Chess Candidates 2024, Round 4 Highlights: Gukesh holds Caruana to a draw; Vidit loses to Nepomniachtchi; Pragg, Vaishali games ends in draw; Salimova beats Humpy

And there comes the last result of the round. Anna Muzhychuk agrees to a draw against Lei Tingjie. 

Salimova wins her first game after Humpy resigns. Not a good day for Indians. 

So only two games left in this round. Humpy is still fighting but the game will end anytime soon. Anna Muzhychuk vs Lei Tingjie is ending in a dead draw. 

Lagno also messes up her position by playing an over-ambitious bishop to e5 move and the game ends in a draw. Zhongyi somehow survives and squeezes half a point from this match. 

Oh my god, just as we speak of Anna Muzhychuk, she makes a big mistake and it’s a draw position now. Tingjie marches ahead with her central pawn, while Muzhychuk captures her second pawn.

Looks like, Muzhychuk won’t be able to convert the second winning position in two days. 

Nijat Abasov holds Alireza Firouzja to a draw with white pieces. A third draw for the Azerbaijani in four rounds. 

Draw agreed between Gukesh and Caruana. It will be the Indian who will go back happier after holding the World No. 2 to a confident draw. 

We might get to see three decisive results in the women’s category. Anna Muzhychhuk, who missed out on converting her third-round game into a win is moments away from registering her first win of the tournament against Li Tingjie. 

Caruana is not in the mood to end the game anytime soon. Gukesh is giving perpetual checks to the white king but he needs to be careful as any inaccurate moves would be very costly in this position. 

Here we go, Vidit offers a handshake and the game is over. Nepomniachtchi played a wonderful match and became the sole leader in the open category. 

Salimova has a passer on the g-file with a bishop and rook, while Humpy only has a rook and knight. 

Vidit is still thinking, it’s a matter of time as the Russian is waiting for Vidit to resign. 

The leader in the women’s section, Tan Zhongyi is on the brink of losing her first game of the tournament. Her opponent, Kateryna Lagno, is a pawn up and has her pieces tied up. 

40 moves are up on the Gukesh vs Caruana game. Although the USA GM has an extra pawn, Gukesh has an active queen for compensation. 

The current position looks tough to defend for Humpy against Salimova. She is now two pawns down against the Bulgarian sensation. 

Meanwhile, Gukesh has played a solid game against Caruana. After 38 moves, the Indian youngster still has an incredible accuracy of 99.2. 

The position is practically lost for the Indian GM and the two-time Candidates winner is heading into sole lead of the tournament. 

We have another draw for the day. Vaishali and Goryachkina settle for a draw after an intense battle. Vaishali had her moments, but Goryachkina relied on her experience to get the draw. 

This is Nepomniachtchi’s game to lose now. He has Vidit cornered and struggling with the clock. 

Humpy with an excellent chance to work out a threatening move down the H file. She moves her queen in position. But, Salimova has her bases covered and works out an escape route. 

We have the first result of the day. Hikaru Nakamura and R Praggnanandhaa settle for a draw after a three-fold repetition. Good point for the Indian, considering he was with the black pieces. 

Vidit attacks the b2 pawn with his rook. This could be the move which will open up the game. But Vidit blunders with an Rb3 move, handing the initiative to Nepo. 

Pragg races his rook to a2, putting Nakamura’s pawn under pressure. That was not a move many expected Pragg to make there. But he is in possession of a minor advantage as per chess.com’s engine. 

Vidit under a serious time crunch against Nepo. Just over 30 minutes on the clock for the Indian. Vidit now puts Nepo’s knight under pressure with a bishop. But the Russian has it covered. 

Caruana continues to hold an ever so slight edge after his 19th move. Gukesh though is still in this game and will look to take it deep. 

Praggnanandhaa offers a rook trade. Nakamura takes his time, considering options. There is also a bishop trade on the table. Which one does the American choose?

