India’s D Gukesh held top seed and favourite Fabiano Caruana to a draw in Round 4 of the Candidates in Toronto, Canada. While fellow Indian Praggnananandhaa too managed to play out a draw against world No. 3 Hikaru Nakamura. For both the Americans there were revenge storylines at play – Gukesh had defeated Caruana at the 2022 Olympiad and Praggnananandhaa had knocked Nakamura out of last year’s World Cup. It must be said that Nakamura – considered a pre-tournament favourite is yet to find a win in the tournament. He’s had three draws and a loss so far and currently finds himself at the bottom of the standings.
Among the Indian players – 17-year-old Gukesh is the only one who is unbeaten so far in the tournament. Gukesh is the second youngest to play the Candidates after Bobby Fischer.
“It’s a long tournament and with the experience of having played a couple of Candidates generally, you just stay in contention and you’ll get your chances towards the end. So, it didn’t feel like the moment to go crazy,” Nakamura said.
Praggnananandhaa played solidly against Nakamura, thwarting any opportunities the American could have gained from the Ruy Lopez Opening. After their draw, the American remarked that “the future is looking very bright” for the 18-year-old.
Two-time Candidates winner, Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi raced to a sole lead in the standings after his win over India’s Vidit Gujarathi with White. It is Vidit’s second loss in a row in the tournament. Nepomniachtchi appears to thrive at Candidates tournaments and is seen as perhaps the most well-prepared player. In the Berlin Defense Ending, he managed to pose Vidit a lot of questions and though the Indian fought some of them valiantly, was left to face a losing battle against the clock.
The Russian is accompanied by German Jan Gustafsson as his trainer in Toronto. Nepomniachtchi revealed that it’s the second tournament they’re working together after St Louis. Gustafsson was previously part of world No 1 Magnus Carlsen’s World Championship teams in 2016, 2018 and even 2021, in the Norwegian’s match against Nepomniachtchi.
The lowest seed in the women’s section and the sole International Master in the competition, Nurgyul Salimova managed to take down the most experienced name in the field – India’s Koneru Humpy. All the other games in the women’s section ended in draws. On a day the big women’s names seemed to miss opportunities, underdog Salimova drummed up form reminiscent of her dream run at last year’s World Cup.
Round 4 results
Open
Hikaru Nakamura drew Praggnanandhaa R
Ian Nepomniachtchi beatVidit Santosh Gujrathi
Fabiano Caruana drew Gukesh D
Nijat Abasov drew Alireza Firouzja
Women
Kateryna Lagno drew Tan Zhongyi
Nurgyul Salimova beat Humpy Koneru
Aleksandra Goryachkina drew Vaishali Rameshbabu
Anna Muzychuk drew Lei Tingjie
April 8: Rest day
Round 5 pairings
Open
Alireza Firouzja – Hikaru Nakamura
Gukesh D – Nijat Abasov
Vidit Santosh Gujrathi – Fabiano Caruana
Praggnanandhaa R – Ian Nepomniachtchi
Women
Lei Tingjie – Kateryna Lagno
Vaishali Rameshbabu – Anna Muzychuk
Humpy Koneru – Aleksandra Goryachkina
Tan Zhongyi – Nurgyul Salimova
