Candidates Chess: Vidit Gujrathi dumps Nakamura; Gukesh downs Praggnanandhaa

Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi crashed through the defences of world number three Hikaru Nakamura of United States while R Praggnanandhaa went down to compatriot D Gukesh in the second round of Candidates chess tournament here After four draws in the first round all the four games in the second round ended decisively on SaturdayTop seed American Fabiano Caruana was impressive in cruising past Nijat Abasov of Azerbaijan and Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi outfoxed Firouza Alireza of France In the womens section R Vaishali went down fighting against Zhongyi Tan of China while Russian Aleksandra Goryachkina proved superior than Ukrainian Anna MuzychukIn the other games in this section Koneru Humpy played out a draw with Kateryna Lagno of Russia and Nurgyul Salimova signed peace with Tinjie Lei of ChinaGujrathi along with Caruana Nepomniachtchi and Gukesh emerged as the early coleaders of the event with 15 points apiece while Nakamura Praggnanandhaa Abasov and Alireza share the fifth spot on half a point eachAlso Read IPL Bhuvneshwar Kumar overtakes Lasith Malinga in wickettaking chartsIn the womens section Tan remained in sole lead with her second victory on the trot and Goryachkina was right behind her just half a point adriftSalimova Humpy and Lagno share the third spot with one point in their bags and Lei Vaishali and Muzychuk share the sixth spot with half a point to their creditA total of 12 rounds still remain in the biggest competition of the year that will decide the challengers for the next world championships matchesFor the second day running Gujrathi stole the show It is clear that the Indian has gotten past his last belowpar performance in the Prague mastersThe Opening choice was a Berlin by Vidit who played his second black in a row Nakamura was facing a finely crafted new idea as early as on move eight and the American was on his own It was just three moves later that Gujrathi stunned his opponent with a Bishop sacrificeAccepting the sacrifice was the best way but Nakamura declined it and his position worsened slowly but surely Vidit launched a king side attack soon and wrapped the issue in just 29 moves for a remarkable triumphGujrathis dominance was certified by Nakamura who was the first to say good game to the Indian Asked about summing up the game the Indian said that it was a day when everything worked for himAlso Read IPL 2024 Surya A ray of hope for Mumbai IndiansYour prep comes in he makes a mistake and you get a brilliant attack cant add much to it he said Praggnanandhaas Catalan opening yielded a decent yet extremely complex position in the opening Gukesh black had to find things on the board and once he steered the game in to unchartered waters Praggnanandhaa was the first to errGukesh could have been on top if he could find the best machinelike moves However that did not happen and it was a wild position on board wherein Praggnanandhaa blundered amidst tactical complications The game lasted 33 moves Caruana opened with the Rossolimo variation against Abasovs Sicilian defense The American got a tangible advantage in the middle game after a dubious pawn sacrifice by Abasov and technical part was handled quite well by the AmericanNepomniachtchi also faced the Berlin defense and parted with a pawn early in the middle game While the compensation remained it was never clear till Alireza failed to find the best continuation in the middle game The Russian who is playing under the FIDE flag pounced on his chances and scored his first victoryIn the womens section Vaishali was outdone by a notsoregular queen pawn opening Playing black the Indian equalized quite easily trading off both Bishops early and slow manoeuvring ensued by both players wherein the Chinese was going after the black kingIt was on the 30th move that Vaishali blundered in her bid to keep the position closed allowing a knights tango that resulted in material loss The Chennaibased player called it a day after 34 movesHumpy did not get any chances as black against Lagno who played solidly in the Ruy Lopez The pieces changed hands quickly and soon the players arrived at a level queen pawns endgame where the draw was a just result and was agreed on move 38Goryachkina capitalized on an optical blunder by Muzychuk who simply was not in her usual self Losing a piece the Ukrainians bid in this encounter ended in just 32 moves Salimove gave nothing away to Tingzie Lei in the Queens gambit accepted game where the Bulgarian played white Going for an early trade of queens the Bulgarian had no troubles maintaining parity till the end The players shook hands after 38 movesResults round 2 Indians unless specifiedIan Nepomniachtchi Fid 15 beat Firouza Alireza 05 Fra R Praggnanandhaa 05 lost to D Gukesh 15 Hikaru Nakamura Usa 05 lost to Vidit Gujrathi 15 Fabiano Caruana Usa 15 beat Nijat Abasov Aze 05Women Zhongyi Tan Chn 2 beat R Vaishali 05 Kateryna Lagno Ukr 1 drew with K Humpy 1 Nurgyul Salimova Bul 1 drew with Tingkjie Lei Chn 05 Aleksandra Goryachkina Fid 15 beat Anna Muzychuk Ukr 05This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever