Praggnanandhaa, Vidit score crucial wins; Gukesh continues in joint lead

TORONTO: Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi scored crushing victories, while D Gukesh held on to the joint top spot with a draw in a brilliant sixth-round outing for the Indian men’s team at the Candidates Chess Tournament here.

Praggnanandhaa prevailed over Nijat Abasov of Azerbaijan, while Gujrathi got the better of Frenchman Alireza. Gukesh’s draw came against American Hikaru Nakamura.

With eight rounds still remaining, the 17-year-old Gukesh and Ian Nepomniachtchi continues to share the lead in the men’s section with four points each in their kitty.

Russian Nepomniachtchi, who is playing under the FIDE flag, played out a draw with top seeded American Fabiano Caruana.

There was disappointment for India in the women’s competition as R Vaishali suffered a reversal, losing to Kateryna Lagno of Russia. Vaishali, who is the elder sister of Praggnanandhaa, now has a lot of ground to cover if she has to come back in the tournament.

Koneru Humpy also lost, to Tingjie Lei of China, while Nurgyul Salimova of Bulgaria found her nemesis in Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia.

Praggnanandhaa shares the third spot with Caruana on 3.5 points and Gujrathi is not far behind on the joint fifth spot alogside Nakamura with three points.

It was the end of the road for Alireza and Abasov who both are reeling with just 1.5 points close to the half-way stage in the biggest event of the year.