TWIC is 30. First issue 17th September 1994.
FIDE Candidates 2024 (1)
All four games drawn in Round 1 of the Candidates, Caruana misses chances against Nakamura
Mark Crowther - Friday 5th April 2024
Alireza Firousja and Praggnanandhaa drew in Round 1. Photo © | https://candidates.fide.com/
The first round of the FIDE Candidates in Toronto, Canada, saw all four games drawn. The players will no doubt all be glad to get off the mark. Players from the same country meet as early as possible in each cycle of this double round robin setting up USA-USA and India-India first round ties. Fabiano Caruana had the best chance to win after Hikaru Nakamura gave him a rather stable advantage out of the opening. 23...Rxf2? from Nakamura was an interesting tactic but a mistake but Caruana couldn't find the right way and his advantage dribbled away. Neither Alireza Firouzja of Praggnanandhaa backed away from a double edged battle and that game finished in a draw by perpetual. D Gukesh and Santosh Vidit drew a Semi-Tarrasch the rather shocking 17...Bg4 persuaded Gukesh to repeat for a draw straight away. Defending champion Ian Nepomniachtchi had a comfortable draw with black against Nijat Abasov.
Round 2 5th April at 19:30BST: Nakamura-Vidit, Praggnanandhaa-Gukesh, Nepomniachtchi-Firouzja, Caruana-Abasov.
Round 1 report
Hikaru Nakamura chose the rare 5...e5 in the Najdorf Sicilian, that said it has seen quite a bit of high level interest this year from MVL, Firouzja and two games from Wijk aan Zee by Wei Yi and Maghsoodloo so Fabiano Caruana can hardly have not been prepared. Caruana got a nice advantage and Nakamura attempted to relieve his position with 23...Rxf2?! which actually made his position worse with best play. Caruana set off on the right path but 27.Kg2 (27.Rf1!) reduced his advantage Bb2?! gave another chance (g6!) but 28.Rf5?! (28.Rd7) 29.Rxf6 and the chance was gone. The game was drawn in 41 moves.
Firouzja-Praggnanandhaa was an Open Spanish starting with the relatively rare 10.Bc2 rather quickly found its own path after 13.Kh1!? Bh5 14.Nb3 was an interesting move from Firouzja allowing black to break up his Kingside. This was a fighting game from both players with both players trying to attack each other on the kingside. There was a draw by repetition on move 39.
Gukesh-Vidit was a modern Semi-Tarrasch. 9.Ra2 was a very rare try and sharp play followed, Vidit played the spectacular 17...Bg4. 18.Bc3 was probably the best move and also contained the possibility of a repetition, and this indeed happened.
Ian Nepomniachtchi played a solid Queen's Gambit with black against Nijat Abasov. Most likely Abasov was surprised by the choice and he played quite solidly and traded off into a drawish endgame. The winner of the last two Candidates tournaments will have been happy enough with a draw to start his new campaign.
FIDE World Championship Candidates Round 1 Video 2024
| FIDE Candidates 2024 Toronto CAN (CAN), 3-26 iv 2024 | cat. XX (2745) | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |||||||||||||||
| 1. | Caruana, Fabiano | g | USA | 2803 | * | * | ½ | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ½ | 2789 |
| 2. | Nakamura, Hikaru | g | USA | 2789 | ½ | . | * | * | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ½ | 2803 |
| 3. | Firouzja, Alireza | g | FRA | 2760 | . | . | . | . | * | * | . | . | ½ | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ½ | 2747 |
| 4. | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | g | RUS | 2758 | . | . | . | . | . | . | * | * | . | . | . | . | . | . | ½ | . | ½ | 2632 |
| 5. | Praggnanandhaa, R | g | IND | 2747 | . | . | . | . | ½ | . | . | . | * | * | . | . | . | . | . | . | ½ | 2760 |
| 6. | Gukesh, D | g | IND | 2743 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | * | * | ½ | . | . | . | ½ | 2727 |
| 7. | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | g | IND | 2727 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ½ | . | * | * | . | . | ½ | 2743 |
| 8. | Abasov, Nijat | g | AZE | 2632 | . | . | . | . | . | . | ½ | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | * | * | ½ | 2758 |
| Round 1 (April 4, 2024) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caruana, Fabiano | - Nakamura, Hikaru | ½-½ | 41 | B56 | Sicilian Defence | |
| Firouzja, Alireza | - Praggnanandhaa, R | ½-½ | 39 | C83 | Ruy Lopez Open | |
| Gukesh, D | - Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | ½-½ | 21 | D32 | Tarrasch Defence | |
| Abasov, Nijat | - Nepomniachtchi, Ian | ½-½ | 34 | D53 | Queens Gambit | |
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