Candidates 2024 R7: Praggnanandhaa's French Defence holds well against the World no.2 Fabiano Caruana
D Gukesh suffered his first loss of the event in the seventh round of FIDE Candidates 2024. He made a well timed knight sacrifice to complicate things for his opponent - Alireza Firouzja (FRA). However, in time trouble, the World no.6 prevailed after Gukesh blundered. R Praggnanandhaa employed French Defence against the World no.2 - Fabiano Caruana (USA). It was enough for him to share the point. Vidit Gujrathi's all attempts to score a full point was denied by Nijat Abasov (AZE). Hikaru Nakamura (USA) and Ian Nepomniachtchi had an intriguing draw. Hikaru ended up having a rook, knight and undeveloped bishop against Nepo's queen. He was forced to draw the game by perpetual checks. Today is a rest day. Round 8 starts tomorrow Saturday at 2:30 p.m. local time, 12 a.m. IST. Photo: FIDE/Michal Walusza
Nepomniachtchi emerges sole leader
One thing is for sure, R Praggnanandhaa has prepared a lot of openings and we obviously have not seen the end of his surprises. D Gukesh losing his game meant Ian Nepomniachtchi has become the sole leader 4.5/7. He is closely followed by Fabiano Caruana (USA), R Praggnanandhaa and D Gukesh at 4/7 each.
Caruana - Praggnanandhaa: 0.5-0.5
Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2803) and R Praggnanandhaa (2747) had some fantastic battles at the FIDE World Cup 2023 last year, before Caruana getting eliminated by Praggnanandhaa. This time, the teenager decided to surprise the World no.2 by deploying French Defence. He felt that one point he should have played g5 but he was not sure if it would have given him anything.
I think the above position is what Praggnanandhaa was talking about when he felt he could have opted for 27...g5. I can be wrong also as it was a post-game interview without a 2D board. Neither side by any mistake which means the game took its natural course and ended in a draw.
Firouzja - Gukesh: 1-0
Alireza Firouzja (FRA, 2760) and D Gukesh (2743) had various results in their previous encounter as they have a contrasting style. Firouzja was getting low on time, Gukesh decided to complicate things by making an interesting knight sacrifice which is a good practical decision.
28.Kxf2 Rxd5 29.Re4 Rad8 30.Be3 Bc5 Firouzja thought that he was lost here, then he found 31.Qb3 Qxb3 32.Nxb3 Bxe3+ 33.Rxe3 Black has three pawns for the sacrificed knight a5 34.Rc7 a4 35.Nc5 Ra8 36.Nd7
Gukesh blundered in time trouble 36...Kh7?? Instead, 36...b5 or Rd2+ would have continued the game.
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 7 live stream
Replay Round 7 games
Round 7 results
Standings after Round 7
Round 8 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | 2747 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | GM | Firouzja, Alireza | 2760 | 3 | ||||
| 2 | 5 | 2727 | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | GM | Gukesh, D | 2743 | 4 | ||||
| 3 | 8 | 2789 | GM | Nakamura, Hikaru | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | 2803 | 1 | ||||
| 4 | 7 | 2758 | GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | GM | Abasov, Nijat | 2632 | 2 |
