FIDE Candidates 2024 Round 8
Gukesh and Nakamura bounce back.
Pragg and Alireza got into a Taimanov Sicilian but there wasn’t much for fireworks. Both players played correctly and eventually drew.
Even more correctly played was the game between Nepo and Abasov. It was a Petrov Defense but after trades of pawns on the e-file, the position transposed into a French Exchange. This went into an endgame where Nepo kept looking for any holes, and had a slight edge to work with, but Abasov covered all his bases completely, and in the end the game ended via repetition.
But the games between Nakamura and Caruana, and Vidit and Gukesh were both decisive and featured some great attacks.
Vidit Gujrathi - Gukesh D
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 a6 5.O-O h6
Ah, modern chess. Chess novices are often harangued for making “unsophisticated” moves like these pawn pushes on the a- and h-files. It all has to do, I think, with White’s choice to respond to 3…Nf6 with 4.d3 and slow the game’s pace down dramatically, and this is also why I think the Two Knights Defense, despite allowing White 4.Ng5, is simply superior to the Giuoco Piano after 3…Bc5. The forcing nature of the move Nf6 means that the e-pawn is always under threat, and that if White defends it via 4.d3, Black can hide their intentions for a while. Gukesh hasn’t made any developing moves, but he also hasn’t created any weaknesses, and has taken away some squares from Vidit’s pieces, and now possibly threatens a pawn storm on the kingside with the move g7-g5. A few moves later, the position more or less transposed to a normal Giuoco Pianissimo and Vidit went for the traditional Queenside push typical of modern treatments of the opening.
10.b4 Bxe3 11.fxe3 Be6 12.b5?!
This move leads to some trouble because White’s pawns aren’t as in good shape as Black’s, particularly the dark squares. Vidit should keep the b-pawn on b4, and maybe trade bishops or play Qc2 to connect the rooks.
12…Nb8!
I really like this move, because it allows a recapture on a6 with the Knight if Vidit plays bxa6, at which point the knight could find itself on the way to some good squares on the queenside — I think this dissuades Vidit and allows Gukesh to open the a-file when it is most beneficial to him.
13.Bxe6 Rxe6 14.Qc2 Nbd7 15.d4 Qe8 16.Rae1 axb5! 17.axb5 Ra5 18.c4 Qa8 19.h3 Re8 20.Kh2 b6
A wonderful position for Black. He owns the a-file completely and solidifies his hold by increasing control of the c5 square, where White might try to sacrifice a pawn in order to gain a more active position. At 24…Ra8, Gukesh completed the famous Alekhine’s Gun formation.
It seems like White should have some better play with the queenside space, but clearly not — his pawns are weak and he cannot contest Black’s control of the a-file where the infiltration becomes unstoppable. Vidit cracked under mounting pressure:
Gukesh had just reciprocated a trade on a1, and generally trading pieces off can stave off an attack, but Vidit’s position went a bit more wrong with 29.c5? and after 29…bxc5 30.Nc4? it had become critical.
30...Qe1!
Suddenly the presence of the black knights heading to the kingside looms large over the White king.
31.Re2 Qg1+ 32.Kg3 Nh5+ 33.Kh4
Trading the d-pawn for the c-pawn would be strong enough, temporarily sacrificing the knight, then following up with Nf6+ and Ra2 to get access to e1 with check. Vidit could resign. But instead, Gukesh, showing his class, plays the most critical variation:
33…Ndf6!
Covering the knight and continuing the mating attack he already has in hand. The mate is inevitable.
34.Nxh6 Qh2! (Threat: Qg3#) 35.Nf5 Rf1! (Threat: Rxf5+, renewing Qg3#) 36.g4 Rxf5! 37.exf5 Qg3+ 38.Qg5 Nh7+ 0-1
After Kxh5, Qxh3 is mate. A huge bounce-back into shared first place for Gukesh after a sad loss the day before yesterday’s break.
Hikaru Nakamura - Fabiano Caruana
We once again saw Nakamura’s use of the Anderssen Variation to get a playable and slightly-less-critical Ruy Lopez. Caruana went for 5…Bc5 and the game steadily assumed a very slow positional style.
The game seemed kind of normal, though Caruana wasn’t seeming to find the right ideas and seemed to be under the pressure. Where I think the game went wrong for him was when Fabi went for a queen trade to try to play against Hikaru’s isolated queen’s pawn on d4 in an endgame.
24…Qg5?! 25.Re3! Nf4 26.h4! Qd5 (if 26…Qxh4? then 27.Re4, pinning the knight, complicates further) 27.Re4 Ng6 (a possible continuation that complicated the position was the sacrifice 27…Nxg2!?, which I think the chess.com commentators pointed out on their stream. The knight cannot actually be taken on threat of 28…f5!). 28.Rae1 Nf8 29.Re5 Qd8 30.h5
Up to this point, both players missed some stronger moves. Fabi should have put the queen on d7 to leave room for a rook on d8. And instead of h5 (a fine move) Nakamura had the opportunity to turn the screws a bit further with 30.Qf4! The point is that now White threatens Nh5, R1e3-g3 and a powerful attack on the g7 square. Black would have to play 31…Qf6 and allow the doubling of the f-pawns, at which point White has what is probably a winning endgame with technical play.
Fabi seemed to be feeling the time pressure. After 30.h5, he replied 30…Bd7 and allowed a trade of rooks on the e-file: 31.Rxe8 Bxe8 32.Nf5! Qf6 33.Qb4!
The position is critical for Black. The White queen and Rook overprotect e7, and therefore a knight check on e7 followed by more queen maneuvers is a constant threat. But beside this, the Black knight is defended by the c2-bishop, which also eyes the h7 square around the Black king. To top this all off, the White queen is simply winning the b2-pawn regardless. Unless Fabi tries to save it.
33…b5?? 34.Ne7+! Kh8 35.Nd5! 1-0
A devastating double-attack. Black must give up the queen or have insult (losing a knight) added to injury (being checkmated by Qxf8#). Fabi resigned.
The end result of this round leaves Nepo and Gukesh sharing 1st, with Naka and Pragg close behind in 3rd place, and Fabi in 5th. Vidit, Firouzja, and Abasov bring up the rear in 6th, 7th, and 8th, respectively.