Vidit Gujrathi shocks second seed Hiraku Nakamura, Gukesh beats Praggnanandhaa

All the four boards were on fire with decisive results in an action packed second round of the FIDE Candidates Chess tournament being played at Toronto, Canada.

Vidit Santosh Gujrathi playing with Black pieces pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament so far by shocking second seed Hikaru Nakamura of USA, currently ranked third in the World while in an all- Indian affair featuring prodigies, D Gukesh got the better of R Praggnanandhaa.

Fabiano Caruana, the top seed expectedly scored over Nijat Abasov but not as easily as he would have liked while Ian Nepomniatchi got the better of Alireza Firouzja in another crucial encounter.

In the women’s section Koneru Humpy eked out a draw against Kateryna Lagno while R Vaishali was on the losing end against Tan Zhongyi, who incidentally scored her second victory on the trot. Aleksandra Goryachkina defeated Anna Muzychuk even as Nurgyul Salimova and Tingjie Lei game petered into a draw.

Incidentally Vidit also broke Nakamura’s 47 game unbeaten streak in classical chess and a point to ponder was Vidit appeared to be in his home preparation for most part of the game. The Pragg versus Gukesh encounter was an engrossing one where the contrasting style of both players were in vivid display. Pragg was on the aggressive side throughout and Gukesh on the cool defensive side.

A novelty by Vidit on the 8th turn in a Ruy-Lopez Berlin Opening spooked Nakamura, prompting a few inaccuracies. It was a fantastic game where Vidit vigorously hunted on the King-side, posing plenty of problems for Nakamura. Starting with a neat bishop sacrifice on the 11th turn, Vidit relentlessly kept pressurizing Nakamura’s King, dragging him out of his castled comfort. Nakmura’s queen-side pieces were totally paralyzed, the knight and rook never entering the game. With both his knights dancing merrily in the centre, Vidit’s queen too made inroads into enemy territory, forcing Nakamura’s King to flee towards the centre in search of shelter. A blundering bishop retreat on the 18th turn by Nakamura ensured that Vidit stayed in the driver’s seat to wrap up the game in 29 moves.

Pragg appeared in an over aggressive mode against fellow Chennai city mate Gukesh in a Catalan opening. His queen, knight and bishop kept targeting Gukesh’s King, perhaps in a risky way, throwing caution to the winds. There were moments in this game where Pragg had opportunities to equalize but the temptation to exploit Gukesh’s lack of time on the clock ( fallen behind by almost an hour) would also have played on his mind. Gukesh calmly neutralized all his threats and with Pragg’s attack fizzled out, the two pawn advantage for Gukesh proved decisive. By then Gukesh’s queen, rook and bishop were in counter action, targeting Pragg’s King and the loss was inevitable on the 33rd turn.

Interestingly 17-year-old Gukesh is the second youngest participant to qualify for the Candidates, the youngest being the mercurial Bobby Fischer.

The Spanish game between Lagno and Humpy in the Women’s section was a solid display of simplification as both players indulged in a series of exchanges to reach a queen and three pawn each ending. Not surprisingly peace was signed on the 38th turn with Lagno inflicting perpetual checks with her queen.

Results of Round 2

Fabiano Caruana (1.5) bt Nijat Abasov (0.5); Ian Nepomniachtchi (1.5) bt Alireza Firouzja (0.5); Hikaru Nakamura (0.5) lost to Vidit Gujrathi (1.5); R Praggnanandhaa (0.5) lost to D Gukesh (1.5)

Women’s Results of Round 2

Tan Zhongyi (2) bt IM R Vaishali (0.5); Nurgyul Salimova (1) drew Tingjie Lei (0.5); Kateryna Lagno (1) drew Koneru Humpy (1); Alexandra Goryanchkina (1.5) beat Anna Muzychuk (0.5)