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Praggnanandhaa, Vidit find wins; Humpy, Vaishali lose
Nepomniachtchi and Caruana play out a quick draw; Gukesh continues to be in joint lead after Round 6
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It turned out to be a day of recovery for Vidit Gujrathi and R Praggnanandhaa, with both Indians finishing with wins which formed the only decisive encounters in the Open section in Round 6.
After letting Ian Nepomniachtchi escape with a draw despite his stellar preparation in Round 5, Praggnanandhaa found a win against the lowest seed in the tournament, Nijat Abasov. The endgame turned out to be action-packed as Abasov tried to stave off a second successive loss. Nijat put up a good defence but the decision to capture the pawn on a6 on move 38 was pretty much him walking into a trap and Praggnanandhaa spotted the brilliant and resourceful 40.Nd7. Much like against Gukesh, Abasov fought well but the Praggnanandhaa had him in the end. The Azerbaijani wondered aloud in the post-game press conference if heading out on the yacht to catch the eclipse on the rest day was such a good idea after all since he’s lost both his games since. He and Anna Muzychuk (in the women’s section) were the only two players who chose to take the trip organised by Fide.
Praggnanandhaa who has been playing some of the most interesting and entertaining chess in the tournament so far joked it wasn’t quite his primary intention. “I don't understand why I'm playing interesting games every day because I'm kind of trying to play normal chess but somehow things are getting interesting."
The 18-year-old Indian is now half a point behind leaders Nepomniachtchi and Gukesh.
Vidit Gujrathi managed to recover from two losses and a tough draw with winning chances against world No 2 Fabiano Caruana, with a full point from his Round 6 game against Alireza Firouzja. The 20-year-old French-Iranian GM dripped out in designer wear has been on a bafflingly poor run at this Candidates so far. He ran into trouble pretty early and turned the gun on himself by taking a pawn with 13…Qxf2?.
After the game, Vidit spoke about dealing with a difficult run of results over the last three rounds. “I went to the gym and tried to remove all my frustration. It partially helps but then I was not able to sleep properly at night…“People around me showed the positive side. I got out-prepared and I was on my own (against Caruna in Round 5) and then I managed to outplay him in the middlegame. I played almost all the top choices, so that was the bright side. That gave me confidence, that I can outplay even the world number two despite getting out-prepared.”
The marquee faceoff between Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana ended in a rather quick draw. It’s in keeping with the history of encounters between both winners of previous Candidates tournaments, with only win each against each other in classical chess.
After a round of draws, all games in the women’s section in Round 6 turned out to be decisive – three of them with Black. Former women’s world champion Tan Zhongyi was the only one to win with White pieces and she continues to lead the standings. Both the Indian players – Koneru Humpy and R Vaishali, lost their respective games to Kateryna Lagno and Lei Tingjie. Humpy finds herself at the bottom of the women's standings as the tournament nears its halfway mark.
Round 6 results
Open
Gukesh D (4) drew Hikaru Nakamura (3)
Vidit Gujrathi (3) beat Alireza Firouzja (1.5)
Praggnanandhaa R (3.5) beat Nijat Abasov (1.5)
Ian Nepomniachtchi (4) drew Fabiano Caruana (3.5)
Women
Vaishali R lost (2.5) to Kateryna Lagno (3.5)
Koneru Humpy (2) lost to Lei Tingjie (3)
Tan Zhongyi (4.5) beat Anna Muzychuk (2)
Nurgyul Salimova (2.5) lost to Aleksandra Goryachkina (4)
Round 7 pairings
Open
Hikaru Nakamura- Ian Nepomniachtchi
Fabiano Caruana - Praggnanandhaa R
Nijat Abasov - Vidit Santosh Gujrathi
Alireza Firouzja - Gukesh D
Women
Kateryna Lagno - Nurgyul Salimova
Aleksandra Goryachkina - Tan Zhongyi
Anna Muzychuk - Humpy Koneru
Lei Tingjie - Vaishali R
