Chess Candidates Tournament 2024: Grandmaster D Gukesh holds top seed Fabiano Caruana to a draw; Vidit Gujrathi suffers defeat

Grandmaster D Gukesh held top seed Fabiano Caruana of America to a draw while R Praggnananandhaa shared points with Hikaru Nakamura of America at the Chess Candidates Tournament 2024.

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However, Vidit Gujrathi suffered another defeat against Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia in the fourth round. 

This double round robin competition of eight players will decide the challenger for the next World Championship. Nepomniachtchi became the first player to take the singles lead in the Chess Candidates Tournament with three points from his second win playing with white. Caruana and Gukesh are at second place with two and a half points. Praggnananda is fourth with two points while Vidit, Nijat Abasov, Alireza Firouzja and Nakamura are all on one and a half points. 

R Vaishali also holds draw

In the women's category, R Vaishali played a draw like her younger brother. She held Russia's Aleksandra Goryachkina to a draw. India's Koneru Humpy, however, suffered her first defeat of the Chess Candidates Tournament against the lowest-ranked and youngest player, Nurgyul Salimova of Bulgaria. China's Tan Zhongyi maintained her singles lead with three points after playing a draw against Russia's Kateryna Lagno.

Meanwhile, China's Lei Tingjie shared points with Ukraine's Anna Muzychuk. After Tan, Goryachkina is at second place with two and a half points. Vaishali, Salimova and Lagno are tied for third place with two points each. After this defeat, Humpy has slipped to joint sixth place with one and a half points. Muzychuk and Lei are also jointly in sixth place with one and a half points.  

Gukesh handled the pressure well against Caruana with the black pieces and eventually after 72 moves both players agreed to split the points. While Nepomniachtchi, the previous two-time Chess Candidates Tournament winner, was in a better position for most of the time against Vidit. Praggnananda is getting appreciation and respect from his rivals with each round. It was the same against Nakamura and the American player agreed to a draw after just 24 moves despite playing with white pieces without taking any risks.

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On the other hand, in the women's category, Salimova, who qualified for the Chess Candidates Tournament through the Women's World Cup, showed that her qualification was not a fluke by defeating Humpy. The Bulgarian player won in 62 moves. The fifth round of the competition will be played after the first day of rest. There are still 10 rounds of play left in this biggest competition of the year.