Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh and Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi are tied for the top place with six points each after the 10th round of the prestigious Candidates chess tournament. They retained their top positions following a quick draw between them in their match.
“Well, I was Black. He played a solid game and it was a fair result,” said Gukesh after the game.
All Indian players played out draws
All Indian players in Toronto played out draws in the tenth round on April 15. R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi also saw no winner. Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana won their matches against Nijat Abasov and Alireza Firouzja to join Pragg in the third spot.
Another Indian participant Vidit Gujrathi holds sixth place with six points. Firouza Alireza and Nijat Abasov are significantly behind, with 3.5 and two points respectively.
Nepomniachtchi has remained unbeaten throughout the tournament. With his recent game against Gukesh, a Ruy Lopez opening ended in a balanced draw.
The game between Praggnanandhaa and Gujrathi also finished in a draw after 39 moves without either side gaining a notable advantage. Meanwhile, Caruana and Nakamura both won their matches against Alireza and Abasov and kept their competition hopes alive.
China's Tinjie Lei and Zhongyi Tan are leading
In the women's category, China's Tinjie Lei and Zhongyi Tan are at the top as they both scored 6.5 points after Lei defeated unbeaten Aleksandra Goryachkina. Koneru Humpy is in fifth place with 4.5 points. Her game against Tan ended in a draw after 72 moves. R Vaishali secured a victory in a challenging game against Nurgyul Salimova.
The players will have a rest day on April 16 and the tournament will resume on Apirl 17.
Results round 10 (Indians unless specified): Ian Nepomniachthi (6) drew with D Gukesh (6); R Praggnanandhaa (5.5) drew with Vidit Gujrathi (5); Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 5.5) beat Nijat Abasov (Aze, 3); Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 5.5) beat Firouza Alireza (Fra, 3.5).
Women: Nurgyuaal Salimova (Bul, 4) lost to R Vaishali (3.5); Zhongyi Tan (6.5) drew with Koneru Humpy (4.5); Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus, 5.5) lost to Tingjei Lei (Chn, 6.5); Kateryna Lagno (Fid, 5.5) drew with Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 4).
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