Candidates, Round 5

Gukesh catches up to Nepo after a topsy-turvy round.

The games continue to be exciting and the rounds bloody at the 2024 Candidates. Two games finished with a winner, and there should have been blood on all four boards. (Or rather, if we’re playing the “should” game, there should have been two wins and two draws, flipped with the two wins and two draws that occurred in reality.)

The most important for the standings, at least as they are at the moment, was Dommaraju Gukesh’s triumph of perseverance over Nijat Abasov. Gukesh was often winning, and just as often (until the very end) he gave away his advantage and let Abasov escape. In the end, in a brutal queen ending (but I repeat myself), Abasov made the final error and lost a heartbreaker in 87 moves. Now Gukesh is on +2, tied with Ian Nepomniachtchi in first place.

In fact, it might have been a solo lead for Gukesh, had Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa cashed in on his (briefly) winning advantage against Nepo. Nepo played the Petroff, and Pragg played a nasty two-pawn sac for a virulent initiative. Nepo thought for a very long time after 19.d5, and to his credit he did everything exactly right for the next few moves in a messy position that Pragg had studied and he had not. He went wrong on move 23 however, playing 23…Nc5 rather than the greedy 23…Bxh2+. The key point wasn’t so much the greed - though there was no reason not to be greedy there - but the need for White’s king to be exposed on h2 in a key variation. Fortunately for Nepo, Pragg failed to spot (or at least successfully work out) his opportunity on move 26, and Nepo was able to escape to a drawn rook and minor piece ending.

The game between Vidit Gujrathi and Fabiano Caruana was also drawn, and while it was much shorter than Pragg vs. Nepo it was also a case of a missed opportunity. Vidit consistently outplayed Caruana and found himself with a winning position after only 23 moves. He needed to find a key idea on move 26, however, and he didn’t. Instead of sending his king to the other flank starting with 26.Kc2 he played 26.Qe5?, and after 26…Qa4 his own king troubles forced him to go for a perpetual.

Finally, there was a second decisive result when a hard-fought and well-played game came to an abrupt end when Alireza Firouzja played the panicky blunder 62.Kxd3?? He was very short of time when he made the move (he had enough time to do something better when Nakamura made his 61st move), but after 62…g3 all the time in the world wouldn’t have helped him, and he resigned after 63.Rf8+ Ke6. A pity for Firouzja, who is tied for last with Abasov with a -2 score, and a good result for Nakamura who is back at 50%.

Here are today’s games, with my comments, and here are the pairings for round 6:

• Gukesh (3.5) - Nakamura (2.5)

• Vidit (2) - Firouzja (1.5)

• Praggnanandhaa (2.5) - Abasov (1.5)

• Nepomniachtchi (3.5) - Caruana (3)