Chess Candidates 2024, Round 1 Highlights: Praggnanandhaa-Firouzja; Vaishali-Humpy, Vidit-Gukesh all end in draw

The only decisive result of the day came from the all-Chinese clash between Li Tingjie and Tan Zhongyi. The latter converted a beautiful endgame to win with black pieces.

We will get the first result very soon as Tan Zhongyi is just moments away from sealing her game against Li Tingjie. 

There comes the customary handshake after the match. Pragg holds Firouzja to a draw. 

The last game in the open category between India’s R. Praggnanadhaa and Alireza Firouzja has also ended in a draw! A very complex position simplified eventually as all five Indians take half a point from round one. 

The heavyweight clash between tournament favourites Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura has ended in a draw! The draw came by mutual agreement on the 41st move. 

In the all-Chinese battle between Tan Zhongyi and Li Tingjie, the former is crushing the latter and we may get to see the first decisive result there! 

Both Pragg and Hikaru have 16 minutes on the clock while their opponents, Firouzja and Caruana have four minutes each in a complex position. Mind you, 30 additional minutes come with 30 seconds increment per move after move 40 for the open category. 

Vaishali navigates through big time scare and somehow manages to draw her game against experienced Koneru Humpy. Both all-Indian games have ended in a draw! 

Here we go, another result! Anna Muzychuk and Nurgyul Salimova have also ended their game in repetition. The rook checks the king, the king moves, the rook checks the king again and it is a perpetual draw. 

The first result has come up in the women’s category. In the all-Russian battle, Kateryna Lagno draws her game with Aleksandra Goryachkina with repetition under 40 moves. All three games have ended in a draw till now. 

Now Alireza Firouzja is low on clock vs Pragg. He took over 16 minutes to play his 26th move, king to g3 and now has only 13 minutes left while Pragg has over half an hour left. 

Vaishali has now just under a minute left on her clock. Very interesting to see how she navigates through 17 more moves before 30 minutes of time addition. 

Although the position is objectively equal and both women’s category has 30-second increment per move, R. Vaishali seems to be in huge time trouble. She has only 3 minutes on the clock and is only halfway (20 moves) through the game until they get 30 additional minutes. 

The position is like this after the 23rd move. 

Hikaru took 20 minutes and 10 seconds to play his 22nd move -- bishop to a3 which according to an inaccuracy according to the engines. After rook takes pawn, rook takes pawn from both players, the engines prefer Fabiano Caruana’s position. 

The moment when Vidit informed the arbiter about the repeated moves. 

A big result coming up, Vidit draws with Gukesh with repetition. Gukesh finds the only move, bishop c3 and after Vidit’s queen to a3, both players repeat the moves. 

Vidit took 40 minutes to play his bishop to g4! He is sacrificing his bishop but don’t be fooled by this move. If the white in this position takes the bishop with his pawn at f3, the black’s rook at f8 will jump to c8, attacking the white’s queen and as soon as he moves his queen away he will lose his rook at d2! A bit complicated to understand but what else were you expecting from two super GMs. 

The first result of Round 1 is here, Nepomniachtchi and Abasov’s game ended in a draw by threefold repetition. 

Abasov has a doubled pawn on the b file, whereas Nepomniachtchi has a passer in a pawn. Abasov, who has offered a rook exchange will have to manouvre carefully if he wants half a point from this game. 

The Frenchman, Alireza played exf6 -- En Passant and took nearly 20 minutes to play his next move, pawn push at f4 which now gives both Pragg and Alireza equal time on the board. 

Okay, so we’re clear-cut into the endgame in the Nepomniachtchi vs Abasov game. We have a rook left on the board from both sides with few pawns which means the game is ending towards a predictable draw. 

Two-time Candidates winner, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Nijat Abasov is going to an endgame. They have exchanged three pawns, a pair of bishop and knight and queens are also off the board!

Five-time Candidates player Fabi is down to 57 minutes vs compatriot Nakamura, who has over 1 hr 30 mins on the board. 

Despite trailing Nakamura by more than 30 minutes, Caruana has already spent more than eight minutes on his next move. 

Finally, Caruana makes a move. Pushes his queen to b7. 

Another e4-e5 start but Humpy and Vaishali go for an Italian opening with bishops to c4 and c5. 

Abasov puts his Queen up on offer for Nepomniachtchi. The Azerbaijan GM is a bit under the pump against Nepomniachtchi. 

Want to know more about the opening in played in the Alireza vs Pragg game -- Ruy Lopez: Morphy Variation? 

