2022 Candidates, Round 10: A major setback for Caruana, Nepomniachtchi pulls away
2022 Candidates, Round 10: A major setback for Caruana, Nepomniachtchi pulls away. In today’s round of the 2022 FIDE Candidates Competition, chess players began to throw caution to the wind in the face of the rapidly closing window of opportunity to catch up to Ian Nepomniachtchi, who is now leading the tournament.
As was the case in the earlier stages of the competition, this brought about a great deal of tension and decisive outcomes, with issues occurring across the board and resulting in an improbable leaderboard as we approach the two-thirds mark of the competition.
While Fabiano Caruana paid the price for going all-in with the black pieces against Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Nepomniachtchi maintained his lead with a rapid draw against Teimour Radjabov. Nepomniachtchi is currently in first place. As a result, the victories achieved by Hikaru Nakamura and Ding Liren resulted in the formation of a three-way tie for second place, with Nepo maintaining a lead of 1.5 points with four rounds remaining in the competition. A finish in second place could have enormous significance if Magnus Carlsen decides not to play in the next global chess championship match. This is because there is a significant potential that Carlsen will not compete.
Quiet draw with Radjabov
Even though it was maybe his best remaining opportunity to score a complete point with the White pieces, Nepo kept things simple and clean against Radjabov, and as a result, there was little activity on the front lines of the race for the lead in the tournament. As part of his preparation for his world championship match versus Carlsen, he decided to play a fashionable new line in the Catalan Opening, a line that there is a good chance he studied beforehand. It was a line in which he faced a low probability of failure and could easily sidestep any obstacles that could arise.
After move 24, the computer determined that the position was tied for first place. Shortly after that, all but one pair of pieces were quickly exchanged off beside the queenside pawns, and at that moment, the players decided to call it a day and split the point.
Caruana goes for broke
In essence, Caruana had to win with Black on demand, a monumental undertaking at the highest levels of chess. Duda, his opponent, has struggled mightily in this competition thus far, finishing with a record of 3 losses and 0 victories after 9 rounds. With five rounds to go and having already faced Nepo twice, Caruana needed to take significant risks to keep his hopes of winning the tournament alive, as he was only 1.5 points behind Nepo.
By move 11, the players had found a niche in Giuoco Pianissimo’s theoretical landscape where Black players had three wins and one draw at the highest levels of play. However, Duda took a little more conservative stance, and Caruana blundered by playing 17. – g5, initiating a frightening-looking but ultimately ineffective onslaught. Duda had to fight Caruana, but he also had to fight his inner demons, and he seemed resigned to another loss because his king was directly attacked.
However, Caruana never had an advantage in the game, and the attack made little sense. Both players were running out of time by move 32, but Duda found the magnificent 39. f4, the computer’s greatest move, to completely shut off Caruana by winning material.
Duda carefully retained his cool and maintained the rooks on the board, converting the gift handed to him by his opponent to achieve his first victory at the 2022 Candidates Tournament. Caruana kept trying for an hour longer, seeking to salvage a draw with two pawns against a knight. As a result, Caruana has already lost two of his past three games and is likely finished with the tournament.