Grandmaster D Gukesh shares the lead with Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi as the only winner in the fifth round of the FIDE Candidates Chess Championship Indian and outsmarted Nijat Abasov of Azerbaijan in a tight match in Toronto. With nine rounds left in the double round-robin, Gukesh and Nepomniach are tied for the top spot with 3.5 points, with top-seeded American Fabio Caruana half a point behind. American Hikaru Nakamura was the other winner on the day against France’s Firouza Alireza, while Indian teenager R Praggnanandhaa took on overnight leader Nepomniachtchi. It’s a draw.

Vidit Gujrati also ended his defeat with a draw against Caruana.

Praggnanandhaa and Nakamura are tied for fourth place with 2.5 points, followed by Gujrathi with 2 points. Alireza and Abbasov tied for last, with 1.5 points each.

In the women’s competition, there was no change in the standings, with all four games drawn.

Praggnanandhaa’s sister R Vaishali could not weaken Anna Muzychuk’s defence, while Koneru Humpy returned to form after a draw with Russia’s Aleksandra Goryachkina.

Leading Chinese player Tan Zhongyi was held to a draw by the improving Bulgarian Nurgiur Salimova, while Russian Katerina Ranio signed a settlement agreement with Chinese player Lei Tingjie.

After a draw in the melee, Tan continued to lead with 3.5 points, while Goryachkina edged up by 3 points to stay close to the leader.

Ranio, Vaishali and Salimova tied for third with 2.5 points, half a point ahead of Hampi, Muzchuk and Ray.

Gukesh started with the king piece and faced Petrov’s defense.

The Indians ensured a complex mid-innings affair, maintaining an advantage until the players got possession of the ball for the first time. However, in the 40th game, Gukesh made a mistake, and the seemingly easy game turned into a difficult game. Abbasov fought hard and was close to a draw in the 80th game, but the Azerbaijani’s mistake in the 83rd game made the game Deadlock. The additional piece in the queen-pawn endgame dies decisively in Gukesh’s favor. The game consists of 87 moves.

Praggnanandhaa showed his keen eye for complex situations against Nepomniachtchi.

It was another Petrov defense of the day, with the Indian sacrificing first a pawn and then a brilliant knight, giving him a formidable advantage.

It proved impossible to be in a significantly better position as a machine, and once Praggnanandhaa traded the queen, the game ended in a draw with rooks and pawns.

Gujrati got off to a great start by defeating Nakamura in the second round, but after two losses it was time to move on against favorite Caruana. The player from Nashik lived up to his target, performing consistently and getting his chance in the Rossolimo variant.

With Caruana’s king stuck in the middle, Gujrati also had to find machine-like moves to force things to happen. The game was never easy as time passed and the end result was a draw through repetition.

Nakamura also got lucky against Alireza. A draw looked likely to be the final result, but Alireza missed a simple tactic that gave the U.S. a much-needed victory.

In the women’s competition, Vaishali performed even worse, sacrificing Muzchuk’s piece as a white piece in Italy’s first game.

However, she kept herself in the game by remaining in a closed position, resulting in a draw.

Humpy didn’t get much of the white ball against Goryachkina.

The middle game of Queen’s Gambit isn’t much fun, and the game gradually moves into the endgame, with rooks and boys. Once the smaller pieces are off the board, the players decide it’s time to split the pieces.

Firouza Alireza (France, 1.5) lost to Hikaru Nakamura (USA); D Gukesh (3.5) defeated Nijat Abasov (Aze, 1.5); Vidit Gujirati (2) drew with Fabiano Carew Anna (USA, 3); R Praggnanandhaa (2.5) defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi (Fid, 3.5) Women: R Vaishali (2.5) defeated Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine, 2); K Humpy (2) drew with Aleksandra Goryachkina ( Feed, 3); Zhogyi Tan (Ch, 3.5) tied with Nurgyul Salimova (Boer, 2.5); Lei Tingjie (Ch, 2) tied with Kateryna Lagno (Fid, 2.5) . PTI Company PM PM PM

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