Candidates Chess 2024 Round 9: India’s Vidit Gujrathi secured another impressive victory in the 9th round of the Candidates Chess Tournament. This time she defeated World No. 3 champion, Hikaru Nakamura. This success follows Vidit’s earlier triumph over the American grandmaster in the tournament’s second round.
Vidit’s match was the sole game in the open section of the Candidates to yield a decisive outcome in Round 9. Meanwhile, 17-year-old D Gukesh and 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa played to a draw, maintaining Gukesh’s lead in the open standings with Pragg trailing by just half a point!
Meanwhile, at the 2024 Candidates tournament, R Vaishali suffered a significant defeat at the hands of Tan Zhongyi, resigning after just 21 moves in their game.
In the women’s section, Humpy managed to secure a draw against Kateryna Lagno. Ian Nepomniachtchi fought back to salvage a draw from a precarious position against Alireza Firouzja, while Fabiano Caruana also settled for a draw against Nijat Abasov.
Controversy erupted when Firouzja claimed that he was halted from walking during the game by the arbiter, who also instructed him to change his shoes for Round 10.
Scoreboard:
Results round 9 (Indians unless specified):
D Gukesh (5.5) drew with R Praggnanandhaa (5)
Vidit Gujrathi (4.5) beat Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 4.5)
Firouza Alireza (Fra, 3.5) drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi (Fid, 5.5)
Nijat Abasov (3) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 4.5)
Women:
R Vaishali (2.5) lost to Zhongyi Tan (6)
Tingjei Lei (Chn, 5.5) drew with Nurgyul Salimova (Bul, 4)
Kateryna Lagno (Fid, 5) drew with Koneru Humpy (4)
Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 3.5) drew with Aleksandra Goryachkina (Fid, 5.5)
(With Agency Inputs)