After August 2022, once again D. Gukesh is the talk of the chess world.
Nearly 20 months after turning heads with eight straight victories on the top board of the world’s premier team event, the 17-year-old became the sole leader in the FIDE Candidates 2024 ahead of the final round on Sunday.
Starting the 13th and penultimate round as part of the three-man leaders’ group on Saturday, Gukesh battled back a testing middle-game against a crafty Alireza Firouzja by coming up with some timely defence and then reeled off a series of accurate moves to score an important win and move ahead of Ian Nepomniachtchi and Hikaru Nakamura, who played out a sedate draw.
Gukesh’s victory also pulled Nepomniachtchi from the leader’s pedestal for the first time.
In the last game to finish, top seed Fabiano Caruana ended R. Praggnanandhaa’s resistance in 89 moves late in the sixth hour to join Nepomniachtchi and Nakamura in the second spot.
On the other board that had no bearing on the race for the title, Vidit Gujrathi and Nijat Abasov drew.
The pairings for the last round could not have been better. Gukesh plays black with Nakamura and Caruana faces an unbeaten Nepomniachtchi with white.
A win for Gukesh, against Nakamura, would make him the champion. A draw for Gukesh and the signing of peace between Caruana and Nepomniachtchi would also be enough for the young Indian to emerge as the next challenger.
A draw for Gukesh and a decisive result on the Caruana-Nepomniachtchi board would lead to the tie-break games on Monday to decide the champion.
For Caruana, Nakamura and Nepomniachtchi – ranked 3rd, 4th and 5th in the world – a draw on the final day would mean losing the race to be the next challenger to the World champion Ding Liren. As a result, expect these players to go all-out for a win in the final round.
Gukesh, whose proactive approach with black pieces resulted in victory over Nijat Abasov in the previous round, started rather passively against Firouzja. Soon he came under pressure but his defence stood firm. Once the action shifted to the kingside, Gukesh used his resources better, got all his pieces activated and brought Firouzja under pressure. After the time-control, Gukesh took 16 minutes to make the 41st move but this investment of time proved worth it. His deep calculations proved accurate and he was quick to punish Firouzja’s inaccuracies.
In an endgame involving a rook and a knight and pawns each, Gukesh not only had the advantage of an extra pawn and two connected passed pawns on the queenside but also positionally, Firouzja could not make any progress.
ALSO READ | Gukesh vs Alireza Firouzja, FIDE Chess Candidates 2024: Round 13 match highlights
When the World No. 6 resigned, Gukesh had the added satisfaction of avenging the painful loss suffered in the seventh round. In that game, too, Gukesh reached a winning position with more time on the clock than Firouzja. However, in the scramble that followed, Gukesh erred and handed out Firouzja a fortuitous triumph.
Caruana and Praggnanandhaa were locked in a closed battle with seven pawns each and all but two minor pieces intact into the middle game. Playing black, Caruana managed to get his knight to sneak into the Indian’s territory to gain a rook for the minor piece. The American did not appear to make any headway in the locked position and despite the material advantage, he could not find the breakthrough.
His persistence finally paid off when he saw a plan following the queen-trade and pushed his queenside pawns to eventually break Praggnanandhaa’s resistance. Though the queens returned to the board, Caruana’s victory was never in doubt much before he landed the final blow.
ALSO READ | Vidit Gujrathi vs Nijat Abasov, FIDE Chess Candidates 2024: Round 13 match highlights
The Nepomniachtchi-Nakamura game started off well with the Russian taking his time in the opening phase after facing a surprise choice of line from the American. Soon, it appeared Nakamura had bungled with the move-order and let a promising position turn equal. Soon the players resorted to a three-fold repetition of the moves and agreed to a draw.
The outcome was no different in the game involving Vidit and Abasov. This positional battle, with very few exchanges, saw a log-jam. The players, out of contention for the title, saw no point in continuing their search for a victory and drew by repeating moves.
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