In the Candidates Chess Tournament, India’s D. Gukesh produced another brilliant victory in the 12th round, defeating the bottom-placed Nijat Abasov at the Great Hall in Toronto, Canada. Gukesh now jointly leads the points table of the Open section at 7.5 points, along with Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi and the American Hikaru Nakamura, and set up an exciting finale with two more rounds to go.
Another Indian R. Praggnanandhaa’s draw against the unbeaten Nepomniachtchi also helped the 17-year-old Gukesh to reach the top of the table. Despite playing with white, Nepomniachtchi took no chances against Praggnanandhaa, which resulted in a dead draw.
In other matches, Nakamura beat Alireza Firouzja for the second time in the competition while, another Indian, Vidit Gujrathi was unable to withstand the pressure applied by Fabiano Caruana.
With two rounds remaining, only four players- Gukesh, Nepomniachtchi, Nakamura and the fourth-placed Caruana have a chance to win the event.
All the Indians in action in round 13 will be operating with white pieces.
In the women’s 12th rounds, India’s R.Vaishali made it back-to-back wins, after defeating Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine, while her fellow Indian Koneru Humpy finished with a draw against Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia. Humpy at six points stands fifth in the points table, while Vaishali at 5.5 points comes in next. Zhongyi Tan of China is in the front on eight points and her compatriot Tingjie Lei, who is a half point behind.
The Candidates Tournament is organized by chess’s international governing body, FIDE, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The winner of the double round-robin event earns the right to a match for the World Championship against the incumbent world champion. The current world champions are Ding Liren in the Open section and Ju Wenjun in the women’s category, both from China.