Humpy cracks open the h file by trading a pawn. But Salimova does well to prevent Humpy from lining up reinforcements down the flank. Less than an hour on the clock for both. 

Both Vidit and Nepo inch their kings forward in anticipation of an impending attack from the rival flank. 

Humpy continues her aggressive push. She trades a knight for a knight and now has two pawns in Salimova’s half of the board. The Bulgarian is also starting to feel the pinch of the clock. Under one hour on it now.

Gukesh is set in his defence and now it is Caruana’s turn to run down the clock a bit. 15 minutes and running as the American ponders his 14th move. 

Vaishali pushes hard against Goryachkina. She has her bishop and queen lineup towards Goryachkina’s king-side defence. The Russian GM brings her knight into play.

After castling to the short side, Praggnanandhaa too takes his time calculating his next move against Hikaru Nakamura. The American has had a stuttering start to the tournament, crashing to a defeat to Vidit in Round 2, before settling for a draw in Round 3 against Abasov. 

With Vidit taking his sweet time, Nepomniachtchi has gone for a stroll. Vidit has been sitting on move 12 for more than 25 minutes. 

Catalan Opening (Closed) in the Humpy vs Salimova match. Evenly balanced so far as the experience Indian GM looks to make a breakthrough. Three draws in three matches for Humpy. She will be keen to get a win today. 

Vaishali with the early initiative against Goryachkina. The Indian takes the match into a Tarrasch Defense formation. 

A flurry of activiry early on in the Vidit vs Nepomniachtchi board. Nepomniachtchi castles early to the short side, before sacrificing his bishop for a knight and then exchanging queens. Berlin Defence game developing here, with Nepomniachtchi holding a slight edge. 

Ruy Lopez opening in Pragg vs Nakamura board. The Indian prodigy will be looking to keep the momentum going, having been the only player to win a game in round three in the men’s category. 

Nakamura soon castles to the short side. 

Standard Italian Game opening in the Gukesh vs Caruana encounter. Giuoco Pianissimo Variation of the opening now. Caruana soon castles to the short side to solidify his defence. 

OPEN

1. D Gukesh (IND) - 2.0

2. Fabiano Caruana (USA) - 2.0

3. Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS) - 2.0

4. Vidit Gujrathi (IND) - 1.5

5. R Praggnanandhaa (IND) - 1.5

6. Alireza Firouzja (FRA) - 1.0

7. Hikaru Nakamura (USA) - 1.0 

8. Nijat Abasov (AZE) - 1.0

WOMEN’S

1. Tan Zhongyi (CHN) - 2.5

2. Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS) - 2.0

3. Koneru Humpy (IND) - 1.5

4. Kateryna Lagno (RUS) - 1.5 

5. R Vaishali - 1.5

6. Lei Tingjie - 1.0

7. Anna Muzychuk (UKR) - 1.0 

8. Nurgyul Salimova (BUL) - 1.0 

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. 

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.

​

Chess Candidates 2024 Highlights, Round 3: Pragg beats Vidit; Gukesh gains a draw; Humpy draws vs Zhongyi; Vaishali wins

Candidates 2024 Highlights: Get all the highlights, analysis and commentary of round three of the FIDE Candidates 2024, happening in Toronto.

Open

R. Praggnanandhaa - Hikaru Nakamura

Alireza Firouzja - Nijat Abasov

Fabiano Caruana - D Gukesh 

Vidit Gujrathi- Ian Nepomniachtchi 

Women’s

Nurgyul Salimova - Humpy Koneru

Aleksandra Goryachkina vs Vaishali Rameshbabu

Anna Muzychuk - Lei Tingjie 

Kateryna Lagno- Tan Zhongyi

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 Blog of the fourth round of the FIDE Candidates 2024, happening at the Great Hall in Toronto, Canada on April 8, Monday (IST). Stay tuned as we bring you all the live action.