Candidates Chess: Gukesh becomes joint leader after win over Nijat in fifth round; Praggnanandhaa, Vidit play out draws

India’s chess grandmaster D Gukesh climbed to the number one spot at the 2024 Candidates Chess tournament in Toronto, Canada on Tuesday. He did so after he defeated Azerbaijan Grandmaster Nijat Abasov, with the match lasting almost six hours and took 87 moves to complete. The win took Gukesh to 3.5 points, tied with Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi.

R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi were also in action on Tuesday, against Nepomniachtchi and Fabio Caruana respectively, but the two experienced players held their respective Indian opponents to draws.

Gujrathi had beaten world No 3 Hikaru Nakamura but had suffered consecutive defeats to Praggnanandhaa and Nepomniachtchi in the third and fourth rounds. The draw helped Gujrathi end his two-match losing streak.

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In the women’s category, Anna Muzychuk held R Vaishali to a draw whereas Koneru Humpy also drew her match against Aleksandra Goryachkina. The draw means Vaishali is in fourth place whereas Koneru Humpy is in sixth.  While Gujesh is leading jointly with Ian Nepomniachtchi, R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi are in fourth and sixth place respectively.

Results round 5 (Indians unless specified) 

Men: D Gukesh (3.5) beat Nijat Abasov (Aze, 1.5); Praggnanandhaa (2.5) drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi (FID, 3.5) ; Vidit Gujrathi (2) drew with Fabiano Caruana (3); Alireza Firouza (Fra, 1.5) lost to Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 2.5)

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Women: R Vaishali (2.5) drew with Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 2); Koneru Humpy (2) drew with Aleksandra Goriyatchkina (FID, 3); Tan Zhongyi (Chi, 3.5) drew with Nurgyul Salimova (Bul, 2.5); Le Tingjie (Chi, 2) drew with Katryena Lagno (FID, 2.5)