Chess Candidates 2024, Round 13 Highlights: Gukesh beats Firouzja to become sole leader; Vaishali wins vs Tingjie; Pragg loses to Caruana; Vidit, Humpy games end in draw

Open 

Ian Nepomniachtchi 0.5-0.5 Hikaru Nakamura 

Praggnanandhaa R 0-1 Fabiano Caruana 

Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 0.5-0.5 Nijat Abasov 

Gukesh D 1-0 Alireza Firouzja 

Women’s

Nurgyul Salimova 0.5-0.5 Kateryna Lagno 

Tan Zhongyi 0.5-0.5 Aleksandra Goryachkina 

Humpy Koneru 0.5-0.5 Anna Muzychuk 

Vaishali Rameshbabu 1-0 Lei Tingjie

Praggnanandhaa folds against Caruana as the American wins it on-demand. We are going to have an exciting last round tomorrow. 

Pragg is on the verge of losing his game against Caruana which means it’ll be a three-way tie for the second position behind Gukesh. 

Alireza Firouzja folds as Gukesh moves into the sole lead! What a performer! The 17-year-old, second youngest Candidate is taking big steps to become the youngest world champion!

Resign time! 

Alireza Firouzja is in a completely worse position after his knight-to-C2 move. 

Big news! Vaishali grinds her way to beat Lei Tingjie with white pieces! She grabs her fourth straight win after losing four in a row. What a brilliant turnaround from her. 

Praggnanandhaa is under tremendous pressure against Caruana who looks well in course to go on level terms with Nepo and Nakamura. 

Gukesh accepts the the queen’s trade and the game has headed for a rook knight endgame. 

Nurgyul Salimova and Kateryna Lagno settle for a draw. 

Gukesh did not make the best possible move but Firouzja offered a queen trade which further messed up his position. This looks very promising for Gukesh. 

Gukesh and Firouzja traded one rook before the latter made an inaccuracy on the 43rd move. 

Wait what? Gukesh takes a U-turn! He moves his queen to h4 denying to claim a draw. The 17-year-old is playing for a win here. 

Gukesh has repeated twice after thinking for nearly 20 minutes. Is he going for a draw? 

Position after the 40th move in the Gukesh vs Firoujza board:

A slight positional advantage for Fabiano Caruana against Praggnanandhaa. It is a must-win game for the American to stay in the hunt for the first place. 

Humpy and Anna Muzychuk shakes hand. Draw it is for the Indian. 

Firozuja has only 2 minutes 30 seconds and he needs to make four important moves to reach the 40th move. Can Gukesh get a break here?

Tingjie exchanges one rook against Vaishali and both players have made it to 40 moves with the position still staying equal. 

The little manoeuvres from Gukesh forced Firouzja to think deeply about the position and the Frenchman made sure that the Indian thrives in time advantage. Gukesh has a 10-minute time advantage now. 

In the women’s category, the game between Lei Tingjie and Vaishali is at a very crucial juncture. The Indian has lost her edge but both players have under a minute and they have to make eight more moves to reach the 40th move. 

Gukesh might be feeling the heat against the Frenchman as white is eyeing to attack black’s king which looks a bit weak at this position. 

Handshakes in the Hikaru vs Nepo game as both players continue to stay on top with 8.0 points each. 

Vidit Gujrathi and Nijat Abasov share points after a hard-fought battle. 

Caruana slowly getting into this game against Praggnanandhaa. A win is essential for Caruana to stay relevant in the title race. 

A mistake from Firouzja allows Gukesh to regain a tiny bit of an advantage in the game. 

Early draw. Zhongyi and Goryachkina settle for a draw and that takes the Chinese to 8.5 points. Only Tingjie can possibly reach there now. The Women’s World Championship will remain in China. 

Both Humpy and Muzychuk are nearly level on time and there is close to nothing to separate the two on board. 18 moves done. 

Vidit’s time struggle continue. He now trails Abasov by nearly an hour. His position on the board also doesn’t evoke much confidence. 

Vaishali seems to be continuing her golden touch as she puts herself in a pretty strong position against Tingjie. +1.46 advantage for the Indian as per the Stockfish eval bar. 

Gukesh takes his time with move 14 against Firouzja. The game is evenly balanced so far.

Nepo sacrifices a pawn to gain a better position on the board. The eval bar projects a +1.36 advantage for the Russian, who though trails by 20 minutes. 

Praggnanandhaa puts up his knight for a trade against Caruana’s bishop. 

Vidit has once again splurged a significant amount of his time on an early move. Abasov now has a 30 minutes plus advantage on the clock. 

Opening - Sicilian Defense: Canal Attack

Aggressive start from Vaishali as she takes the attack to Tingjie with a bishop check. 

Opening - Queen’s Gambit Declined

Humpy on the offence early on as she initiates double-fold attack with her queen and bishop. 

Opening - Ruy López Opening: Berlin Defense

Gukesh and Firouzja trade knights early as the former castles to the short side. 

Opening - Petrov’s Defense. 

Vidit is early to castle. Short side it is. Abasov brings out his bishop to prepare for a castle for himself. 

Opening - Sicilian Defense. 

Quickfire opening as Praggnanandhaa and Caruana races through seven moves. 

And we are off. The penultimate round of the FIDE Candidates tournament is on. 

So if you don’t know, there is a 15-minute delay in all the official broadcasts of the games to ensure anti-cheating measures. The live board will be activated at 12:15 IST

Where to watch the live stream of the Candidates 2024 chess?

The live streaming of the Candidates 2024 will be available on the FIDE YouTube channel.

Which TV channel will broadcast the Candidates 2024 chess?

There has been no official announcement for the broadcasting of the Candidates 2024 in India.

1. Tan Zhongyi (CHN) - 8.0

2. Lei Tingjie (CHN) - 7.5

3. Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS) - 6.0

4. Koneru Humpy (IND) - 6.0

5. Kateryna Lagno (RUS) - 6.0

6. R. Vaishali (IND) - 5.5

7. Anna Muzychuk (UKR) - 4.5

8. Nurgyul Salimova (BUL) - 4.5

1. Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS) - 7.5

2. Hikaru Nakamura (USA) - 7.5

3. D Gukesh (IND) - 7.5

4. Fabiano Caruana (USA) - 7.0

5. R Praggnanandhaa (IND) - 6.0

6. Vidit Gujrathi (IND) - 5.0

7. Alireza Firouzja (FRA) - 4.5

8. Nijat Abasov (AZE) - 3.0

Open

Hikaru Nakamura - Ian Nepomniachtchi

Alireza Firouzja - Gukesh D

Nijat Abasov - Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 

Fabiano Caruana - Praggnanandhaa R 

Women’s

Anna Muzychuk - Humpy Koneru

Vaishali Rameshbabu - Lei Tingjie

Aleksandra Goryachkina - Tan Zhongyi 

Nurgyul Salimova - Kateryna Lagno

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