Gukesh slips to 2nd after draw; losses for Pragg, Gujrathi

TORONTO: Grandmaster D Gukesh played out a creditable draw against top seed Fabiano Caruana but slipped a rung to the joint second position on a day when two other Indians endured frustrating losses in the Candidates Chess Tournament’s 11th round here.

Nerves finally came into play as R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi lost their way against American Hikaru Nakamura and Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi respectively. But 17-year-old Gukesh held his own against Caruana. In the other encounter, Frenchman Firouza Alireza proved superior to Nijat Abasov of Azerbaijan. With just three rounds remaining, the die seems to be cast in favour of Nepomniachtchi, who is gunning for his third straight Candidates title.

The Russian, who has to compete under the FIDE flag here owing to his country’s international suspension, shot back to sole lead on seven points out of a possible 11 and it would be difficult for other contestants to get past him.

Caruana, Nakamura and Gukesh are in pursuit of the leader half a point behind in the standings.

Praggnanandhaa and Gujrathi have fallen apart with 5.5 and five points respectively. Coming back from behind is Alireza, who probably has no contest from Abasov in the bottom half.

In the women’s competition, the Chinese continued to dominate as Zhongyi Tan scored over Kateryna Lagno of Russia to regain sole lead ahead of compatriot Tingjie Lei, who played out a draw with Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine.

R Vaishali came back roaring, albeit a bit late, to beat top-seeded Russian Aleksandra Goryachkina while Koneru Humpy proved too good to avenge her early loss at the hands of Nurgyul Salimova of Bulgaria.