Chess Candidates Tournament 2024 Live Updates: Vidit, Humpy lose; Pragg, Vaishali, Gukesh draw | Chess News

Koneru Humpy also suffered defeat to debutant Nurgyul Salimova, after choosing to chase a win and seeing the ploy backfire. The veteran Humpy has competed in the World Chess Championship battle before, while Salimova is making her debut at the Candidates. She’s the youngest player in the women’s event at the age of 20.

NOTE: Scroll down to check out live updates from all the Round 4 games featuring Indians

Pragg, Vaishali and Gukesh draw

Meanwhile, siblings Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali held on to draws. Gukesh also managed to draw against World No 2 Fabiano Caruana with black pieces. Pragg managed to hold World No 3 Nakamura to a draw after 24 moves in the fourth round of the Candidates tournament with black as well. His sister Vaishali held Aleksandra Goryachkina to a draw.

Coincidentally, all the three Indian debutants in the Open section Praggnanandhaa, Vidit and Gukesh were facing the three top favourites to win the Candidates chess tournament in the fourth round. While 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa was facing World No 3 Nakamura, 17-year-old Gukesh was up against World no 2 Fabiano Caruana, who is playing his fifth Candidates event, having won the Candidates once before.

Standings at the Candidates after Round 4

After the fourth round, Nepomniachtchi, who won the last two Candidates events, is the sole leader in the Open section with three points. India’s Gukesh is joint second with 2.5 points, along with Caruana. Praggnanandhaa is fourth with 2 points while Vidit is among the four players with 1.5 points each.

In the women’s section, Vaishali has two points, while leader Tan Zhongyi has three. After her defeat, Humpy is among the three players at the bottom of the table with 1.5 points.

INTERACTIVE: You can follow the move-by-move action from the Round 4 Candidates game between Hikaru Nakamura and Praggnanandhaa below and also click on the notations at the right of the board to retrace the way the game developed:

INTERACTIVE: You can follow the move-by-move action from the Round 4 Candidates game between Vidit Gujrathi and Ian Nepomniachtchi below and also click on the notations at the right of the board to retrace the way the game developed:

INTERACTIVE: You can follow the move-by-move action from the Round 4 Candidates game between Gukesh and Fabiano Caruana below and also click on the notations at the right of the board to retrace the way the game developed:

INTERACTIVE: You can follow the move-by-move action from the Round 4 Candidates game between Humpy Koneru and Nurgyul Salimova below and also click on the notations at the right of the board to retrace the way the game developed:

INTERACTIVE: You can follow the move-by-move action from the Round 4 Candidates game between Vaishali Rameshbabu and Aleksandra Goryachkina below and also click on the notations at the right of the board to retrace the way the game developed: