It was a uninteresting day at the workplace for the Indian contingent in the fourth round of Candidates 2024 as none of the 5 players managed to sign up wins on Sunday.
When R Praggnanandhaa, D Gukesh and R Vaishali drew their respective matches, Vidit Gujrathi and Koneru Humpy endured defeats.
Outcomes | Round 4 | #FIDECandidates
🇺🇸 Hikaru Nakamura ½-½ 🇮🇳 Praggnanandhaa R
Ian Nepomniachtchi 1- 🇮🇳 Vidit Santosh Gujrathi
🇺🇸 Fabiano Caruana ½-½ 🇮🇳 Gukesh D
🇦🇿 Nijat Abasov ½-½ 🇫🇷 Alireza Firouzja pic.twitter.com/SVpRG2xAvA
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) April 8, 2024
Nepomniachtchi sole winner in Open classification
Two-time environment champion challenger and defending winner Ian Nepomniachtchi registered a earn above Indian Vidit Gujrathi and pulled crystal clear in the Candidates Open up class standings. He was way too fantastic to deal with for 29-yr-aged Vidit who failed to surmount a appropriate defensive shape and built issues that Nepomniachtchi took edge of. He has two wins and two draws in the opening four matches and has looked cozy so considerably.
Praggnanandhaa, the dim horse of the match, was up towards Hikaru Nakamura and they performed out an engaging attract. Pragganandhaa sits fourth in the desk with 2 details, a single position beneath leader Nepomniachtchi and .5 points underneath Fabio Caruana, and Gukesh and Vidit have taken the past two destinations with 1.5 factors.
Speaking of the two, Caruana and Gukesh’s game ended in a stalemate as well. The video game saw Gukesh at his inventive very best with shrewd moves to counter Caruana’s offence. The duo resolved to call it a working day after 72 moves as a result ending the game in a attract.
Open up Candidates standings just after round 4.
Image courtesy: FIDE
Koneru Humpy suffers defeat to youngster Salimova
In the Women’s Candidates tournament, the matchups were far much more even and had been remarkably anticipated but aside from a single match, round 4 was instead anti-climatic with attracts all close to.
The match that lived up to its make-up was that of Humpy and Nurgyul Salimova of Bulgaria. Humpy, world no.5 and India’s ideal hope of triumph in this year’s Candidates fulfilled Salimova for the to start with time right now.
Despite the fact that Humpy confirmed terrific bravery and fought difficult, Salimova was a contact far better and ended up victorious, a very crucial victory for the Bulgarian subsequent her defeat in round a few.
In a extremely partaking game amongst 🇧🇬 Nurgyul Salimova and 🇮🇳 Humpy Koneru, Humpy showcased an inspiring design and style of play, although Nurgyul made a commendable comeback subsequent yesterday’s setback. This marks Nurgyul’s 1st get and Humpy’s initial reduction in the match.
Round 4,… pic.twitter.com/qoOgarx8TX
— Global Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) April 7, 2024
Vaishali went up against Aleksandra Goryachkina and the duo played out a incredibly relaxed attract. Not like the recreation between Humpy and Salimova, this a person did not have any surprises or out-of-the-box moves. It was a quite serene match that slowly ended in a draw.
Zhongyi Tan sales opportunities the standings with 3 factors whilst Vaishali, with 2 details sits in fourth and Humpy, disappointingly, sits in last with 1.5 details.
Women’s Candidates desk after spherical 4
Impression courtesy: FIDE
The players will relaxation on Monday, providing a good opportunity for the Indian grandmasters to recalibrate their match, rest their minds and appear back fresher and more robust.