TWIC is 30. First issue 17th September 1994.
FIDE Candidates 2024 (6)
Gukesh and Nepomniachtchi continue to lead after draws in Round 6
Mark Crowther - Thursday 11th April 2024
Santos Vidit quickly obtained a winning position against Alireza Firouzja. Photo © | https://candidates.fide.com
The FIDE Candidates in Toronto, Canada are almost at the half way stage. Not much has been settled and 6 of the 8 players can still regard themselves as still being in the hunt for tournament victory.
Today Ian Nepomniachtchi chose a drawish variation against Fabiano Caruana and whilst the American had to be accurate a draw was what we got. Nepomniachtchi said most of his preparation was focussed on the Sicilian but also such easy days are a key part of tournament strategy. How this draw will be seen will very much depend on the final result, wasted white against a major rival? Good pragmatic decision on the way to the title? We'll see.
Gukesh did try against Hikaru Nakamura, his problem was that a smart piece of preparation equalised the game for Nakamura almost straight away and he followed up with accuracy to produce a totally drawn position. Praggnanandhaa moved to +1 with a win against Nijat Abasov. This was a fighting game decided on the run up to first time control, 38...Rxf6? looks like the decisive error in an objectively level position. Alireza Firouzja is struggling here, today he made two very serious errors 11...Bb7 and 13...Qxf2 early on and was crushed, he did limp on to move 40 before resigning but the game was long gone.
Round 6 Standings: 1st= Gukesh, Nepomniachtchi 4pts, 3rd= Caruana, Praggnanandhaa 3.5pts, 5th= Vidit, Nakamura 3pts, 7th= Firouzja, Abasov 1.5pts.
Round 7 11th April at 19:30BST: Nakamura-Nepomniachtchi, Caruana-Praggnanandhaa, Abasov-Vidit, Firouzja-Gukesh.
Round 6 Summary
Hikaru Nakamura came with a new idea in an already quite rare variation of the Accelerated Dragon Sicilian. 7...c4 was new and already 8.d3?! wasn't the best try (probably 8.Re1 or 8.b3). Nakamura spent time on 16...a5 and accurately forced a very drawish position.
Santosh Vidit was winning straight out of the opening against Alireza Firouzja. 11...Bb7 and 13...Qxf2 were both bad moves. The reason I'm so appalled by attempts to change the World Championship cycle is that the Candidates and World Championship matches test something extra that's not tested by other formats, how do players behave when you apply real heat? You wouldn't get that with a lot of rapid and blitz games where the individual results aren't so critical. This event has been a real treat so far. Firouzja is learning some very harsh lessons here. He will need to rethink his strategy to prevent a complete disaster.
The final game to finish was Praggnanandhaa against Nijat Abasov was a scrappy game according to the engines. Both players were on their own early in a Semi-Tarrasch and the evaluation fluctuated between meaningful advantage to white and equal. Abasov lost it in the final moves before time control, 38...Rxf6? was the losing move, it opens up the 3rd rank and made it hard to keep rooks on. 38...Rd6 or 38...Kg6 or even 38...a5 were all equal. 40...Kg7? ended all doubt as to the result as rooks quickly came off and the queenside pawns were then unstoppable.
Ian Nepomniachtchi played the Four Knights against Fabiano Caruana and the game was drawn on move 41 without the slightest doubt that this would be the case. It is a valid strategy to avoid a battle against people who are likely your main rivals if you think you can score heavily against the rest of the field, I believe that's precisely what Magnus Carlsen did in the London Candidates. Nepomniachtchi explained that most of his prep was aimed at Caruana's Sicilian. Anand said in commentary that such strategic draws and extra rest days were a key part of strategy and that Nepomniachtchi had learned this and executed it perfectly in the last Candidates tournament which he of course won.
| FIDE Candidates 2024 Toronto CAN (CAN), 3-26 iv 2024 | cat. XX (2745) | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |||||||||||||||
| 1. | Gukesh, D | g | IND | 2743 | * | * | ½ | . | ½ | . | 1 | . | ½ | . | ½ | . | . | . | 1 | . | 4 | 2867 |
| 2. | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | g | RUS | 2758 | ½ | . | * | * | ½ | . | ½ | . | 1 | . | . | . | 1 | . | ½ | . | 4 | 2860 |
| 3. | Caruana, Fabiano | g | USA | 2803 | ½ | . | ½ | . | * | * | . | . | ½ | . | ½ | . | ½ | . | 1 | . | 3½ | 2791 |
| 4. | Praggnanandhaa, R | g | IND | 2747 | 0 | . | ½ | . | . | . | * | * | 1 | . | ½ | . | ½ | . | 1 | . | 3½ | 2791 |
| 5. | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | g | IND | 2727 | ½ | . | 0 | . | ½ | . | 0 | . | * | * | 1 | . | 1 | . | . | . | 3 | 2766 |
| 6. | Nakamura, Hikaru | g | USA | 2789 | ½ | . | . | . | ½ | . | ½ | . | 0 | . | * | * | 1 | . | ½ | . | 3 | 2735 |
| 7. | Firouzja, Alireza | g | FRA | 2760 | . | . | 0 | . | ½ | . | ½ | . | 0 | . | 0 | . | * | * | ½ | . | 1½ | 2549 |
| 8. | Abasov, Nijat | g | AZE | 2632 | 0 | . | ½ | . | 0 | . | 0 | . | . | . | ½ | . | ½ | . | * | * | 1½ | 2573 |
| Round 6 (April 10, 2024) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gukesh, D | - Nakamura, Hikaru | ½-½ | 40 | B27 | Sicilian Early Fianchetto | |
| Nepomniachtchi, Ian | - Caruana, Fabiano | ½-½ | 41 | C47 | Four Knights | |
| Praggnanandhaa, R | - Abasov, Nijat | 1-0 | 45 | D40 | Semi-Tarrasch Defence | |
| Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | - Firouzja, Alireza | 1-0 | 40 | B57 | Sicilian Sozin Attack | |
FIDE World Championship Candidates Round 6 Commentary
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