As at Wednesday last, after six rounds in the 2024 FIDE World Champion-ship Candidates Chess Tournaments, 17-year-old Indian grandmaster Dommaraju Gukesh and Tan Zhongyi of China had taken the lead, but the race remained wide open.
The 14-round tournaments, currently being held in Toronto, Canada, will identify two challengers for the men and women’s world championships. Any of the seven contestants can win the Men’s Open because their Elo FIDE ratings are about equally balanced. The world’s No 1 chess player, Norway’s Magnus Carlsen favoured the Americans Fabiano Caruana and Hikuru Nakamura to win the tournament. So far Caruana had not lost a game and was a half point behind the co-leaders, Gukesh and the Russian grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi. Nakamura lost to another Indian grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi and is way down in the ranking.
In the women’s section, Tan Zhongyi had a half point lead over her nearest rival Aleksandra Goryachkina. After round six, Tan had accumulated a total of 4.5 points to Aleksandra’s four.
Chess game
White: Vidit Santosh Gujrathi
Black: Ramesbabu Praggnanandhaa
Event: 2024 World Championship Candidates Tournament, Toronto, Canada, April 6.
Type of Game: Spanish Game, Morphy Defence
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 f5 5. d4 exd4 6. e5 b5 7. Bb3 Na5 8. Nxd4 Bb7 9. Nxf5 Nxb3 10. axb3 d6 11. Qe2 Qd7 12. e6 Qc6 13. Bg5 g6 14. Ne3 h6 15. Bf4 Ne7 16. c4 b4
17. Qg4 Qc5 18. O-O Bg7 19. Nd2 O-O-O 20. h4 Rde8 21. Rad1 Bxb2 22. Nd5 Nxd5
23. cxd5 Bxd5 24. e7+ Kb8 25. Be3 Qb5 26. Nc4 Bc3 27. Bd4 Rhg8 28. Bxc3 bxc3 29. Qd4 Bb7 30. Qxc3 Rxe7 31. Na5 Re5 32. b4 g5 33. h5 g4 34. Rfe1 g3 35. Nxb7 gxf2+ 36. Kxf2 Qxb7 37. Qf3 Reg5 38. Qxb7+ Kxb7 39. g4 Rxg4 40. Re6 Rh4 41. Rxh6 Rg5 42. Rh7 Rhxh5 43. Rd7 Kc8 44. Re7 Re5 45. Rg7 Rhf5+ 0-1. White resigns.
