All Indians in action on the opening day – R Praggnanandhaa, D Gukesh, Vidit Gujrathi, R Vaishali, Koneru Humpy – settled for draws.
R Praggnanandhaa overcame tense moments before settling for a draw against Firouza Alireza while D Gukesh could not do much against compatriot Vidit Gujrathi and shared the spoils in the first round of the tournament. failures of the Candidates in Toronto on Thursday.
It was a quiet start to the tournament as all four matches in the men’s section ended in draws while on the women’s side, Zhongyi Tan drew first blood at the expense of compatriot Tingjie Lei, with the remaining three matches ending in dummies.
India’s R Vaishali drew against compatriot Koneru Humpy, Russians Aleksandra Goryachkina and Kateryna Lagno settled for a draw while the lowest ranked and only non-grandmaster of the tournament, Nurgyul Salimova of Bulgaria , got off to a good start by holding Anna Muzychuk to a draw. .
On the men’s side, the all-American battle between Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura also ended in a draw while Azerbaijan’s Nijat Abasov began with an easy draw against Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Praggnanandhaa created the first surprise of the tournament by opting for the open Ruy Lopez in black against Alireza. The Frenchman opted for the complications he is known for early in the mid-match. Praggnanandhaa tried his luck by launching an attack from the king’s side after breaking through the white pawn structure. However, it turned out that the open center gave enough counterplay and the game took an abrupt turn when Alireza opted for a pawn sacrifice on move 29 and followed it with a knight sacrifice on next round.
Praggnanandhaa had to find the only possible defense, which the Indian did quickly. The game was drawn and repeated on move 39.
Another game which ended with the repetition of movements pitted Gukesh and Gujrathi. Gukesh faced the Tarrasch defense which does not find many takers at the highest level. Gujrathi’s choice had the right effect as Gukesh decided not to test his opponent in the main lines and his calm approach only resulted in a stable position.
Gujrathi continued to look for his chances in a balanced position and produced a spectacular Bishop sacrifice in the 17th move. Gukesh immediately thought that accepting the bishop would be fatal and opted for a forced rehearsal.
“I didn’t see Bishop’s sacrifice coming,” Gukesh said after the match.
The Indian had seen a good idea for black in the same position and was happy with the result.
Gujrathi was in a jovial mood during the post-match discussion.
“I came up with this idea in about 5-10 minutes and spent the next 25 minutes trying not to play it,” he said, indicating he knew a draw was inevitable .
Gujrathi added that Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Daniel Vocaturo (Italy) have worked with him and are both present in Canada to help him.
For Gukesh, it is the Pole Gregorz Gajewsky who is now his second for a long time.
“There are others in the team but I would not like to reveal them,” Gukesh said.
In the women’s race, Vaishali was up to the task in holding off Humpy. Vaishali’s Italian opening gave the latter an easy game and there was not much action as the players exchanged pieces quickly. The minor piece endgame offered no chance and the result was a draw just after 41 moves.
Round 1 results:
Men: Firouza Alireza drew with R Praggnanandhaa; D Gukesh drew with Vidit Gujrathi; Fabiano Caruana drew with Hikaru Nakamura; Nijat Abasov drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Women: R Vaishali drew with K Humpy; Tingkjie Lei lost to Zhongyi Tan; Anna Muzychuk drew with Nurgyul Salimova; Aleksandra Goryachkina drew with Kateryna Lagno.
