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          FIDE Candidates 2024: Nepomniachtchi takes sole lead with only Open win in round 4, Indians suffer mixed bag

          Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia has now taken solo lead of the FIDE Candidates 2024. AFP via Getty Images
          • Anirudh Menon
          Apr 8, 2024, 02:55 AM

          After the fourth round of matches at the 2024 FIDE Candidates tournament, we have now seen a sole leader atop the Open standings, with Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi taking pole position with a win over India's Vidit Gujrathi. In the women's event, China's Zhongyi Tan maintained her position at the top, which she had taken in round 1, with a draw against Russia's Kateryna Lagno.

          Results in round 4 (of 14):

          FIDE Candidates Tournament (Open):

          • Hikaru Nakamura (USA) drew R Praggnanadhaa (IND)

          • Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS) beat Vidit Gujrathi (IND)

          • Fabiano Caruana (USA) drew D Gukesh (IND)

          • Nijat Abasov (AZE) drew Alireza Firouzja

          FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament:

          1. Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS) drew Vaishali R (IND)

          2. Kateryna Lagno (RUS) drew Zhongyi Tan (CHN)

          3. Nurgyul Salimova (BUL) beat Koneru Humpy (IND)

          4. Anna Muzychuk (UKR) drew Lei Tingjie (CHN)

          In the only decisive match of the Open section, Nepomniachtchi's decisive decision to go for the Berlin end-game saw him draw Vidit out for a slug-fest where a costly mistake with the rook (B3, which meant it was trapped between three pieces and taken out of the equation for a while) saw the Indian lose position (and pieces) rather quickly. Vidit's attacking has now seen him involved in three decisive games in a row: but it's also seen him remain joint bottom of the group, despite the superb win against one of the pre-tournament favourites Nakamura. In his post-round analysis for FIDE, former world champion (five-time) Viswanathan Anand called Nepomniachtchi the "perfect blend of opportunistic and well-prepared" and it isn't much of a surprise that the first sole leader of the tournament is the man who's won it the past two times.

          Queen endgame dominated the rest of the matches as both Caruana-Gukesh and Abasov-Firouzja ended in draws with that. The result meant Caruana and Gukesh maintained their level scores against each other in classical chess, this particular match ending after 74 moves.

          Elsewhere, siblings Vaishali and Praggnanadhaa both drew with black, making it two good results before the first rest day of the tournament.

          In the only decisive result of the women's section, Humpy started with all-out aggression but Salimova reacted well (including a move where she protected her King with rook, bishop, knight and queen on all sides). Salimova controlled the centre with a couple of pawns and that led to her winning the game with barely any time remaining on either player's clock (2 mins 13 secs for Humpy, 2 min 45 for Salimova). This is Salimova's first win of the tournament, and Humpy's first loss.

          Meanwhile, sole leader Zhongyi (with black) attacked Lagno from the get-go but the Russian kept her at bay before counterattacking to put her well on top. Towards the end, she had a number of chances to put pressure on the king, but conservative sideways choices saw her cede the advantage and Zhongyi's defending over the last twenty moves emphasised why she's in sole lead. Another player who ceded advantage from a winning position was Muzychuk who had a rook vs Tingjie's two pawns at the end to end with a draw.

          Note - There are five Indians playing the Candidates for the first time, which is a winner-takes-it-all tournament between the top 8 players in the world to decide who will compete in the World Championship match to challenge the reigning world champion.

          Standings after Round 4 (of 14):

          FIDE Candidates Tournament (Open):

          • Nepomniachtchi (3)

          • Caruana, Gukesh (2.5)

          • Praggnanadhaa (2)

          • Nakamura, Absov, Firouzja, Vidit (1.5)

          FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament:

          • Zhongyi (3)

          • Goryachkina (2.5)

          • Lagno, Salimova, Vaishali (2)

          • Muzychuk, Tingjie, Humpy (1.5)

          Schedule

          OPEN CATEGORY

          WOMEN'S CATEGORY