Tan Zhongyi and Lei Tingjie both draw in Round 12 of the Women's Candidates

FIDE Women's Candidates 2024 12

Mark Crowther (Fri Apr 19 19:59:00 2024)

Tan Zhongyi continues to lead Lei Tingjie by half a point going into the final rest day of the Women's Candidates tournament in Toronto. They are too far clear of the rest of the field, one of these two players will win the event.

Tan Zhongyi was losing against Nurgyul Salimova. By move 25 Tan was in a very uncomfortable position and tried to break out tactically with 25...b6? but this made things worse. Salimova's 43.f6?! (43.g6!) was a step in the wrong direction but she restored her winning position only to play 50.Bxf7? (50.Nxb4, 50.Rh4+ or 50.Bc6) which basically threw away the entire advantage and the game was drawn.

Whilst Tan was losing Lei Tingjie seemed poised to overtake her with a win against Kateryna Lagno. Lei defended the French Defence Advanced variation and after 13.Bg3? was better and seemingly within sight of the winning line played 26.Nf3? (26.Qb6! was the only winner) when the position became equal again and drawn on move 40.

Aleksandra Goryachkina got nothing in the Catalan against Humpy Koneru, pieces came off and a draw was agreed on move 25. The only decisive game was a resurgent Rameshbabu Vaishali who beat Anna Muzychuk. Things started to go wrong for Muzychuk after 24.e6 and by move 40 Vaishali had traded into a completely winning endgame which she converted.

Round 12 Standings: 1st Tan Zhongyi 8pts, 2nd Lei Tingjie 7.5pts, 3rd= Lagno, Koneru, Goryachkina 6pts, 6th Vaishali 5.5pts, 7th= Salimova, Muzychuk 4.5pts.

Rest Day 19th April 2024

Round 13 20th April at 19:30BST: Salimova-Lagno, Tan-Goryachkina, Koneru-Muzychuk, Vaishali-Lei.

Round 14 21st April at 19:30BST: Lagno-Vaishali, Lei-Koneru, Muzychuk-Tan, Goryachkina-Salimova.

• Tan leads Lei half a point after 11 rounds in a two horse race for the Women's Candidates
• Lei join Tan in the lead of the Women's Candidates on 6.5/10
• Tan bounces back with a win over Vaishali to regain the Women's Candidates sole lead after 9 rounds
• Lei, Tan and Goryachkina lead the Women's Candidates with 5/8

Gukesh, Nakamura and Nepomniachtchi lead the Candidates going into the final two rounds

FIDE Candidates 2024 12

Mark Crowther (Fri Apr 19 13:31:00 2024)

The FIDE Candidates in Toronto, Canada has reached the final rest day. With two rounds to go three players, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Gukesh and Hikaru Nakamura lead with 7.5/12 half a point clear of Fabiano Caruana, one of these players will win the event. There will be day of tie-breaks on Monday if required, although I'd rather there be a clear winner. Intriguingly pairings include Nepomniachtchi-Nakamura in round 13 and Nakamura-Gukesh and Caruana-Nepomniachtchi in the final round.

Nepomniachtchi chose the Exchange French against Praggnanandhaa and after 9 moves black was already level. Praggnanandhaa might have been a tiny bit better (33...c6!?) but the game fizzled out to a draw. A wasted white for Nepomniachtchi that he may come to regret.

Nakamura also chose the Exchange French Defence as white against Alireza Firouzja but with 7.Qa4+ the game became very offbeat and sharp. Nakamura then offered a pawn and major complications arose. 17.a3 d4!? (17...Nxf2 was the computer choice). Black got level play until 21...Nxe1? (21...Qd7=) then Nakamura took over until 34.Be1?!= let Firouzja back in the game. Firouzja made time control but his first move after 41.g5? (41.Ra3!) was the decisive mistake.

Gukesh as black managed to put Nijat Abasov under pressure right from the opening when he seemed to predict his opponent's replies to his unusual Nimzo Indian. Gukesh won Abasov's a-pawn but was a very long way from converting it, 37.c4?! (37.Ra2!) was the start concessions leading to a won position by move 41 for Gukesh which he then converted.

Fabiano Caruana knew he almost certainly had to beat Santosh Vidit today to stay in contention. In a Giuoco Piano Caruana got a little something to play with after 23.Qc5, not much according to the engines but enough to put pressure on Vidit. Caruana won a pawn on move 35 but 37.Rh5? (35.b4) misplaced the rook and allowed Vidit saving chances but 40...Rb8? (40...Qf4) was a losing error. 43.Bf5?! (43.b5!) wasn't the most accurate but Caruana soon won anyway.

