It wasn’t the best day for Indians in action in the Candidates 2024 tournament on Monday as two out of five Indians lost their round four games, while the other three had to settle for a draw at the Great Hall in Toronto, Canada.
The first result of the day came in the R. Praggnanandhaa and Hikaru Nakamura game where the duo settled for a peaceful draw in 24 moves.
HIGHLIGHTS | FIDE CANDIDATES-2024 ROUND 4
Soon, R. Vaishali holds Aleksandra Goryachkina to a draw with black pieces.
Vidit Gujrathi slumped to his second loss in succession. It was Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi, who got the better of the 29-year-old Indian. Playing the Berlin defence of Ruy Lopez, the two-time Candidates winner continued to press with white pieces and eventually forced Vidit to resign 44th move.
MATCH OF THE DAY — IAN NEPOMNIACHTCHI VS VIDIT GUJRATHI
Nepomniachtchi became the sole leader in the open category with this win.
D. Gukesh battled a confident draw against USA’s Fabiano Caruana. Playing the Giuoco Piano Game, the second youngest player in the history of Candidates never let the tempo go down. He exchanged one bishop pair in the 11th move, followed by rook and knight.
Gukesh played with an astonishing 99.3 accuracy, prompting the World No. 3 to settle for a draw despite having one lesser pawn.
For Koneru Humpy, her over-ambition cost her round-four match against Bulgaria’s Nurgyul Salimova. She fought hard but folded in 63 moves.
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