FIDE candidates chess-round 4: Gukesh holds top seed Fabiano Caruana, Humpy loses, Pragg holds Nakamura

The biggest upset of the day was Koneru Humpy’s loss to Nurgyul Salimova even as R Vaishali held higher rated Aleksandra Goryachkina to a draw.

Gukesh impressed with his strong display of solid and sound chess to eke out a draw against top seed and favourite Fabiano Caruana of USA in the fourth round of the FIDE Candidates Chess tournament under way in Toronto, Canada.

R Praggnanandhaa also featured in a draw against second seed Hikaru Nakamura of USA while Vidit Santosh Gujrathi crashed to his second successive defeat, against two- time World Championship Challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi.

The biggest upset of the day however was Koneru Humpy’s loss to Nurgyul Salimova even as R Vaishali held higher rated Aleksandra Goryachkina to a draw.

Nepomniachtchi has shot into sole lead with 3 points while Gukesh and Caruana follow half a point behind. Pragg has tallied 2 points even as Nakamura, Nijat Abasov, Vidit and Alireza Firouzja bring up the rear with 1.5 points each. Tomorrow is the first rest day for this eight player Double Round Robin event.

The Women’s section 4th round was more a matter of nerves as Kateryna Lahno and Anna Muzychuk missed victories in promising positions and Humpy overstretching in an equal position.

Tan Zhongyi had a miraculous escape against Lagno and stayed in sole lead with 3 points. Alexandra follows half a point behind and Vaishali, Kateryna and Nurgyul are bunched together with 2 points apiece. Humpy, Anna and Tingjie have scored 1.5 points each.

Nepomniachtchi gunning for his third title on the trot was in splendid form in a Ruy-Lopez game against Vidit and uncorked a novelty on the 12th turn. Vidit wasn’t rattled and appeared fine till the 26th turn when he anchored his rook in enemy territory, a move which literally made the rook useless. Nepomniachtchi then took control of the King-side and centre, exchanged pieces with advantage and marched his centre pawn to the queening square. A couple of inaccuracies and Vidit ended on the losing side after 44 moves.

The Giuoco Piano Opening game between Caruana and Gukesh was an evenly contested one and though Caruana won a pawn on the 26th turn, Gukesh’s dour defence prevented him for capitalising on it.

Caruana holding onto the extra pawn tried to push for victory for 74 moves before signing truce.

In another Ruy-Lopez game, a very short one at that, Nakamura and Pragg quickly belted out the moves to force a draw by repetition of moves on the 24th turn.

Humpy was on the aggressive side with Black pieces against Nurgyul in a Catalan Opening and decided against castling. Opening up the King-side, Humpy tried to build an attack on the King-side by prematurely advancing her pawns and her queen and rook doubling on the open rook file. Nurgyul’s castled King took shelter towards the centre and Humpy’s attack lost the fizz. The exchange of queens on the 27th turn, left Humpy in a worse position and Nurgyul romped home the victor after 62 moves.

Alexandra Goryachkina versus Vaishali tussle in a Queen’s Gambit Declined game was a quiet affair where the players appeared intent more on liquidation. The resultant rook and three pawn each ending had the draw sealed after 40 moves.

Results of Round 4

Hikaru Nakamura (1.5) drew R Praggnanandhaa (2); Ian Nepomniachtchi (3) bt Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (1.5); Fabiano Caruana (2.5) drew D Gukesh (2.5); Abasov Nijat (1.5) drew Alireza Firouzja (1.5)

Women’s Section ;

Aleksandra Goryachkina (2.5) drew R Vaishali (2); NUrgyul Salimova (2) bt Koneru Humpy (1.5); Kateryna Lagno (2) drew Tan Zongyi (3); Anna Muzychuk (1.5) drew Lei Tingjie (1.5)