Russian chess player Yan Nepomnyashchy drew with Azerbaijani representative Nijat Abasov in the game of the eighth round of the candidates tournament in Toronto.
The game in which Nepomnyashchy played with white pieces ended on the 63rd move.
The results of the remaining games of the round: Hikaru Nakamura (USA) – Fabiano Caruana (USA) – 1-0, Rameshbabu Pragnanandha (India) – Alireza Firuzdzha (France) – 0.5-0.5, Sees Santosh Gujrati (India) – Gukesh Dommaraju (India) – 0-1.
After eight rounds, Nepomnyashchy and Dommaraju lead the table (5 points each), followed by Nakamura and Rameshbabu (4.5 each), Karuana (4), Gujrati (3.5), Firuzdzha (3) and Abasov (2.5).
The candidates tournament will last until April 22. Its winner will play a match for the title of world champion with the current title holder, Chinese Ding Liren.
April 8, 11:54 a.m.
Russian grandmaster Yan Nepomnyashchy took sole leadership at the candidates tournament in Toronto.
At the competitions in Canada, the games of the fourth round took place, in which one successful game was recorded. In it, Russian Yan Nepomnyashchy defeated Indian chess player Vidit Gujrati with white pieces.
The game with the participation of Azerbaijani and French grandmasters Nijat Abasov and Alireza Firuzdzhi ended in a draw in the reporting round. Hikaru Nakamura (USA) – Rameshbabu Praggnanandha (India) and Fabiano Caruana (USA) – Gukesh Domaraju (India) also drew.
Thus, after the fourth round, Yan Nepomnyashchy took sole leadership of the tournament, scoring three points. The Russian is half a point ahead of his pursuers Gukesh Domaraja and Fabiano Caruana. Rameshbabu Praggnanandha is in fourth place with two points, and Nijat Abasov shares 5-8 places with Hikaru Nakamura, Vidit Gujrati and Alireza Firuzja. All of them scored one and a half points.
Recall that Nepomnyashchy has already won the candidates tournament twice and lost the world championship match both times – first to Magnus Carlsen (Norway) and then to Ding Lizhen (China). If the Russian wins the selection for the world crown match for the third time, he will become an absolute record holder – no grandmaster in the history of chess has ever managed to win the candidates tournaments three times.
On Monday, the competition in Canada will have its first day off, and on Tuesday, as part of the fifth round, Gukesh Domaraja – Nijat Abasov, Rameshbaba Praggnanandha – Jan Nepomnyashchy, Alireza Firuzdzha – Hikaru Nakamura, Sees Gujrati – Fabiano Caruana will play.
April 6, 23:00
Azerbaijani grandmaster Nijat Abasov suffered his first defeat in the candidates tournament in Toronto (Canada).
In the second round, Abasov played black pieces against the ranking favorite of the tournament, American Fabiano Caruana, and, unfortunately, was defeated. By the way, the last time the chess players met each other was in a match for third place at the Baku World Cup, and then Caruana also won.
After the game, the American grandmaster declared that he had won thanks to an opponent’s mistake.
“I think I was lucky in the end, because Nijat made a wrong move, taking on b3, and his position collapsed. The game was very difficult. This is the type of advantage when, due to one mistake, it can completely slip away and you lose the game,” Caruana noted.
Note that, unlike the games of the first round, when all tied results were recorded, this time all the meetings ended effectively. Thus, Russian Yan Nepomnyashchy beat Alireza Firuzja with white, Gukesh Domaraja (India) beat compatriot Rameshbaba Praggnanandha, and another Indian Sees Gujrati defeated Hikaru Nakamura.
Thus, after the second round, Jan Nepomniachy, Fabiano Caruana, Sees Gujrati and Gukesh Domaraju took the lead in the competition, scoring one and a half points each. Abasov shares 5-8 places with Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firuzja and Rameshbabu Praggnanandha, all of them scored half a point.
In the third round, Abasov will play white with another American, Hikaru Nakamura. The other couples of the third round: Gukesh Domaraju – Jan Nepomniac, Alireza Firuzja – Fabiano Caruana, Sees Gujrati – Rameshbaba Praggnanandha.
