Indian grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa came up with a spectacular game to down compatriot Vidit Gujrathi in the third round of the Candidates Chess tournament in Toronto. (More Sports News)
It turned out to be a satisfying day for the only sibling to make to the Candidates ever as R Vaishali also scored her first victory in the event at the expense of Nurgyul Salimova of Bulgaria in what was also the lone decisive game in the Women’s🅘 section.
In the men’s section, D Gukesh tried to make some headways but could not really dent the solid defences o🐭f Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia, while Frenchman Firouza Alireza’s extra pawn came to a naught against top seed Fabiano Caruana of United States.
The 🏅other American Hikaru Nakamura, however, had no difficulty in getting an easy draw as black against Nijat Abasov of Azerbaijan.
In the women section, Koneru Humpy played out 🌳an easy draw with white against Zhongyi Tan, Tinjie Lei of China signed peace with Aleksandra Goryachki꧒na of Russia, while the other Russian Kateryna Lagno split the point with Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine.
With 11 rounds still to come in both eight-players double round-r🐬obin tournament, Caruana, Gukesh and Nepom✅niachtchi share the lead on two points apiece in the men’s section.
They are now followed by Gujrathi and Praggnanandhaa on 1.5 points each. Nakamura, Alireza and Abasov ꦗcomplete the line up another half point behind.
In the women’s eve👍nt, Zhongyi Tan with two points remained a half point clear of nearest rival Goryachkina with♐ Humpy, Vaishali, Lagno on their toes with 1.5 points each.
Lei, Muzychuk and Salimova share the sixth spot with one point each in thei♛r kitty.
Praggnanandhaa chose an accelerated Schielmann defence out of a Ruy Lopez that is seldom seen in top GM games. Pragg, as he is fondly called, is known to spring su﷽rprises beyond imagination of his opponent, and Gujrathi realized this very early in the opening.
That Gujra♍thi was obviously in for a long grinding game as his first white after a brilliant start was visible as he spent a lot of time in the opening but then the complications were clearly above the human mind.
The game fluctuated in the early middle game between an equal position an🐲d sometimes favour🍸ing Gujrathi but it was not easy to find all the best moves every time he was posed a question.
In the end Gujrathi was left to play 11 moves in about five minutes with the position not favouring him and as is often the case, the tic🐼king away clock took its toll on the Indian.
Praggnandhaa quickly landed himself with a winning rook and pa꧑wns endgame and there was no hopes left soon for Gujrathi. The game lasted 45 moves.
"I saw that I could make a draw through perpetual checks on move 𓆉11 but believed my position to be better," Gujrathi🌺 said after the game.
"I was not too sure in the opening as I could not remember the preparation, but I thi🅺nk black was fine," Praggnanandhaa opined.
Gukesh was caught a bit-off-guard in a Queen pawn game playing white. It was a symmetrical st💜ructure in the ensuing middle game after the queens got traded early and Nepomniachtchi kept the balanc𒁏e despite being on the defensive.
In the end, Gukesh had two Bishops but black wa𒁏s simply too𒆙 solid to make a decisive headway.
Alireza started off with the King pawn and had some pressure to boast off. However💙 Caruana’s 16th move cleared the centre and left little scope and subsequent exchanges led to a drawn🤪 minor pieces endgame.
Arriving here with a l🔜eg injury, Abasov conceded that he was not feeling too well during the game against Nakamura. The American was however happy to equalize in the Slav exchange and the result was a dull draw after 29 m🌄oves.
Vaishali and Pragg have started with the exact same three results in the first rounds of their respective event🅷s: a draw, a loss and a win. After the family had a tough day in the second round following losses against Gukesh D and Tan Zhon༒gyi, Vaishali also bounced back with a fine win.
Nurgyul Salimova could not match the skillful play by Vaiꦑshali in a confrontation between the two ಞyoungest and the two lowest-rated participants in the event.
Vaishali got an advantage on theꦐ clock by♈ deviating in the Petroff defense. Salimova faltered decisively on move 16 after the Indian sacrificed a Knight, and Vaishali had little troubles converting in to a full point in 33-moves.
Zhongyi Tan settled for her first draw in the tournament against Humpy. The Queen pawn opening gave black little troubles, thanks to some deep ♈preparation and Humpy could only find passage to equality with regular exchanges leading to a drawn rook and pawns endgame.
Results round 3 (Indians unless specified): Vidit Gujrathi (1.5) lost tꦫo R Praggnanandhaa (1.5); D Gukꦍesh (2) drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi (Fid, 2); Nijat Abasov (Aze, 1) drew with Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 1); Firouza Alireza (Fra, 1) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 2).
Women: R Vaishali (1.5) beat Nurgyul Salim꧋ova (Bul, 1); Koneru Humpy (1.5) drew with Zhongyi Tan (Chn, 2.5); Tingjie Lei (Chn, 1) drew with Aleksandra Goryachkina (Fid, 2); Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 1) drew with Kateryna Lagno (Fid, 1.5).
