The French grandmaster Firouza Alireza will be the opponent in the penultimate round of the Candidates’ chess tournament for teenage Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh.
The penultimate round of the Candidates’ chess competition in Toronto is expected to feature a picture finish between teenage Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh and Frenchwoman Firouza Alireza. If he can defeat Alireza, who has obviously been having trouble, Gukesh, with his most recent white game, will have a significant advantage in the tournament. Gukesh, Hikaru Nakamura of the United States, and Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia are all tied for first place with 7.5 points.
The biggest event of the year has just two rounds left.
Nepomniachtchi and Nakamura’s matchup will be the most significant of the penultimate round. Nepomniachtchi is the only player in the tournament who has not lost after 12 exhausting games, while the latter has been playing at the highest level, having won three straight.
The only other player with a chance to win the tournament is Fabiano Caruana.
The American, who has seven points so far, will face formidable opponents in R Praggnanandhaa of India and Nepomniachtchi in the last round.
In the championship round, Gukesh faces a formidable foe in Nakamura, and a lot will depend on how he performs against the world’s third-ranked player.
Midway through the competition, Praggnanandhaa had shown signs of finishing on the podium, but he was unable to reach his desired finish position.
The Indian, though, has shown a lot of promise, and it won’t be long until he ranks among the top five players in the world, if not higher. Praggnanandhaa currently has six points.
Vidit Gujrathi, another Indian, had a strong start to the competition and his two wins over Nakamura stood out as his finest performances.
But in some occasions, nerves and time constraints combined to play a factor, so the Indian will have to wait for another opportunity.
With only 4.5 points, Alireza has had a difficult decision to make, while Abasov, with just three points, is at the bottom of the standings.
Zhongyi Tan leads the women’s division with eight points, and Tingjie Lei, a fellow countrywoman, is her closest rival with half a point less.
On six points apiece, India’s Koneru Humpy and the Russian pair of Aleksandra Goryachkina and Kateryna Lagno trail the two leaders.Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine and Nurgyul Salimovaa of Bulgaria are next, both with 5.5 points, one point ahead of R Vaishali.
