Tonight we will see perhaps the most dramatic ending in the history of the Candidates Tournament! Four participants fight for victory and access to the championship before the last round! But, unlike Curacao 1962 (where there was a run for Tigran Petrosyan, Efim Geller and Paul Keres) and Montpellier 1985 (where Arthur Yusupov, Rafael Vaganyan, Andrei Sokolov, Mikhail Tal and Jan Timman had a number of additional matches, and then the Superfinal with Anatoly Karpov) here the main characters of the battle, as if in order, meet in face-to-face battles.
Unfortunately, before the final round, Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi finds himself in the least advantageous position of the four contenders for first place: he will need to win, and do so with black pieces.
Everyone expected Yan’s breakthrough in the 13th round, but nothing worked for the Russian. From the debut, Nepo gained an advantageous position with the initiative against the American Hikaru Nakamura, but as soon as he hesitated a little, Nakamura very subtly recomposed himself and forced his counterpart to force a draw.
Men’s Candidates Tournament – 2024. 13th round Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) – Hikaru Nakamura (USA)
Unfortunately, Ian’s usual strategy, which brought him victory in Yekaterinburg and Madrid (calmly playing the second round of the Candidates, especially not going anywhere and collecting everything that is given to them, while his competitors lose points for the nerves) didn’t work. this time. This time, all the other contenders for victory seemed to have a second wind. Nakamura himself “rose from the dead” and won three in a row before the reporting game!
Gukesh Dommaraju (India) also won three fights in the second round. In the thirteenth round of the duel of prodigies he took revenge against Alireza Firouzja (France). The performance in the Candidates Tournament after a very dubious entry turned into a defeat for Firouzja: a series of crushing defeats, and below him is only the obvious outsider Nijat Abasov.
Gukesh Dommaraju
Photo: FIDE
In the match against Gukesh, Firouzja got the most reliable position with a slight advantage that, it seemed, was impossible to lose! But then, to the horror of the Indian’s competitors, Alireza created weaknesses for himself step by step, and then made a mistake in the checkmate box and gave the victory to his opponent.
And even the American Fabiano Caruana, who was trailing Nepo, at some point realized that a draw would leave him no chance, so he successfully switched to playing to win and mistook Pragnanandha for black.
Now, heading into the final day of classic distance play, Gukesh is in the lead (8.5 out of 13), while Nepomniachtchi, Nakamura and Caruana are half a point behind.
On Sunday, April 21, the fourteenth final, decisive round will take place, in which the opponent in the match for the world crown of champion Ding Liren will be determined or the participants in the tiebreaker will be named.
In the last round, the contenders for first place will go head to head: Nakamura will play white against Gukesh, and Hikaru is only satisfied with a victory, while a draw guarantees his opponent at least one additional match with the potential winner. from Caruana. – Nepomniachtchi couple.
Yan and Fabiano also need only one victory, only this gives them the opportunity to enter the number of participants in the tiebreaker. However, Caruana, with his brilliant initial preparation, will play white; Here Nepomniachtchi must perform a true sporting miracle or hope that his opponent’s nerves give way in search of victory and he goes too far.
What situation will save Ian Nepomniachtchi on the last day?
Only a miracle can save Ian Nepomniachtchi in the Candidates Tournament! All the schedules of the last round
In the women’s tournament, Tan Zhongyi almost won: her rival, the other Chinese Lei Tingze, lost her game against Rameshbabu Vaishali. Tan is now one point ahead of Lay and only needs to draw against Ukrainian Anna Muzychuk, who is at the bottom of the table.
But Vaishali unexpectedly tied for third place with Russians Alexandra Goryachkina and Ekaterina Lagno. Surprisingly, in the first half of the tournament her brother Pragnanandha shined, but Vaishali herself played quite poorly. In the second part the roles completely changed!
In round 13, Goryachkina tied with Tan Zhongyi, and Lagno had a great chance to reach a clear third place, but in this challenge, a kind of doom seemed to hang over Ekaterina. As for the positions, the Muscovite could well have fought for first place, but she could not achieve victory. And this time she missed the mark: she didn’t notice the extra piece in the game with outsider Nurgul Salimova from Bulgaria.
Women’s Candidates Tournament – 2024. 13th round Nurgul Salimova (Bulgaria) – Ekaterina Lagno (Russia)
In the fight for third place, which at least guarantees participation in the award ceremony at the end of the tournament, Lahno will have to compete with Rameshbabu Vaishali, and Goryachkina will play with Salimova, who feels quite comfortable: both of our girls will have white pieces .
