TWIC is 30. First issue 17th September 1994.
FIDE Candidates 2024 (3)
Praggnanandhaa the only winner in Round 3 of the Candidates
Mark Crowther - Sunday 7th April 2024
Santosh Vidit lost to R Praggnanandhaa in Round 3 of the Candidates. Photo © | https://candidates2024.fide.com
Praggnanandhaa beat Santosh Vidit in Round 3 of the Candidates to record the only decisive game of the round. There was only one decisive game in the women's Candidates, a win scored by his sister Vaishali. Praggnanandhaa seems to have come to the Candidates intent on making the biggest mess on the board possible, yesterday this didn't work, today it did. Vidit's 29. Qd4? and 32.b4? combined cost him the game. Gukesh had a brief chance to beat Ian Nepomniachtchi, he needed to find 29.a4 or 30.a4 which more or less forced bxa4 followed by putting a piece on c4 with a big advantage. As it was he exchanged rooks and most of his advantage was gone. Fabiano Caruana scored a relatively comfortable draw with the black pieces against Alireza Firouzja and Nijat Abasov and Hikaru Nakamura both seemed happy with a draw today.
Round 3 Standings: 1st-3rd Gukesh, Nepomniachtchi, Caruana 2pts, 4th-5th Praggnanandhaa, Vidit 1.5pts, 6th-8th Firouzja, Nakamura, Abasov 1pt.
Round 4 7th April at 19:30BST: Nakamura-Praggnanandhaa, Nepomniachtchi-Vidit, Caruana-Gukesh, Abasov-Firouzja.
Round 3 Summary
Praggnanandhaa recovered from his round 2 loss with a win with the black pieces against Santosh Vidit. Again we saw Praggnanandhaa start mind bending complications but this time he didn't seem to be fighting so much against the position. 15.Bf4?! (15.Bh4) seemed to be the start of black getting the upper hand. The engines don't like Praggnanandhaa's 19...0-0-0 instead suggesting going Kingside for a small edge. White could have been better after 20.Nd5! but instead 20.h4?! was better for black. Black's advantage increased but 27...Rhg8?! gave the chance for equality after 28.Bxc3 bxc3 29.Na3 (strictly the only equaliser), instead 29. Qd4? was played and after the further error 32.b4? (32.Nxb7! keeps white in the game) and Praggnanandhaa converted well.
Alireza Firouzja couldn't break down Fabiano Caruana's rather solid but slightly passive Sicilian setup and after 16.Qd2 d5! black achieved equality and there was a draw by repetition in 38 moves.
Gukesh missed good winning chances against Ian Nepomniachtchi. This was a rather atypical Catalan, Gukesh ended up with the more active position, 25...Bb6 26.Kf2 Bxc5 gave white the two bishops and shortly after that the precise 29.a4 bxa4 30. Rc4 or 30.a4 bxa4 31. Bc4! would have been very strong. White was still better but after the exchange of rooks Nepomniachtchi's life became easier. The players aren't allowed to agree a draw before move 40, they tried, the arbiter stopped them and they got it right the second time around.
Nijat Abasov played an exchange Slav against Hikaru Nakamura both players lost in Round 2 and they didn't seem unhappy to draw today.
| 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 | . | . | . | 1 | . | ½ | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | 2 | 2869 |
| 2. | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | g | RUS | 2758 | ½ | . | * | * | . | . | . | . | . | . | 1 | . | . | . | ½ | . | 2 | 2836 |
| 3. | Caruana, Fabiano | g | USA | 2803 | . | . | . | . | * | * | . | . | . | . | ½ | . | ½ | . | 1 | . | 2 | 2852 |
| 4. | Praggnanandhaa, R | g | IND | 2747 | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | * | * | 1 | . | ½ | . | . | . | . | . | 1½ | 2743 |
| 5. | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | g | IND | 2727 | ½ | . | . | . | . | . | 0 | . | * | * | . | . | 1 | . | . | . | 1½ | 2759 |
| 6. | Firouzja, Alireza | g | FRA | 2760 | . | . | 0 | . | ½ | . | ½ | . | . | . | * | * | . | . | . | . | 1 | 2644 |
| 7. | Nakamura, Hikaru | g | USA | 2789 | . | . | . | . | ½ | . | . | . | 0 | . | . | . | * | * | ½ | . | 1 | 2595 |
| 8. | Abasov, Nijat | g | AZE | 2632 | . | . | ½ | . | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ½ | . | * | * | 1 | 2658 |
| Round 3 (April 6, 2024) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gukesh, D | - Nepomniachtchi, Ian | ½-½ | 40 | E01 | Catalan | |
| Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | - Praggnanandhaa, R | 0-1 | 45 | C70 | Ruy Lopez | |
| Firouzja, Alireza | - Caruana, Fabiano | ½-½ | 38 | B30 | Sicilian Rossolimo | |
| Abasov, Nijat | - Nakamura, Hikaru | ½-½ | 29 | D10 | Slav Defence | |
FIDE World Championship Candidates Round 3
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