Grandmaster D Gukesh did nicely to carry top-seeded American Fabiano Caruana to a draw however Vidit Gujrathi suffered one other defeat by the hands of Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia within the fourth spherical of the Candidates chess match now underway in Toronto. On a day when R Praggnanandhaa performed out an uneventful draw with Hikaru Nakamura of the US, Nijat Abasov of Azerbaijan fought laborious to separate the purpose with Firouzja Alireza of France to remain in competition within the eight-player double round-robin occasion that decides the challenger for the subsequent world championship.
Nepomniachtchi grew to become the primary sole chief within the occasion on three factors following his second victory with white items and he’s now adopted by Caruana and Gukesh on 2.5 factors apiece. Praggnanandhaa just isn’t far behind on two factors holding the fourth spot whereas Gujrathi, Abasov, Alireza and Nakamura have an similar 1.5 factors every.
Within the girls’s part, R Vaishali made positive her streak matches with that of youthful sibling Praggnanandhaa and performed out a draw with ranking favorite Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia however Koneru Humpy succumbed to her first defeat by the hands of lowest seed and youngest participant Nurgyul Salimova of Bulgaria. Zhongyi Tan maintained her sole lead on three factors following a draw with Kateryna Lagno of Russia whereas Tingjie Lei of China signed peace with Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine.
With Tan in entrance, Goryachkina stays on her heels on 2.5 factors and one other half level adrift is the trio of Vaishali, Salimova and Lagno. Humpy slipped to joint sixth spot on 1.5 factors together with Muzychuk and Lei.
Gukesh confronted the in-vogue Italian opening as black towards Caruana and the gamers battled it out in the primary variation. Gukesh was below some strain within the center sport however got here up with a tremendous pawn sacrifice resulting in commerce of many items.
The following endgame with Queen’s and pawns on board nonetheless gave Caruana some optical possibilities however the Indian remained on his guard for 72 strikes to make sure the draw.
Gujrathi had gained his second-round sport utilizing the Berlin protection towards Nakamura so his selection of opening was fairly predictable towards Nepomniachtchi too.
The Russian, a veteran of two world championship matches having gained the final two candidates tournaments, nonetheless, had some concepts within the topical endgame which gave a small benefit.
Gujrathi ought to have equalised however constant strain and a earlier spherical loss towards Praggnanandhaa most likely took its toll as he slowly bought outplayed within the endgame.
Nepomniachtchi marched his king deep into the guts of black’s place and when a heavy materials loss grew to become inevitable, Gujrathi known as it a day.
Praggnanandhaa has been drawing reward and incomes respect of his opponent with every passing spherical. Nakamura was no exception as he went for a protected model in one other Italian opening of the day. The gamers reached a balanced center sport the place the American was glad to make a draw as white in simply 24 strikes.
Abasov needed to half with a pawn towards Alireza within the center sport however his grit and dedication got here in helpful as Alireza, regardless of attempting laborious and for very long time, might solely attain a drawn a drawn queen and pawns endgame.
Salimova, who proved her qualification right here by the Ladies’s world cup, was no flash within the pan. Humpy confronted the more durable aspect of the Bulgarian out of a Catalan opening as black.
The Indian took the sport into unchartered territory early within the center sport by going for a Dutch defense-like setup however her bid to assault the queen aspect didn’t materialise.
Salimova was on high with some well timed breakthroughs within the centre and after the commerce of queens, gained a few pawns to retain the benefit. Humpy had nothing working in her favour and it was throughout in 62 strikes.
Vaishali went for the Tarrasch protection towards Goryachkina and clearly the Russian was under-prepared. As the center sport arrived, the items bought traded in a heap and in somewhat fast time, the gamers reached a rook-and-pawns endgame with simply three pawns every. The draw was a simply consequence.
Lagno had her possibilities to attain her first victory towards Tan however didn’t hold the momentum in her favour whereas Lei needed to battle for a very long time towards Muzychuk earlier than the peace was signed.
The fifth spherical of the occasion shall be performed after the primary relaxation day. Ten rounds nonetheless stay within the largest occasion of the yr.
Outcomes spherical 4 (Indians except specified): Ian Nepomniachtchi (Fide, 3) beat Vidit Gujrathi (1.5); Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 1.5) drew with R Praggnanandhaa (2); Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2.5) drew with D Gukesh (2.5); Nijat Abasov (Aze, 1.5) drew with Firouza Alireza (Fra, 1.5).
Ladies: Aleksandra Goryachkina (Fide, 2.5) drew with R Vaishali (2); Nurgyul Salimova (Bul, 2) beat Koneru Humpy (1.5); Kateryna Lagno (Fide, 2) drew with Zhongyi Tan (Chn, 3); Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 1.5) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn, 1.5).
(This story has not been edited by Perrinworlds workers and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Subjects talked about on this article