Candidates Chess, Round 10: D Gukesh maintains joint-lead alongside Ian Nepomniachtchi

All Indian players at the Candidates Chess tournament in Toronto played out draws in the tenth round on Monday. Co-leaders Ian Nepomniachtchi and D Gukesh played out a draw in their game while R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi also saw no winner. Elsewhere, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana won their games to inch closer to the tournament lead.

After 10 rounds, Nepomniachtchi and D Gukesh are in joint lead with six points each with three players a half-point behind: Nakamura, Caruana, and Praggnanandhaa. Gujrathi is sixth with five points. Alireza Firouzia (3.5) and Nijat Abasov are (3) seventh and eighth respectively.

In the women’s section, R Vaishali broke her four game losing streak as she beat Nurgyul Salimova. A recent Grandmaster, she prevailed in a 88-move battle with the black pieces. But she sits bottom of the standings in eighth place with 3.5 points. The other Indian in the women’s draw, Koneru Humpy, played out a draw with Tan Zhongyi.

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Lei Tingjie is at the other end of the standings with four wins in last five games, beating Aleksandra Goryachkina in the latest contst, to go joint-top with Zhongyi. The Chinese grandmasters are a point ahead of their closest competitors, Goryachkina and Kateryna Lagno.

The highlight contest was between Gukesh and Nepomniachtchi with the quest to take sole lead. The Indian played the uncommon Cozio Defense of the Ruy Lopez, a deviation from his usual Berlin. Gukesh, unchallenged, held his own in the 40 move heavy-piece endgame.

“Well, I was Black. He played a solid game and it was a fair result,” said Gukesh after the game.