By far the most commonly played Black third move in the Ruy Lopez game is the Morphy variation, 3...a6, which “puts the question” to the white bishop. Although 3...a6 was known earlier, it became popular after it was played by world champion Paul Morphy. White has only two good options, 4. Bxc6 or 4. Ba4. The main point to 3...a6 is that after the common retreat 4.Ba4, Black will have the possibility of breaking the pin on his queen knight by playing ...b5. In fact, White must take some care to not fall into the Noah’s Ark Trap in which Black traps White’s king bishop on the b3-square with a ...a6, ...b5, and ...c4 pawn advance on the queenside.

-Lichess

The Frenchman seems to be still in his opening preparation. He had 1 hr 55 minutes on the board before Pragg played his queen to h4 for which he took over 14 minutes. 

Firouzja’s bishop to b5 and Pragg’s a6 makes this a Ruy Lopez opening

It’s e4-e5 start in the Alireza Firouzja vs Praggnanandhaa match. 

After Vidit’s c5 move, the queen’s gambit declined version changes to Tarrasch defense. 

Gukesh starts with queen pawn 1.d4 move from while. Vidit plays central his pawn to d5. 

We are moments away from the live action.

The prize money for the open category is €48,000 (INR 43.48 Lakh) for first place, €36,000 for second place, and €24,000 for third place (with players on the same number of points sharing prize money, irrespective of tie-breaks), plus €3,500 per half-point for every player, for a total prize pool of €500,000.

In the women’s candidates, the prize money is half that of the open category, with the winner getting €24,000, €18,000 for second place, and €12,000 for third place.

In addition, €1,750 per half-point for every player, for a total prize pool of €250,000.

The time control for the open category is 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game, plus a 30-second increment per move starting from move 41.

For the women’s category, it is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game, plus a 30-second increment per move starting from move one.

Both the Candidates and the Women’s Candidates are a double round-robin tournament with each player playing the rest of the field twice in a total of 14 rounds.

Players get 1 point for a win, ½ point for a draw and 0 points for a loss.

Kateryna Lagno (FIDE, 2542) – qualified as the 2022−23 Women’s Grand Prix winner.

Aleksandra Goryachkina (FIDE, 2553) – qualified as the 2022−23 Women’s Grand Prix runner-up.

Nurgyul Salimova (Bulgaria, 2426) – qualified as the 2023 Women’s World Cup runner-up.

Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine, 2520) – qualified as the third-place finisher at the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

Vaishali R (India, 2481) – qualified as the 2023 Women’s Grand Swiss winner.

Tan Zhongyi (China, 2521) – qualified as the 2023 Women’s Grand Swiss runner-up.

Humpy Koneru (India, 2546) – qualified as the best by rating on January 1, 2024. The rating spot became available as a replacement for the Women’s World Cup winner, since Goryachkina had already qualified through the WGP.

Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE, 2758) – qualified as the previous World Championship match runner-up.

Praggnanandhaa R (India, 2747) – qualified as the 2023 World Cup runner-up. 

Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2804) – qualified as the third-place finisher at the 2023 World Cup. 

Nijat Abasov (Azerbaijan, 2632) – qualified as the fourth-place finisher at the 2023 World Cup after the winner, Magnus Carlsen, declined his right to participate. 

Vidit Gujrathi (India, 2747) – qualified as the 2023 Grand Swiss winner. 

Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 2789) – qualified as the 2023 Grand Swiss runner-up. 

Alireza Firouzja (France, 2760) – qualified as the best by rating on January 1, 2024. 

Gukesh D (India, 2747) – qualified as the 2023 FIDE Circuit winner.

Open Category:

Fabiano Caruana vs. Hikaru Nakamura 

Nijat Abasov vs. Ian Nepomniachtchi 

Alireza Firouzja vs. Praggnanandhaa R 

Gukesh D vs. Vidit Gujrathi 

Women’s Category:

Aleksandra Goryachkina vs. Kateryna Lagno 

Anna Muzychuk vs. Nurgyul Salimova 

Lei Tingjie vs. Tan Zhongyi 

Vaishali R vs. Humpy Koneru

Open Category: Ian Nepomniachtchi, Fabiano Caruana, Alireza Firouzja, Hikaru Nakamura, Nijat Abasov, Vidit Gujrathi, R. Praggnanandhaa, D. Gukesh

Women’s Category: Lei Tingjie, Kateryna Lagno, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Anna Muzychuk, Nurgyul Salimova, Tan Zhongyi, R. Vaishali, Koneru Humpy

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.

Hello and welcome to Sportstar’s Live coverage of the first round of the FIDE Candidates 2024, happening in Toronto, Canada on April 5, Friday (India).