by Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi takes the halfway lead in the €500k contenders in Toronto, Canada, whose winner qualifies for a world title match later this year with the holder, Ding Liren of China.
Scores after round seven (of 14): Nepomniachtchi (Russia) 4.5; Fabiano Caruana (USA), Praggnanandaa R and Gukesh D (both India) 4; Hikaru Nakamura (USA) and Vidit Gujrathi (India) 3.5; Alireza Firouzja (France) 2.5; Nijat Abasov (Azerbaijan) 2.
Nepomniachtchi, 33, won the last two Candidates but lost the 2021 world championship matches against Magnus Carlsen and 2023 against Ding Liren. His overall record for Candidates is remarkable – over 35 games the grandmaster from Bryansk has always had a share of the principal, the longest streak in Candidates’ history. His best game so far was his subtle endgame against Vidit.
The tournament was unveiled by the Indian trio Gukesh, Praggnanandaa, and Vidit. They were seen as outsiders compared to the experienced Nepomniachtchi or the US numbers 2 and 3, Caruana and Nakamura, but all three exceeded expectations.
Gukesh, 17, was the joint leader after six rounds, but made a tragic time pressure mistake in round seven, when he retired against Firouzja. In the Praggnanandaa v Gukesh match, White sacrificed a knight for a fierce attack, but Gukesh kept his cool, defended deep, and emerged victorious on content.
Praggnanandaa, 18, has produced stunning opening plays in almost every game, and Nepomniachtchi was on the verge of victory in the sixth round on Wednesday. The Indian teenager reeled out a novel sequence against Russian favorite Petroff Defense 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 and was close to victory before losing a hidden plan that won by move 26 (Qe5!).
All the players have the best support at Praggnanandaa. He is financially backed by the Adani Group, whose head Gautam Adani is the second richest man in India and believes the 18-year-old will be a world champion. Eight-time Russian champion Peter Svidler is Praggnanandaaa’s runner-up in Toronto, and he also has a hotline to Chennai where his longtime coach, Ramachandran Raamesh, works for him.
The most notable match so far is Nakamura v Vidit. The popular streamer put him on an unbeaten run of 47 games, but was crushed by a sudden and unexpected counter-attack, the result of deep engine-assisted preparations. The exciting opening bomb 13…Bxh3! from Ruy Lopez’s position 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 the key, Vidit continued chasing the white king across the board, with an elegant knight check as the final coup.
This early defeat crippled Nakamura for the next two rounds, but he got back to 50% with a win against Firouzja and said it was “a very big win that gives me hope to try to come back, to try to make play for. first place. You have to stay positive.”
Caruana, the top seed, was below his best and could have lost to Vidit as well. He said: “If I keep playing like this, I’m not going to be lucky every day. So hopefully my play will improve.”
The conspicuous failure so far is Firouzja, who three years ago was the golden boy of chess and Carlsen’s heir, but is now weak on minus two, 2.5/7. His time pressure could escape round seven, when he was down to his last seconds before Gukesh blundered in checkmate, a spark of revival.
Firouzja’s nadir so far was in round six against Vidit, where her queen captured a poison pawn, he was forced into passive defense, and he resigned on move 26 with an imminent material loss. After the match Vidit realized that his opponent was on tilt, and too upset for objective thinking.
For the first time, the women’s Candidates are being held alongside the opening event. At the halfway point after seven rounds, the leaders were Tan Zhongyi (China) 5, Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia) 4,5, Kateryna Lagno (Russia) and Lei Tingjie (China) 4. Tan scored with an imaginative attack against Anna Muzychuk from Ukraine.
Related: Caruana starts as Candidates and Carlsen wins the sixth event in a row
For most chess fans after the Candidates, where to watch the games is a big question. There are three main possibilities: the official Fide website, where former world champion Vishy Anand and US No. 1 Irina Krush are commentators, Chess24 whose team includes No. 1 all-time, Judit Polgar, Peter Leko, and They are the most famous commentator from England David Howell, and Lichess, where England’s Matthew Sadler leads the team.
My suggestion is to watch the transfers on Lichess, where all four games can be seen on one screen. You can click in and out of individual games for a closer look, and see the total score of the game so far along with the latest computer assessment and predicted future moves. The same complete information about the Female Candidates is on a separate page.
Then, using another browser, go to chess24, which has the best commentary team and event presentation. Sadler on Lichess is also insightful and informative. The Fide site is good, although many viewers prefer the slicker approach of chess24.
3915: 1 qf4! It turns out. If Qxf4 2 Re8+! Rxe8 3 nd7 mate. If Qc8 or Rd6 2 Ne6+! Definitive content wins.
