CANDIDATES CHESS LIVE: 17-year-old from India, Gukesh, held on for a draw against Hikaru Nakamura in the final round of the prestigious Candidates chess tournament. The result was enough for him to secure a spot at the World Chess Championship. (FIDE/Maria Emelianova via Chess dot com)
FIDE Chess Candidates 2024 Round 14 LIVE: India’s 17-year-old phenom D Gukesh is headed towards the World Chess Championship clash against Ding Liren after his game with Hikaru Nakamura ended in a draw.
On a dramatic day, Gukesh managed to hold Nakamura to a draw, but his fate was sealed on the other board where Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana battled for 109 moves before agreeing to a draw. There was plenty of drama on the day. For a brief while, it appeared that Gukesh would be crowned as the winner today after a blunder from Fabiano Caruana in his 41st move opened up the possibility of a draw against Ian Nepomniachtchi. But then Nepo returned the favour, and handed Caruana the upper hand. But finally, the momentum swung again and the Nepo vs Caruana game headed for a draw.
In the other games of the day, Praggnanandhaa defeated Nijat Abasov while Vidit Gujrathi agreed to a draw against Alireza after barely five minutes at the board. In the women’s section, Vaishali Rameshbabu defeated Kateryna Lagno for her fifth win in a row after four successive losses. Humpy Koneru defeated Lei Tingjie. In the women’s Candidates event, Tan Zhongyi was crowned the winner, meaning she will take on compatriot Ju Wenjun in the Women’s World Championship.
Gukesh needed the Nepo-Caruana game to end in a draw. If either player wins, they will face Gukesh in the tiebreaker tomorrow.
Gukesh needed to win this game (or if he was held to a draw by Nakamura, he needed to see the game between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana end in a draw) to become the youngest player EVER to compete at the World Chess Championship (where Ding Liren awaits the winner of the current Candidates tournament).
Scroll down to check out our live coverage of the 14th round of the Candidates
INTERACTIVE: You can follow the move-by-move action from the Round 14 Candidates game between Gukesh and Hikaru Nakamura below and also click on the notations at the right of the board to retrace the way the game developed:
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INTERACTIVE: You can follow the move-by-move action from the Round 14 Candidates game between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana below and also click on the notations at the right of the board to retrace the way the game developed:
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INTERACTIVE: You can follow the move-by-move action from the Round 14 Candidates game between Nijat Abasov and Praggnanandhaa below and also click on the notations at the right of the board to retrace the way the game developed:
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INTERACTIVE: You can follow the move-by-move action from the Round 14 Candidates game between Alireza Firouzja and Vidit Gujrathi below and also click on the notations at the right of the board to retrace the way the game developed:
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Follow all the live updates from Chess Candidates 2024 Round 14 from Toronto
Live Blog
Gukesh defeated Nijat Abasov to go on top (Michal Walusza | FIDE)
