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Two rounds ago, six players remained in contention for first place in a very close race at the Candidates Tournament in Toronto. On Wednesday and Thursday, though, Praggnanandhaa R and Vidit Gujrathi suffered losses that left them out of the fight going into the final two rounds of the event.
In round 11, Ian Nepomniachtchi grabbed the sole lead by achieving a 67-move victory in his dramatic encounter against Vidit. Then, in round 12, Hikaru Nakamura and Gukesh D caught up with the Russian grandmaster by defeating Alireza Firouzja and Nijat Abasov, respectively. The three co-leaders are tied for first place with 7½ points each (a plus-three score).
Thursday’s round also saw Fabiano Caruana beating Vidit to remain in contention going forward, as he now stands a half point behind the leaders. Following a painful loss against Nakamura, Caruana scored wins the next two times he played with the white pieces. Importantly, the top seed is set to face Nepomniachtchi — with white — in the final round.
The player who will enter the deciding rounds with the most momentum surely is Nakamura, who scored three consecutive wins in rounds 10-12. In fact, the last time the famous streamer signed a draw in the event was in the seventh round, when he split a point with Nepomniachtchi — he went on to beat Caruana and lose to Vidit in rounds 8 and 9, before scoring the hat-trick that left him tied for first.
Out of the three co-leaders, Nakamura is also the player who has collected the most wins so far in the event (and the most losses, of course), with 5 victories and 2 losses to his name. Gukesh has suffered 1 loss, while Nepomniachtchi is the only participant to remain undefeated in Toronto (in either of the two categories).
Find below the pairings of the final two rounds, set to take place on Saturday and Sunday. In case of a tie for first place, all participants sharing the lead will play a rapid (and blitz, if necessary) tiebreaker on Monday.
| Round 13 on 2024/04/20 at 14:30 | |||||||||||
| Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2758 | GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | GM | Nakamura, Hikaru | 2789 | ||||||
| 2747 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | 2803 | ||||||
| 2727 | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | GM | Abasov, Nijat | 2632 | ||||||
| 2743 | GM | Gukesh, D | GM | Firouzja, Alireza | 2760 | ||||||
| Round 14 on 2024/04/21 at 14:30 | |||||||||||
| Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | |||||||
| 2789 | GM | Nakamura, Hikaru | GM | Gukesh, D | 2743 | ||||||
| 2760 | GM | Firouzja, Alireza | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2727 | ||||||
| 2632 | GM | Abasov, Nijat | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 2747 | ||||||
| 2803 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 2758 | ||||||
Results - Round 12
Will Gukesh become a World Championship challenger at 17? | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
Analysis by André Schulz
Hikaru Nakamura obtained a third win in a row on Thursday | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
Analysis by André Schulz
Nijat Abasov | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
Analysis by André Schulz
Fabiano Caruana | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
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