspective. Now, he buries his head into his folded arms, seemingly taking a nap. And then, it’s the turn of his opponent, Hikaru Nakamura, to put on a performance. He’s spent just five minutes blitzing his first 22 moves while …

Gukesh, Vaishali lose; Other Indian players hold to draw

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D Gukesh and R Vaishali lost their seventh-round matches at the Candidates 2024 while the other Indian players played out a draw on Friday. D Gukesh slipped from the joint top spot after losing to Frenchman Alireza Firouza while R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi played out draws against Fabiano Caruana and Nijat Abasov. Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi regained his slender half-point lead inching to 4.5 points out of a possible seven at the halfway stage following a draw with American Hikaru Nakamura. Gukesh’s day didn’t go as planned and despite enjoying a good position in the middle game, he bundled under the time pressure to commit blunders that cost him the match. Gukesh ended up losing a piece but his position would still have been holdable despite the material deficit. However, as things unfolded, Alireza won this race with some timely checkmate threats. 🇫🇷 Alireza Firouzja (2760) vs 🇮🇳 Gukesh D (2743) was a very double-edged game. In a tricky endgame, Gukesh blundered on time pressure, giving Alireza a much-needed win to get back into the …

Candidates Chess 2024 standings after Round 7: Gukesh joins Praggnanandhaa in 2nd spot after heartbreak | Chess News

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Candidates Chess 2024: Gukesh, the 17-year-old prodigy from Chennai, let slip the chance to stand alone on the top of the open category standings at the prestigious Candidates chess tournament after seven rounds. Playing against French grandmaster Alireza Firouzja, Gukesh had the upper hand before a slip up under time pressure ended up with him losing the game, the only decisive result in the open section. Coming into Round 7, Gukesh was sharing top spot in the open category standings with two-time World Chess Championship contender Ian Nepomniachtchi. The Russian was held to a draw by World no 3 Hikaru Nakamura, which meant that if Gukesh could manage to win, he would go into the tournament’s second rest day as the sole leader. The rest day also marks the halfway point of the double round robin tournament. Gukesh’s defeat aside, there was very little to celebrate for the Indians in action at the event in Toronto. Vidit Gujrathi was held to a draw by rank underdog Nijat Abasov, who had lost to the two Indian teenagers …

Praggnanandhaa, Vidit secure wins; Humpy, Vaishali lose

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R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi secured excellent victories over Nijat Abasov and Alireza Firouzja respectively, Gukesh D was held to a draw against Hikaru Nakamura at the round 6 of Candidates 2024, on Thursday. All the games in the Women’s Candidates gave a result in round 6 but disappointingly, both the Indian players, Vaishali and Koneru Humpy suffered defeats. The game between Praggnanandhaa and Nijat Abasov was edge-of-the-seat stuff with both players pulling out scintillating moves. But Praggnanandhaa held his nerve and his calculations proved fruitful as he overcame his opponent. With this win, he moves to joint third place with 2.5 points in the Open Candidates table. Vidit Gujrathi continued to impress everyone, especially the crowd with his exciting playstyle, and to add to that, he also ended up victorious against Alireza Firouzja. He now climbs to 6th in the table with 3 points. 🇮🇳 Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2727) continues to play exciting chess. He found the best move on move 14.e5 and put 🇫🇷 Alireza Firouzja (2760) in a challenging position to play. …

Candidates Chess 2024: Vidit Gujrathi, Praggnanandhaa win; Gukesh tops standings | Round 6 results, standings and pairings | Chess News

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Candidates Chess 2024: 17-year-old Indian prodigy D Gukesh is on top of the standing in the open section at the Candidates chess tournament after six rounds, sharing the top spot with Ian Nepomniachtchi. Gukesh drew his game against World No 3 Hikaru Nakamura on Wednesday as did Nepomniachtchi. The other two Indians in the open category registered victories in Round 6, with Vidit Gujrathi defeating Alireza Firouzja and Praggnanandhaa beating Nijat Abasov. The two women from India, however, experienced defeats with Humpy Koneru losing to Lei Tingjie and Vaishali Rameshbabu losing to Kateryna Lagno. Results from Round 6 at Candidates Open section Gukesh D draws with Hikaru Nakamura Vidit Santosh Gujrathi beats Alireza Firouzja Praggnanandhaa beats Nijat Abasov Ian Nepomniachtchi draws with Fabiano Caruana Women’s category Nurgyul Salimova loses to Aleksandra Goryachkina Tan Zhongyi beats Anna Muzychuk Humpy Koneru loses to Lei Tingjie Vaishali Rameshbabu loses to Kateryna Lagno Standings after Round 6 at Candidates Open standings Women’s standings Schedule for Indians from Round 7 to Round 14 at Candidates ROUND 7 Open Fabiano Caruana …

‘Fear no one’ says 17-year-old Indian

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D Gukesh had just managed to beat Azerbaijan’s Nijat Abasov after a six-hour marathon in Round 5 when the organisers ushered the 17-year-old prodigy to the fan zone of the Great Hall to chat with fans. There, FIDE’s host for the event, Charlize van Zyl, asked him which player Gukesh was most afraid of playing in the prestigious Candidates tournament. Gukesh, just 17 years of age but all smouldering intensity, took a second to compose his response. “No one,” he said before breaking into a rare smile. After five rounds, the second-youngest player ever to compete at the Candidates (the youngest being the legendary Bobby Fischer when he competed in 1959) finds himself on top of the standings with 3.5 points along with Ian Nepomniachtchi, a man who has won the Candidates twice. Gukesh is ahead of Fabiano Caruana, a man who is competing at his fifth Candidates. The Indian is unbeaten after five rounds, having also defeated the other teenage prodigy from his country, R Praggnanandhaa. The Round 5 battle between Gukesh and Abasov …

Gukesh registers another win, other Indians play draw

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Indian GM D Gukesh continued his good run at the Candidates Tournament 2024 and registered another win in the fifth round of the tournament on Tuesday. Gukesh managed to secure a victory over Nijat Abasov of Azerbaijan that went on for almost six hours and became the joint leader in the Open category with Ian Nepomniachtchi at 3.5 points. This is the second win of the tournament for Gukesh after he defeated his compatriot R Praggnanandhaa in the second round. He will take on Hikaru Nakamura in the sixth round. Other Indians in the tournament, Vidit Gujrathi and Pragg both played out draws against World number two Fabiano Caruana and leader Ian Nepomniachtchi. It was a good comeback from Vidit who lost two consecutive games in the last two rounds. In the Pragg vs Nepomniachtchi game, the Indian teenager had forced the Russian under massive time pressure with his excellent opening prep. 🇮🇳 Gukesh D (2743) secures the second decisive result of the day by defeating 🇦🇿 Nijat Abasov (2632) in a surprising turn of …