FIDE Candidates 2024 Round 7
Fireworks in the Petrov, heartbreak on the clock
Fabi and Pragg met together with a French Defense. Fabi went for the Advance variation, but never seemed to make any headway in the main line. Pragg even might have become a bit better once Fabi played 17.Bd2.
Pragg snapped off the bishop, and from there the game petered out to a draw on move 41. I think this was a good strategical decision by Pragg to save the complications for another game. It seems risky to enter complications with the calculation-heavy American.
Vidit appeared to miss some chances in his Berlin Defense against Abasov. That game also ended in a repetition.
However, there were fireworks between Naka and Nepo.
Hikaru Nakamura - Ian Nepomniachtchi
We got another Petrov Defense, but Hikaru went into a rather fascinating main line and it was clear both players prepared this line deeply. I heard some commentators theorizing that Nepo was using some old prep for his 2021 match against Magnus for the world title. For a long time Nepo seemed to be under a bit of pressure, but he defended perfectly, took his time, and showed his normal elevated class as he has consistently done in every single Candidates tournament he’s participated in. Hikaru made one very slight inaccuracy, at which point the game turned completely equal:
Here Nakamura chose 25.Qe2, and after 25…Ne4 26.a4 Bxg3 27.hxg3 Nf4+ 28.gxf4 Qg6+ 29.Kf1 Ng3+…
the game was eventually drawn, as Nepo traded off all his pieces except for his queen, leading to a repetition just as both players reached the time control.
The game itself was very intense, but hard to follow along move by move, so it’s a GIF for this one.
Alireza Firouzja - Gukesh D
Alireza seemed to be in freefall before this game, repeating an unprofessional stint in online blitz/bullet right before the impending round:
Nevertheless, the players got to it and we saw a London system on the board. Gukesh was playing well and was probably better, but both players were beginning to dwindle on their clocks, and it was ultimately Gukesh who made the second to last mistake:
With 84 seconds left on the clock and five moves to reach the time control, Gukesh spent a minute here and played 36…Kh7?, helping Alireza set up a mating net: 37.Rf3! Gukesh panicked with 37…a3?? 38.Rxf7 and the final error 38…Kh8??
After 39.Nf8! a2 40.Ng6+ Gukesh’s flag fell with an impending mate on g7. The final moments and immediately after the game were so relatable as a club player who has lost games like this. And maybe all that blitz practice prior gave Firouzja the upper hand!
It’s not over for Gukesh though. The tournament is only halfway through, and it’s still anybody’s tournament. Break day today (I promise), and the second half of the tournament begins Saturday. Hoping we see some more exciting chess over the next week because so far this Candidates tournament has delivered quite well!