GM Vidit Gujarathi stuns World no 3 GM Hikaru Nakamura: GM D Gukesh maintains joint lead at Candidates 2024:Round 9 report

The only decisive game in the Open Section was of GM Vidit Gujarathi against GM Hikaru Nakamura. It was a trendy Italian game with early 6. g5 by Nakamura and reached a fine position but as per Vidit it was the move 15^th  Nh4 by Nakamura which he did not like or was rather inaccurate followed by more inaccuracies In the game by Black. In the post conference Nakamura said he consumed a lot of time and didn’t choose the accurate moves. This is the second time in the tournament where GM Vidit Gujarathi gets better of World no 3 and when ask to Vidit he exclaimed my 2 best games in the tournament is against Hikaru. “GM Vidit won a game after loosing to the counter part GM D Gukesh in Round  8 and he gave all the credits to his team for the solid preparation and motivating him to make a come back”.

Mr Consistent GM Gukesh, after making a come back from a loss in Round 7, he has been playing solid Chess and maintains his Joint lead with GM Ian Nepomniachchti. His game with GM R Praggnanandha was played quite accurately and hardly there were any chances for a result in the game. Same was the case with GM Fabiano Caruana and GM Abasov which led to a draw. GM R Praggananandha is still Half a point behind the leader and going to face his counter part GM Vidit Gujarathi in the next round.

But as of now Favorite of the tournament GM Ian Nepomniachchti is the only player who is undefeated in the event. Although he was in trouble in Round no 9 against GM Alireza Firouza but he is defense it let to be cracked in the event. GM Vishy Anand while commentating said he Is defending way easily, he was in trouble but it didn’t look like he was in trouble he looked like defense was way easy and signed the peace treaty with Alireza Firouza.

In the Womens section the game between GM Koneru Humpy and GM Kateryna Lagno was a long positional battle with out any chances in the game which ended in a draw. The only result which came in that section was a quick game between GM Tan Zhongyi and GM R Vaishali were Tan got better of her. GM Vaishali blundered on 18^th move c5 and the game was over on 21^st move. GM Tan Zhongyi is the sole leader in womens section after scoring 6/9.

With 4 rounds to go tournament is still wide open in both the section.

Standings after Round 9:

Open:

1-2. Gukesh, Nepomniachtchi – 5½
3. Praggnanandhaa – 5
4-6. Caruana, Nakamura, Vidit – 4½
7. Firouzja – 3½
8. Abasov – 3

Women’s:

1. Tan – 6
2-3. Goryachkina, Lei  – 5½
4. Lagno – 5
5-6. Koneru, Salimova – 4
7. A. Muzychuk – 3½
8. Vaishali – 2½

Today’s round 10  will begin at 12:00 AM IST. Its an interesting day in the field as GM D Gukesh take on GM Ian Nepo today.

Open:

Nakamura – Abasov
Caruana – Firouzja
Nepomniachtchi – Gukesh
Praggnanandhaa – Vidit

Women’s:

Lagno – A. Muzychuk
Goryachkina – Lei
Salimova – Vaishali
Tan – Koneru