Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi leads at halfway in the €500k Candidates in Toronto, Canada, whose winner qualifies for a world title match later this year with the holder, China’s Ding Liren.
Scores after round seven (of 14): Nepomniachtchi (Russia) 4.5; Fabiano Caruana (US), Praggnanandhaa R and Gukesh D (both India) 4; Hikaru Nakamura (US) and Vidit Gujrathi (India) 3.5; Alireza Firouzja (France) 2.5; Nijat Abasov (Azerbaijan) 2.
Nepomniachtchi, 33, won the last two Candidates but lost the subsequent world championship matches of 2021 to Magnus Carlsen and 2023 to Ding. His overall Candidates record is remarkable – across 35 games the grandmaster from Bryansk has always had a share of the lead, the longest streak in Candidates history. His best game so far has been his subtle endgame against Vidit.
The Indian trio of Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, and Vidit have been the revelation of the tournament. They were regarded as outsiders compared with the experienced Nepomniachtchi or the US’s world Nos 2 and 3, Caruana and Nakamura, but all three have surpassed expectations.
Gukesh, 17, was the co-leader after six rounds, but made a tragic time pressure mistake in round seven, when he blundered into a forced mate against Firouzja. Gukesh’s despair was captured on video. In the game Praggnanandhaa v Gukesh, White sacrificed a knight for a fierce attack, but Gukesh kept his cool, defended in depth and emerged with a win on material.
Praggnanandhaa, 18, has produced impressive opening novelties in almost every game, and had Nepomniachtchi on the brink of defeat in Wednesday’s sixth round. The Indian teenager reeled out a novel sequence against the Russian’s favourite Petroff Defence 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 and was close to victory before missing a hidden winning plan at move 26 (Qe5!).
Praggnanandhaa has the best support of all the players. He is financially backed by the Adani Group, whose head Gautam Adani is the second wealthiest man in India and believes that the 18-year-old will be world champion. Praggnanandhaa’s second in Toronto is the eight-time Russian champion Peter Svidler, and he also has a hotline to Chennai where his longtime coach, Ramachandran Raamesh, is working on his behalf.
The most remarkable game so far has been Nakamura v Vidit. The popular streamer entered it on an unbeaten run of 47 games, but was crushed by a sudden and unexpected early counterattack, the result of deep engine-aided preparation. The shocking opening bomb 13…Bxh3! from the staid Ruy Lopez 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 was the key, which Vidit followed up by chasing the white king across the board, with an elegant knight check as the final coup.
This early defeat rocked Nakamura for the next two rounds, but he recovered to 50% with a victory against Firouzja and he said that it was “a very big win that gives me some hope to try and mount a comeback, to try and play for first place. You have to stay positive.”
Caruana, the top seed, has been below his best and could also have lost to Vidit. He said: “ If I continue to play like this, it’s not like I’ll get lucky every day. So hopefully my play improves.”
The conspicuous failure so far has been Firouzja, who three years ago was chess’s golden boy and Carlsen’s heir apparent, but now languishes on minus two, 2.5/7. His round-seven time pressure escape, when he was down to his last few seconds before Gukesh blundered into checkmate, could spark a revival.
Firouzja’s nadir so far has been round six against Vidit, where his queen grabbed a poisoned pawn, he was forced into passive defence, and he resigned on move 26 with crushing material loss imminent. After the game Vidit surmised that his opponent had been on tilt, and too upset for objective thinking.
For the first time, the women’s Candidates is being held alongside the open event. At halfway after seven rounds, the leaders were Tan Zhongyi (China) 5, Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia) 4,5, Kateryna Lagno (Russia) and Lei Tingjie (China) 4. Tan scored with an imaginative attack against Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk.
For most chess fans following the Candidates, a major question is where to watch the games. There are three main possibilities: the official Fide website, where the former world champion Vishy Anand and the US No 1 woman, Irina Krush, are commentators, Chess24 whose team includes the all-time No 1 woman, Judit Polgar, Peter Leko, and England’s best known commentator David Howell, and Lichess, where England’s Matthew Sadler leads the team.
My recommendation is watch the moves on Lichess, where all four games can be viewed on a single screen. You can click in and out of individual games for a closer look, and view the complete game score so far plus the latest computer assessment and predicted future moves. A separate page has the same full information about the Women’s Candidates.
Then, using a different browser, go to chess24, which has the best commentary team and event presentation. Sadler on Lichess is also insightful and knowledgeable. The Fide site is good, although many viewers prefer the slicker approach of chess24.
3915: 1 Qf4! Resigns. If Qxf4 2 Re8+! Rxe8 3 Nd7 mate. If Qc8 or Rd6 2 Ne6+! wins decisive material.
