Candidates Chess | Gujrathi stuns Nakamura; Gukesh beats Praggnanandhaa

Vidit Gujrathi shocks Nakamura in Candidates chess; Zhongyi leads women's event with two wins.

Vidit Gujrathi stunned second seed Hikaru Nakamura in the second round of the Candidates chess tournament in Toronto on Friday.

The day’s three other games in the Open section also produced decisive results, in sharp contrast to the first day when all the games were drawn.

In the women’s event, China’s Tan Zhongyi posted her second win on the trot. She is on two points, half-a-point ahead of Russian Aleksandra Goryachkina.

In the Open tournament, four players share the lead in these very early days — another 12 rounds remain. Gujrathi, Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi, D. Gukesh and top seed Fabiano Caruana of the United States have 1.5 points each.

Gukesh joined the leaders after accounting for R. Praggnanandhaa in a much anticipated clash between two Chennai-based Indian teenagers. The younger player — though only by nine months — won in 33 moves from the black side of a Catalan Opening.

Gujrathi’s victory against Nakamura was, of course, the day’s highlight. Not just because the American’s last defeat in a classical game of chess was in 2022, to China’s Ding Liren the current World champion, in the final round of the Candidates tournament. Nakamura, since then, went undefeated for 47 games.

That was until he ran into a well-prepared Gujrathi, who, playing black, offered to sacrifice his bishop as early as the 11th move, a novelty in the Ruy Lopez game.