With the home-stretch in sight, leaders D. Gukesh and Ian Nepomniachtchi played out just the kind of draw expected from the two in-form players in the 10th round of the FIDE Candidates 2024 on Monday in Toronto.
R. Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi gave nothing away before splitting the point in the last of the contests involving two Indians.
HIGHLIGHTS | FIDE CANDIDATES 2024 ROUND 10
After these games, two decisive verdicts saw third-placed Praggnanandhaa have the company of Americans Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura. Top seed Caruana added to the woes of Alireza Firouzja before Nakamura scored over Nijat Abasov.
As things stand, only half-a-point separates the leaders from Praggnanandhaa, Caruana and Nakamura. Action resumes after the rest day on Tuesday.
With four rounds to go, Monday’s results reinforced the ouster of Firouzja and Abasov from the title-race.
The face-off featuring Gukesh and Nepomniachtchi had no twists. Solidity appeared paramount for the contenders in their positional battle that allowed very little room for exciting tactics.
Pieces were traded at regular intervals and that led to an endgame involving a rook and three pawns each. The copybook drawn position came about at the completion of 40 moves and the players shook hands.
Vidit and Praggnanandhaa decided to sign peace after 39 turns by repeating moves. Here, too, regular exchange of pieces took place. But the presence of two rooks, a bishop and seven pawns each presented a logjam, rendering the rooks powerless.
Interestingly, Vidit had a light-squared bishop to Praggnanandhaa’s dark-squared one. If Praggnandhaa kept all seven pawns on the bright squares, all of Vidit’s pawns occupied the dark squares. This left very little chance for anyone to force the issue.
After all three Indians left the playing hall, Americans Caruana and Nakamura expectedly won to keep their chances alive.
Caruana, never worse from the white side against Firouzja, took his time to outplay his struggling rival. A game that witnessed an unusual queen trade spread over five moves, slowly took a decisive turn with Caruana consistently improving his position.
Eventually, Caruana’s extra pawn in an endgame featuring a bishop and pawns each, was always going to be a factor. But Caruana caught Firouzja in a bind that ensured the fall of the French citizen’s pawns. Soon, Firouzja resigned for the fourth time in the competition.
Nakamura exerted ample pressure on Abasov whose defensive resources did not prove adequate on this day. Even the decision to give up a rook for a bishop and pawn did not give Abasov any respite. Nakamura did not let Abasov make much of his double-bishop advantage. He forced the exchange of one of those bishops and advanced his queen-side pawn to inch towards victory. Abasov saw the inevitable and resigned.
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