After spherical 7, one may think about a situation the place Nepomniachtchi and Tan solidify their lead and keep it until the tip of the match. Spherical 8, although, flipped the script utterly. Gukesh bounced again brilliantly after his spherical 7 loss and joined Nepomniachtchi within the lead as soon as once more, whereas within the Ladies’s part, Lei defeated Tan to open a three-way tie for first. In shut pursuit to the leaders within the Open part are Nakamura, after at the moment’s victory in opposition to Caruana, and Praggnanandhaa; within the ladies’s, Lagno is simply half a degree behind the leaders. Because the match progresses, the thrill will construct additional and extra spectacular chess shall be performed earlier than two challengers within the Open and Ladies’s get topped.

In addition to broadcasting the reside video games from the 2 tournaments, Lichess is offering a reside stream for on daily basis of the Candidates. Be certain to tune in to our Twitch or YouTube channels, with streams ranging from 14:15 Toronto time (18:15 UTC).

*We’re additionally offering every day annotations on among the video games from GM Brandon Jacobson and IM / WGM Padmini Rout. The complete examine might be discovered right here.

Schedule

Spherical Recap

Open Part

At this time’s spherical was marked by improvements in historic openings. Gukesh and Nakamura, respiratory new life into the Italian and Ruy Lopez, respectively, received in opposition to Vidit and Caruana. Nepomniachtchi put immense strain on Abasov, however Abasov was as much as the duty and defended effectively. In the meantime, Praggnanandhaa launched a uncommon opening concept in opposition to Firouzja’s considerably stunning opening selection, however the recreation rapidly petered out right into a draw.

Fashionable chess is all about enjoying innocuous strikes which are not that a lot worse than the “greatest” engine strikes. In some circumstances, these subtleties may give rise to unanticipated nuances in typical positions. Gukesh’s preparation clearly had these concepts in thoughts as he performed 4…a6 and 5…h6 within the Italian, steering the sport into atypical and nigh on uncharted waters, which is sort of a feat, particularly at this degree. Vidit went for a typical plan within the Italian, gaining as a lot queenside house as doable. It appeared to overextend his place, although, and he quickly discovered himself worse — Gukesh’s subtleties within the opening labored out fairly effectively. Vidit’s play appeared logical, but it surely was simply marginally inaccurate, and Gukesh was enjoying completely, leaving Vidit no probabilities to come back again. That small fingerhold of a positional benefit was all Gukesh wanted to superbly coordinate and manoeuvre his items in opposition to Vidit. Underneath excessive positional strain, Vidit then blundered in what was a really unhealthy — shedding — place, permitting Gukesh’s queen to infiltrate. Gukesh completed off in type with a very fairly checkmate and bounced again brilliantly after what was a really powerful loss in spherical 7. GM Brandon Jacobson analyzes Gukesh’s comeback:

https://lichess.org/examine/Mj0wdEVK/gcVcHqVO#0

Nakamura and Caruana additionally discovered a technique to enter novel territory in one of the crucial well-studied openings in all of chess, the Ruy Lopez. Nakamura went for a uncommon transfer, then Caruana adopted up with a novel transfer (in response to our Lichess Masters database). The character of the sport wasn’t that of a typical Ruy as Nakamura had an remoted queen’s pawn, and as items bought traded, it appeared like Caruana was effectively on the way in which to equalize, and probably be higher. Nakamura saved discovering exact and aggressive strikes, although, beginning with 26. h4. Caruana didn’t react in one of the best ways doable and shortly discovered himself at an obstacle, proper earlier than blundering inexplicably. GM Brandon Jacobson showcases Nakamura’s and Caruana’s improvements:

https://lichess.org/examine/Mj0wdEVK/OkE4uI8p#0

Nepomniachtchi went into the second leg of the double spherical robin as the only real chief of the Candidates. Taking part in in opposition to Abasov with the White items (a score distinction of 126 Elo between the 2 of them), some could have anticipated this end result to be a foregone conclusion. Nevertheless, Abasov has confirmed to be tenacious and an amazing predictor of his opponent’s technique, and at the moment was no completely different. Towards 1. e4, Abasov opted for the Petrov Defence; a weapon Nepomniachtchi himself is especially keen on and one which this match has confirmed is a preventing opening. For practically 20 strikes, albeit through an (improved) transfer order, they adopted a

https://lichess.org/MYefprCy#0

between GM Anurag and IM Saravana, the place White went on to win. Nepomniachtchi had the initiative and the problems, particularly in a tense endgame state of affairs, however the underdog discovered the one equal line and bought a vital draw with the Black items. This end result might be momentous for the end result of the remainder of the sphere, with Nepomniachtchi probably having counted on a win with the White items in opposition to Abasov.

https://lichess.org/examine/embed/nUycmG6L/fpcPYMO0#0

Praggnanandhaa’s preparation on this Candidates has merely been stellar, just because it’s so recent. With 6. Ncb5 in opposition to Firouzja’s Sicilian Taimanov, Praggnanandhaa confirmed that he was not stunned by Firouzja’s selection of Sicilian and had his personal concepts. The sport by no means actually bought off to an imbalanced place, although, and Praggnanandhaa quickly discovered a technique to liquidate, attaining a relatively secure and equal place. With increasingly more items getting hoovered off, a draw was essentially the most logical end result.

https://lichess.org/examine/embed/nUycmG6L/v19cTsUv#0

Following these outcomes, our simulations present that Nepomniachtchi’s probabilities have considerably fallen regardless of solely drawing Abasov and never shedding. He stays the favourite, although, however Gukesh and Nakamura are shut behind. Caruana nonetheless has an opportunity to make a comeback, however he wants to start out stringing by victories quickly lest his probabilities dwindle.

