Ian Nepomniachtchi will greet the weekend of the Candidates Tournament with a great mood and in the status of the sole leader. The Russian grandmaster won two victories with white pieces, and drew the games with black pieces, which allowed him to score three points out of four possible. The second place is shared by the American Fabio Caruana and the Indian Gukesh Dommaraju (2.5 each).
Nepomniachtchi began his campaign for a ticket to the championship match by meeting with the underdog, Nijat Abasov, who occupies 114th place in the world ranking. He got into the tournament thanks to the refusal of Magnus Carlsen, who continues to ignore the fight for the crown, and, of course, his fourth place at the 2023 World Cup.
During the competition in his native Baku, Abasov defeated Anish Giri, among others, and played a similar Queen's Gambit in the Canadian meeting with Nepomniachtchi. The Russian was ready: he strengthened Black's play and gained a slight advantage in the rook ending, but Nijat made a series of precise moves that allowed him to reduce the confrontation to a draw.
The next round, in which Ian played with the French prodigy Alireza Firouzja, turned out to be much more exciting. Until the 16th move, the opponents played the Berlin Defense of the Spanish game, and then Firouzja decided to take the pawn on d3. Thanks to this, White gained the initiative and developed an offensive on the king's side. At the same time, Ian admitted that his specific preparation for the game ended on the 18th move, and then he had to improvise. It turned out well: he drove his opponent into time trouble and celebrated his first victory.
“The tour was very good for us, bloody and spectacular. Ian took reasonable risks and showed a high level under enormous pressure. He received nothing from the opening, but subjectively the position turned out to be to his taste. Firouzja lost the thread of the game, began to play by eye and missed several shots. A direct competitor has been defeated, we can look to the future with confidence,” Vice-President of the Russian Chess Federation Sergei Smagin commented to TASS on the outcome of the game.
Nepomniachtchi's former coach Vladimir Potkin, speaking about the Russian's prospects at the tournament, especially noted the importance of meetings with Indian chess players. According to him, a lot of the determining factor should be whether Yang can pick up the keys to their original game. And so far he is passing this test quite successfully.
In the third round, the domestic grandmaster survived a difficult endgame with Gukesh Dommaraju, playing with black pieces, and in the fourth round he outwitted Gujrati Vidit, again playing the Berlin variation of the Spanish game. On the 12th move, Nepomniachtchi moved his knight to h2, which baffled his opponent. Vidit spent 35 minutes thinking about the next move, but still found an option to level the position. But due to a severe lack of time, the Indian subsequently began to make inaccuracies, and Yan brought the game to victory. In the fifth round, the Russian will play against Rameshbabu Pragnanandha.
The leadership in the candidates' tournament with three points was taken by Chinese Tan Zhongyi. She beat compatriot Lei Tingjie with black and Vaishali Rameshbaba with white. Also, the former owner of the chess crown parted ways with Humpy Koneru and Katerina Lagno, who after four rounds shares third place with Nurgul Salimova (2 points each). Alexandra Goryachkina is in second position with 2.5 points.
The Russians began their performance at the tournament with a game against each other. Lahno used a variation of the Sicilian Defense in it, which was played by her second Andrei Esipenko at the last Grand Swiss, but, having received a fairly promising position, she did not take risks and actually agreed to a draw.
In the remaining three rounds, Ekaterina also earned half a point. But if the draw with Anna Muzychuk turned out to be almost a miracle in an absolutely losing position, then the result of the fourth round meeting with Tan Zhongyi, on the contrary, turned out to be incredibly offensive. The Russian was close to victory, repelling her opponent's attack in the middle of the game and developing an offensive in the center of the board. However, then a series of inaccuracies by Lahno led to the fact that the ex-world champion managed to escape from a seemingly hopeless situation and maintain her lead in the table.
Goryachkina was able to achieve one victory in four games: in the second round she prevailed over Muzychuk. In the Slavic Defense variation, the Russian sacrificed a pawn, gaining a long-term initiative, and the Ukrainian spent too much time searching for moves. As a result, Alexandra won the bishop and successfully converted the advantage.
The meeting between Goryachkina and Lei Tingjie turned out to be interesting, in which the Chinese woman used the rarely used Evans gambit. But the Russian chess player was not at a loss and confidently built her balance. But Alexandra’s game with Vaishali, on the contrary, turned out to be surprisingly calm. It did without surprises or blunders and ended peacefully on the 41st move.
After a day of rest, Goryachkina will play against Koneru, and Lagno will play against Lei Tingjie.