Gukesh bounces back to defeat Gujrathi, joins Nepo in the lead
Pragg draws with Firouzja and shares the third spot with Nakamura; Humpy puts it across Vaishali; Lei stops Tan’s fine run
After a disappointing defeat in the previous round, and the rest day that followed, D. Gukesh bounced back strongly to reclaim the lead in the Candidates chess tournament in Toronto on Saturday. He put it across fellowIndian Vidit Gujrathi in the eighth round.
The victory took Gukesh’s tally to five points, allowing him to rejoin Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi, the winner of the last two editions of the tournament, at the top.
R. Praggnanandhaa, who drew with Alireza Firouzja, and second seed Hikaru Nakamura of the United States are sharing the third place with 4.5
Gukesh, right, playing black, outwitted Gujrathi in 38 moves.
points each.
Nakamura’s win over fellowAmerican Fabiano Caruana could not have
been timed better.
The topseeded Caruana, with four points, was pushed to fifth.
Gujrathi was on 3.5 points. Another six rounds remain to be played.
In the women’s event, the leader Tan Zhongyi’s fine run was stopped by Lei Tingjie in an allChinese affair.
Lei thus joined Tan in the lead. Russian Aleksandra Goryachkina also moved to the joint lead after drawing with fellowcountrywoman Kateryna Lagno. They all were on five points.
Lagno was in fourth with 4.5 points. The day also saw Koneru Humpy finally scoring a victory, against fellowIndian R. Vaishali, for whom this was the third defeat in a row.
Humpy had 3.5 points, one more than Vaishali.
After winning in 38 moves with black against Gujrathi, whose king had been driven to the fifth rank on the board, Gukesh said it felt good to be back in the lead.
“I am just happy that I played a good game,” he said.
“I was not expecting this game to go so well.”
I am just happy that I played a good game. I was not expecting this to go so well
The results (eighth round): Open: Vidit Gujrathi 3.5 lost to D. Gukesh 5; Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE) 5 drew with Nijat Abasov (Aze) 2.5; R. Praggnanandhaa 4.5 drew with Alireza Firouzja (Fra) 3; Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 4.5 bt Fabiano Caruana (USA) 4. Women: Tan Zhongyi (Chn) 5 lost to Lei Tingjie (Chn) 5; Kateryna Lagno (FIDE) 4.5 drew with Aleksandra Goryachkina (FIDE) 5; Koneru Humpy 3.5 bt R. Vaishali 2.5; Nurgyul Salimova (Bul) 3.5 drew with Anna Muzychuk (Ukr) 3.
Jeevan and Arjun with the trophy.