Ladies’s Part

Simply because it appeared like Tan would run away with the occasion, she maybe let that thought cloud her judgement an excessive amount of and was, merely, too formidable. With a spectacular win in opposition to Tan, Lei threw the match vast open as there at the moment are three leaders, Goryachkina, Tan, and Lei on 5 factors, with Lagno in shut pursuit on 4.5.

Tan meant enterprise at the moment as she performed a really critical opening within the London. After having achieved a symbolic benefit within the opening with the bishop pair, the place was far too closed and thus a repetition of strikes made essentially the most sense — each on the board and as a result of match state of affairs. Exhibiting an overabundance of preventing spirit, although, Tan went for the weakening 21. f4, signaling that she was under no circumstances content material with a draw. In fact, in hindsight, the choice appears to be a poor one, however, to make use of one other platitude, fortune favors the courageous. Tan maybe may have survived, however Lei performed very precisely and Tan’s place slowly collapsed. IM / WGM Padmini Rout explores exhibits us find out how to convert like Lei:

https://lichess.org/examine/Mj0wdEVK/LzPUONjV#0

The veteran vs. rookie trope has grow to be commonplace in chess, however, in latest occasions, it looks as if expertise is narrowly edging out youth. Vaishali’s match hasn’t been going her approach, so she was seemingly hoping to get a win with the Grünfeld at the moment. Her achieved countrywoman, Humpy, although, knew the ins-and-outs of the Grünfeld variation chosen fairly effectively, gaining a pleasant benefit after Vaishali reacted poorly to a well-timed e6 pawn push on transfer 14. An change was then received in one of the best ways doable, however Vaishali defended tenaciously, finally even moving into an equal endgame. Equal doesn’t all the time imply drawn, although, and Humpy nonetheless had the additional change to work with. In time strain, Vaishali went for the unsuitable plan and was pressured to resign just a few strikes later. IM / WGM Padmini Rout exhibits what may have been:

https://lichess.org/examine/Mj0wdEVK/d1bZoWrr#0

Salimova has thus far proven that being the one IM within the match wouldn’t be of any concern to her, and at the moment noticed no completely different. Taking part in a really stable variation of the Queen’s Gambit, which went on to transpose to a Catalan place, Salimova’s better-placed items gave her a small benefit within the middlegame. There was perhaps one second the place Salimova may have capitalized additional on her benefit, however the line proven by Stockfish 16.1 will not be straightforward for a human to understand and never all that clearly profitable, both. After Muzychuk went right into a knight + 4 pawns (Muzychuk) vs. rook + 3 pawns (Salimova) place, although, it was clear that solely Salimova may win. In a flabbergasting second of double blindness, Salimova may have received after buying and selling one benefit for an additional: that of the additional change for a profitable king and pawn endgame. Sadly for Salimova, she didn’t play 54. Rxe5 and needed to acquiesce to a draw on transfer 120, after enjoying out the rook vs. knight endgame for a protracted whereas.

https://lichess.org/examine/embed/LCuAJIx2/A215eD6s#0

Goryachkina is within the co-lead and has been having a really stable match. Curiously sufficient, she has by no means been a lot worse in any of her 8 video games, a report nobody else can boast. The closest she has been to being “a lot worse” was in at the moment’s recreation in opposition to Lagno, the place Lagno had a measly +1 towards the tip of the sport — keep in mind, although, that Stockfish’s evaluations in late middlegames and endgames are overoptimistic. Attaining the attract type with 33…Nfg4, Goryachkina should be glad with at the moment’s recreation as she drew a detailed contender in Lagno.

https://lichess.org/examine/embed/LCuAJIx2/VjizoerZ#0

Following these outcomes, our simulations present that for the primary time because the begin of the occasion, Tan is not the clear favourite — Goryachkina is, with Lei shut behind. Lagno can be nonetheless within the operating, however, in any other case, the 4 different gamers have near 0 possibilities of mounting a comeback.

Spherical 9 Preview

Within the Open, the pairings of the all-decisive spherical 2 are repeated, however with colours reversed. After making an enormous comeback, Nakamura shall be seeking to get revenge in opposition to Vidit for the spherical 2 loss. Firouzja can even need to avenge his loss in opposition to the participant who as soon as once more shares the chief with Gukesh, Nepomniachtchi. Praggnanandhaa, solely half a degree behind Gukesh, can even look to offer Gukesh a tricky combat as Black. In the meantime, Caruana, who’s simply coming off a tricky loss, should take into account his choices as Black in opposition to the stable and tenacious Abasov.

Within the Ladies’s part, the match is really vast open. Of the leaders, Lei has the most effective probabilities to win as she is enjoying with the White items in opposition to Salimova. Do not rely out any Black victories, although, as Goryachkina and Tan will play Black in opposition to Muzychuk and Vaishali, respectively. For the participant looking the pack, Lagno, she additionally performs Black in opposition to Humpy, who shall be regaining her confidence after at the moment’s victory in opposition to Vaishali.

Be certain to comply with the motion with us in Spherical 9!