Round 12 Standings: 1st= Gukesh, Nakamura, Nepomniachtchi 7.5pts, 4th Caruana 7pts, 5th Praggnanandhaa 6pts, 6th Vidit 5pts, 7th Firouzja 4.5pts, 8th Abasov 3pts.

Rest day 19th April 2024.

Round 13 20th April at 19:30BST: Nepomniachtchi-Nakamura, Praggnanandhaa-Caruana, Vidit-Abasov, Gukesh-Firouzja.

Round 14 21st April at 19:30BST: Nakamura-Gukesh, Firouzja-Vidit, Abasov-Praggnanandhaa, Caruana-Nepomniachtchi.

• Nepomniachtchi beats Vidit in a tense struggle to lead the Candidates alone again on 7/11
• Nakamura and Caruana win to get back into contention after 10 rounds of the Candidates
• Nepomniachtchi saves a difficult position against Firouzja and retains the lead of the Candidates with Gukesh after Round 9
• Gukesh joins Nepomniachtchi in the lead after beating Vidit in Round 8

GRENKE Chess Classic 2024

GRENKE Chess Classic 2024 Games and Results

Mark Crowther (Tue Mar 26 16:23:00 2024)

The GRENKE Chess Classic is a double round robin tournament played at an accelerated 45 minutes plus 10 seconds a move time control. Magnus Carlsen, Ding Liren, MVL, Richard Rapport, Vincent Keymer and Daniel Fridman play two rounds a day 26th to 31st March 2024. Then on April 1st there is a final set of tie-break matches 1st vs 2nd, 3rd vs 4th and 5th vs 6th to decide the exact final placings. Read more ....

American Cup 2024

American Cup 2024 Games and Results

Mark Crowther (Fri Mar 22 21:12:00 2024)

The American Cup took place Tue 12th to Thu 21st Mar in Saint Louis. The format was a knock-out tournament with double elimination. A mixture of Classical first and then rapid games are played followed by tie-breaks if required. Open event: Caruana, So, Dominguez, Aronian, Shankland, Robson, Sevian and Oparin. Women's: Krush, Lee, Tokhirjonova, Zatonskih, Paikidze, Abrahamyan, Jennifer Yu, Zoey Tang. Levon Aronian was unbeaten throughout and defeated Wesley So 2.5-1.5 in the Grand Final. Alice Lee won the women's event, she lost to Irina Krush in the original final, beat her in the Grand Final and then won the final two blitz games in the Grand Final reset. Read more ....

Reykjavik Open 2024

Reykjavik Open 2024 Games and Results

Mark Crowther (Fri Mar 22 18:56:00 2024)

The Reykjavik Open took place 15th to 21st March 2024. Leading players: Bogdan-Daniel Deac, Vasyl Ivanchuk, Xiangyu Xu, Jules Moussard, Matthieu Cornette, Paulius Pultinevicius etc. Top seed Bogdan-Daniel Deac won with 7.5/9 half a point clear of the field. Read more ....

5th Shenzhen Longgang Chess Masters 2024

5th Shenzhen Longgang Chess Masters 2024 Games and Results

Mark Crowther (Thu Feb 29 11:53:00 2024)

The 5th Shenzhen Longgang Chess Masters takes place 29th February to 7th March 2024. Players: Anish Giri, Arjun Erigaisi, Yu Yangyi, Vladislav Artemiev, Daniil Dubov, Bu Xiangzhi, Ma Qun and Xu Xiangyu. Read more ....

6th Prague International Chess Festival 2024

6th Prague International Chess Festival 2024 Games and Results

Mark Crowther (Mon Feb 26 18:32:00 2024)

The 6th Prague International Chess Festival takes place Mon 26th Feb (opening ceremony) to Thu 7th Mar 2024. There are two strong Round Robin tournaments. The Masters with Abdusattorov, Praggnanandhaa, Vidit, Gukesh, Keymer, Rapport, Maghsoodloo, Navara, Bartel and Thai Dai Van Nguyen. The Challengers isn't too shabby either with Korobov, L'Ami, Santos Latasa, Rodshtein etc. There are other events such as the Futures, Open, Rapids, Chess960 and many amateur groups too. Read more ....