Gukesh, Nakamura and Nepomniachtchi lead the Candidates going into the final two rounds

FIDE Candidates 2024 12

Mark Crowther (Fri Apr 19 13:31:00 2024)

The FIDE Candidates in Toronto, Canada has reached the final rest day. With two rounds to go three players, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Gukesh and Hikaru Nakamura lead with 7.5/12 half a point clear of Fabiano Caruana, one of these players will win the event. There will be day of tie-breaks on Monday if required, although I'd rather there be a clear winner. Intriguingly pairings include Nepomniachtchi-Nakamura in round 13 and Nakamura-Gukesh and Caruana-Nepomniachtchi in the final round.

Nepomniachtchi chose the Exchange French against Praggnanandhaa and after 9 moves black was already level. Praggnanandhaa might have been a tiny bit better (33...c6!?) but the game fizzled out to a draw. A wasted white for Nepomniachtchi that he may come to regret.

Nakamura also chose the Exchange French Defence as white against Alireza Firouzja but with 7.Qa4+ the game became very offbeat and sharp. Nakamura then offered a pawn and major complications arose. 17.a3 d4!? (17...Nxf2 was the computer choice). Black got level play until 21...Nxe1? (21...Qd7=) then Nakamura took over until 34.Be1?!= let Firouzja back in the game. Firouzja made time control but his first move after 41.g5? (41.Ra3!) was the decisive mistake.

Gukesh as black managed to put Nijat Abasov under pressure right from the opening when he seemed to predict his opponent's replies to his unusual Nimzo Indian. Gukesh won Abasov's a-pawn but was a very long way from converting it, 37.c4?! (37.Ra2!) was the start concessions leading to a won position by move 41 for Gukesh which he then converted.

Fabiano Caruana knew he almost certainly had to beat Santosh Vidit today to stay in contention. In a Giuoco Piano Caruana got a little something to play with after 23.Qc5, not much according to the engines but enough to put pressure on Vidit. Caruana won a pawn on move 35 but 37.Rh5? (35.b4) misplaced the rook and allowed Vidit saving chances but 40...Rb8? (40...Qf4) was a losing error. 43.Bf5?! (43.b5!) wasn't the most accurate but Caruana soon won anyway.

Round 12 Standings: 1st= Gukesh, Nakamura, Nepomniachtchi 7.5pts, 4th Caruana 7pts, 5th Praggnanandhaa 6pts, 6th Vidit 5pts, 7th Firouzja 4.5pts, 8th Abasov 3pts.

Rest day 19th April 2024.

Round 13 20th April at 19:30BST: Nepomniachtchi-Nakamura, Praggnanandhaa-Caruana, Vidit-Abasov, Gukesh-Firouzja.

Round 14 21st April at 19:30BST: Nakamura-Gukesh, Firouzja-Vidit, Abasov-Praggnanandhaa, Caruana-Nepomniachtchi.

• Nepomniachtchi beats Vidit in a tense struggle to lead the Candidates alone again on 7/11
• Nakamura and Caruana win to get back into contention after 10 rounds of the Candidates
• Nepomniachtchi saves a difficult position against Firouzja and retains the lead of the Candidates with Gukesh after Round 9
• Gukesh joins Nepomniachtchi in the lead after beating Vidit in Round 8

Tan leads Lei half a point after 11 rounds in a two horse race for the Women's Candidates

FIDE Women's Candidates 2024 11

Mark Crowther (Thu Apr 18 18:54:00 2024)

Tan Zhongyi took sole lead of the FIDE Women's Candidates with 7.5/11 after beating Kateryna Lagno in a Reti. Lei Tingjie managed to draw against Anna Muzychuk and is half a point behind. With three rounds to go Kateryna Lagno, Humpy Koneru and Aleksandra Goryachkina are all on 5.5 points, realistically it's between Tan and Lei for the title.

Tan played a Reti System, 13...e5 from Lagno could have been met by 14.Nxe5 with advantage but instead a roughly balance position was arrived at. 27.Rc5? could have been refuted by 27...f4 when overloaded pieces combined with a kingside attack win for black. Lagno played the losing 28...Bxb3 (28...f4 is the way to hold the balance now) and Tan made no mistake in converting.

There were similar goings on in the game Lei Tingjie against Anna Muzychuk. After a Giuoco Piano opening Muzychuk was at least equal until she failed to find the correct defence to 19.Bxh6 gxh6? (19...Nh7!) but then Lei played 22.Nxe5? (22.Kh2!) and black was better and then 30.c4? winning. After 34.Nf5 it came down to whether black could avoid perpetual check, it was possible but the way to do it wasn't 42....Bf7? but 42...Ke8 instead. So a draw in the end. Humpy Koneru built up a winning position after 30 moves against Nurgyul Salimova as white in a Slav Defence, she made rather heavy weather of conversion but got there in the end. Rameshbabu Vaishali won again and Aleksandra Goryachkina lost again. It ended up in a equal but tricky Queen and Pawn endgame but 64....d4? lost and Vaishali made no mistake.

Round 11 Standings: 1st Tan 7.5 2nd Lei 7 3rd= Lagno, Koneru, Goryachkina 5.5pts, 6th= Muzychuk, Vaishali 4.5pts 8th Salimova 4pts

Round 12 18th April at 19:30BST: Lagno-Lei, Muzychuk-Vaishali, Goryachkina-Koneru, Salimova-Tan.

• Lei join Tan in the lead of the Women's Candidates on 6.5/10
• Tan bounces back with a win over Vaishali to regain the Women's Candidates sole lead after 9 rounds
• Lei, Tan and Goryachkina lead the Women's Candidates with 5/8
• Tan Zhongyi leads the Women's Candidates at the half way stage with 5/7

GRENKE Chess Classic 2024

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Mark Crowther (Mon Feb 26 18:32:00 2024)

The 6th Prague International Chess Festival takes place Mon 26th Feb (opening ceremony) to Thu 7th Mar 2024. There are two strong Round Robin tournaments. The Masters with Abdusattorov, Praggnanandhaa, Vidit, Gukesh, Keymer, Rapport, Maghsoodloo, Navara, Bartel and Thai Dai Van Nguyen. The Challengers isn't too shabby either with Korobov, L'Ami, Santos Latasa, Rodshtein etc. There are other events such as the Futures, Open, Rapids, Chess960 and many amateur groups too. Read more ....