Nepomniachtchi is so close to winning the Candidates.
Nepomniachtchi is so close to winning the Candidates. With 8.5/12, Ian Nepomniachtchi is in the lead and only needs 0.5 points to win his second straight victory in the Candidates. In the last two rounds, he will play Rapport and Duda (he beat both of them in the first part of the tournament). Nepo only needs a tie in one of these two games to win the whole thing.
Hikaru Nakamura and Ian Nepomniachtchi
The game between Hikaru Nakamura and Ian Nepomniachtchi on July 2 was over very quickly. After only eight minutes of play, they agreed to split a point because of a forced draw line in Berlin. Many people will criticize how this tie was made. In the interview after the game, Nakamura said that he didn’t think “the risk-reward was there” and that if he had lost, “there’s no shot at second place.”
Teimour Radjabov shocked Ding Liren
Teimour Radjabov shocked Ding Liren by beating him badly in 26 moves as Black. After three straight wins, which hasn’t happened in the Candidates since 2013, Ding Liren looked like a different person in that game. He didn’t play anywhere near his 2800 level, and a very motivated Teimour Radjabov beat him badly. With a lot of help from Ding, Black already had the upper hand after 21 moves. With this loss, Ding Liren’s remarkable rise from the bottom of the table at the beginning of the tournament to the top of the table has come to an end. He is tied with Hikaru Nakamura for second place, and the two of them will play in the last round.
Duda – Missed Opportunities
Duda had several chances to win against Alireza Firouzja when he had the white pieces. In a sharp line of the Semi-Slav, Firouzja started to lose again by weakening his castle and sending his pawns on a goose chase on move 22. He had done this in some previous games as well. Duda responded with a strong f-pawn push, which gave him the lead. But, just like in some of his other games, he couldn’t figure out what to do when it mattered most and lost the lead. Again, Firouzja gave White chances to win, which he took, but when it came time to do so, Duda was not up to the task. Ultimately, Black was able to force a line that led straight to a draw. Firouzja got lucky, but Duda missed out on a great chance. The Candidates is a long and hard event, and both players showed signs of being tired today. Duda has five points and is tied for sixth place with Rapport. Firouzja, on the other hand, has only 4.5 points and is in last place.
The Last Ones Standing
Richard Rapport and Fabiano Caruana were the last players to finish their game. In the anti-Berlin, the opponents were already in a better position by move ten. On the king side, where Rapport moved his pawns, most of the game was played. The Hungarian chess player took the lead for a while, but the American chess player took it away with a few well-timed moves and made the game completely even. Black had an extra pawn on the h-file, but Rapport’s active rook kept him out of trouble and helped him hold Caruana to a draw. When the score was even, he pushed for a long time in the past, but Caruana wasn’t in the mood to do that. So he and his opponent agreed to split a point. Caruana and Radjabov are tied in the middle of the table with a score of +3. Rapport is further down with a score of 5/12.
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