Candidates 2024 R6: Gukesh defies Nakamura, maintains his lead with Nepomniachtchi
D Gukesh drew with Hikaru Nakamura (USA) in the sixth round of FIDE Candidates 2024. He mentioned that it was a calm game and appreciated his opponent's 14...Nc8 strong idea. After all pieces were traded he felt that if he doesn't do much it should end in a draw. That is what happened. Ian Nepomniachtchi also drew his game against Fabiano Caruana (USA). Thus, Gukesh is still in the lead with Nepomniachtchi 4/6. R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi scored their second win of the event against Nijat Abasov (AZE) and Alireza Firouzja (FRA). Abasov blundered in an already difficult endgame. Firouzja made a mistake early in the game and could not recover. Round 7 starts today at 2:30 p.m. local time, 12 a.m. IST. Photo: FIDE/Michal Walusza
Praggnanandhaa and Vidit score their second wins
The draw moved Gukesh back into the World Top 10 in the live ratings. He had a published ranking of World no.8 in September 2023 FIDE Rating list. However, what's different this time is, two Indians in the World Top 10 and none of them are Vishy Anand, something that has never happened before. Of course, there are still 20 days left in this month, so a lot can happen.
Vidit - Firouzja: 1-0
Vidit Gujrathi (2727) defeated Alireza Firouzja (FRA, 2760) earlier this year at 86th Tata Steel Masters. Knowing what happened in the previous round against Nakamura, Vidit obviously felt good about his chances. Firouzja went for an ambitious 13...Qxf2? which certainly cannot work out in favor of Black.
As Nakamura said on the previous day while discussing a variation, Firouzja once again had 'delusions of grandeur' when he played 13...Qxf2. It all went downhill for Black from there 14.e5 Nd7 15.exd6 Qb6 16.Be3 Qd8 17.Rhf1 and White went on to win the game comfortably.
Praggnanandhaa - Abasov
In an already difficult endgame, Nijat Abasov (AZE, 2632) worsened things further 40...Kg7?? Find out the winning continuation for White which R Praggnanandhaa played in the game.
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Time control
The time control for each game is 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 41.
Prizes
The total prize fund is €500000. The top three prizes are €48000, €36000 and €24000. All prize money shall be divided equally among the players with the equal score after 14 rounds regardless tie-break results. In addition, each player gets €3500 euros for every half point scored.
Replay Round 6 live stream
Replay Round 6 games
Round 6 results
Standings after Round 6
Round 7 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | 2789 | GM | Nakamura, Hikaru | GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 2758 | 7 | ||||
| 2 | 1 | 2803 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 2747 | 6 | ||||
| 3 | 2 | 2632 | GM | Abasov, Nijat | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2727 | 5 | ||||
| 4 | 3 | 2760 | GM | Firouzja, Alireza | GM | Gukesh, D | 2743 | 4 |
