Triumphs and Turmoil : 2024 FIDE Candidates Round Two Short Recap
Backspaced a thousand times, I still cannot find appropriate words to describe the agony players are experiencing right now in Toronto because, unlike yesterday, round two was full of drama, brilliant moves, time trouble, suspense, and whatnot! All four games just ended in decisive results, starting with Vidit Gujrathi, who defeated and broke the 47-game winning streak of the internet’s favorite entertainer, Hikaru Nakamura, within just 29 moves.
Vidit surely had an intensive preparation for Berlin, as Mike Klein mentioned while interviewing him after the game,
Your team found c6; that was the prep, but Bishop takes h3—was that over the board? Did you find that?
You will be surprised to know that this was also within the Nasik Lad’s preparation: Bxh3! He also admitted candidly that after Hikaru’s Nc4, he was on his own. But it was clear after the move, thanks to the powerful machine of the Twentieth Century, the move Hikaru made turned out to be a mistake. The next couple of moves were obvious, and Vidit finally proved wrong the verdict presented by none other than Carlsen!
Fabiano Caruana Vs. Nijat Abasov
The Azerbaijani Abasov came so far for the Candidates; people were not exactly sure and confused too, as the name is quite unknown to the Chess World. Nijat Abasov is playing now on one of the highest podiums for Grandmasters—in the Candidates; this could very well be an inspirational non-fiction film (there is still a chance anyway!) if Abasov can make it to the top. But unlike the World Cup, the Candidates Tournament 2024 seems to become a cruel playground. After Fabi’s Rf7, it was already a mate in 13!
Praggnanandhaa R vs. Gukesh D
The third decisive game of the tournament was between the two promising Indians Praggnanandhaa R vs. Gukesh D. Pragg gave away two pawns at the beginning, and he was ready to give up another one at move 15 by pushing the pawn all the way to e6! It will appear as if young Pragg is onto something—there were many possibilities, and without the modern-day machine we named ‘Engine’, it would be difficult to differentiate exactly where the ‘incident’ happened. Pragg has a very good outpost for his Knight; his Queen was also in the game, smoothly centralized, waiting to gather the attacking net. Bxd5 was also the stellar move, but Qg4 later on demolished the purpose of the pawn push to e6 earlier. Pragg could have his night; he started losing the grip of the game and couldn’t recover.
Ian Nepomniachtchi Vs. Alireza Firouzja
It will be a sin if people do not acknowledge the three consecutive pawn moves from Ian Nepomniachtchi (I hope I am writing it correctly!). It’s not like there wasn’t any pressure from Alireza Firouzja; he was preparing his pieces for the attack by retreating the Knight, but as it is Nepo—the man with steel-like patience and eagle-like vision—took his pawn for a walk! Alireza was in severe time trouble, remaining only 10 seconds while making the 40th move on the board and thus gaining 30 extra minutes only to resign after 5 more moves!
