D Gukesh drew with Fabiano Caruana (USA) in Round 11 of FIDE Candidates 2024. It was another hard-fought battle which ended up arriving into a queen endgame. Unlike their first encounter, the queen endgame did not last long as Caruana was forced to go for perpetual checks. Vidit Gujrathi suffered a heartbreak as he missed a winning opportunity against Ian Nepomniachtchi. Although Vidit lost both of his game against Nepomniachtchi, he is the only player who was closest to ending Nepomniachtchi’s unbeaten streak. R Praggnanandhaa played some uncharacteristic chess and imploded against Hikaru Nakamura (USA) in the endgame. Round 12 starts today at 2:30 p.m. local time, 12 a.m. IST. Photo: FIDE/Michal Walusza
Heartbreak for Vidit as Nepomniachtchi regains sole lead
D Gukesh and Hikaru Nakamura (USA) being closest to Ian Nepomniachtchi means they have a real practical chance to catch up or surpass him. Nepomniachtchi already showed his vulnerability against Vidit Gujrathi, something which is well-known to all. Even if he has more time on the clock, sometimes he feels like he needs to do something when he probably shouldn’t, a sudden pawn push or a mistake and he falters.
Gukesh drew with Fabiano Caruana (USA) to stay in the hunt | Photo: FIDE/Michal Walusza
Grandmaster Evgeny Bareev, Canada’s #1 chess player and a previous participant of several Candidates events, made the ceremonial move 1. d4 in the game between Praggnanandhaa R and Hikaru Nakamura.
The American player controlled the game solidly with Black before capitalising on his opponent’s mistakes and adding an important win to his scoresheet. Praggnanandhaa could have gone for a draw several times in the game. Instead, he always chose more complex continuations and played on, which resulted in Nakamura’s position getting better and better. The American player was precise in converting his advantage, leaving no chances for counterplay for his opponen
Vaishali R helped the Chinese duo by taking down Aleksandra Goryachkina in an intense battle of many mistakes. Vaishali surprised her opponent in the opening and gradually outplayed Goryachkina but let her advantage slip away one move before reaching the time control.
After 39. Rf3! White was winning as 39…Qe4 fails to 40. Nb4, but Vaishali played 39. Bf6? instead. As a result, her enormous advantage evaporated. However, she was still the only one playing for a win in this game, as White’s queen and knight were chasing the black king. At some point, the position repeated three times, but not consecutively, so Goryachkina was checking her scoresheet. In the end, she decided not to claim the repetition, as she was not entirely sure. “She was probably thinking that I would repeat again,” explained Vaishali after the game.
However, the young Indian player demonstrated a fighting mentality in this game as she continued playing, hoping to find more chances. She was duly rewarded in the queen and pawn endgame, where her experienced opponent finally blundered and had to resign.
In the last game of the women’s event, Humpy Koneru defeated Nurgyul Salimova in a solid and straightforward game to come back to a 50% mark.
The results of Round 11 were extremely important for the tournament standings. Tan Zhongyi is now the sole leader on 7.5 points, closely trailed by Lei Tingjie on 7. Goryachkina, Koneru, and Lagno are the three players two points behind the leader – a gap that is almost impossible to close in three rounds. It is now clear that the race for first in the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament will be between two Chinese players, Tan Zhongyi and Lei Tingjie.