Nepomniachtchi saves a difficult position against Firouzja and retains the lead of the Candidates with Gukesh after Round 9

The ninth round of the FIDE Candidates in Toronto saw just the one decisive game when Santosh Vidit
beat Hikaru Nakamura but the joint leader Ian Nepomniachtchi looked to be in trouble against
Alireza Firouzja. In the end Gukesh and Nepomniachtchi share the lead with 5.5/9 half a point clear of Praggnanandhaa.

Hikaru Nakamura seemed to have moved into contention with his round 8 victory against Caruana
but went backwards again today by losing for the second time against Santosh Vidit. Nakamura’s
Round 2 loss was an unmitigated disaster, this one he was just outplayed, twice. Nakamura was equal
out of the opening, 20…Rc8 (20…Nf4=) was the start of a bad plan, 21.Ra3 c5? (21…Nf4 slight advantage
to white was best) was really bad and white should have been a lot better, but only if Vidit found 22.Ng4.
After 22.dxc4?! the position after 22…Nf5 was equal. Nakamura was fine again but soon went wrong 24.b4 Rc8?! (24…axb4=)
and Vidit grabbed an important a-pawn. With 27…Nxe5? (27…Rcd8) Nakamura made what turned out
to be the decisive error as Vidit played accurately until the end of the game giving no further chances at all.

Alireza Firouzja put Ian Nepomniachtchi under great pressure. He chose a very slow double
fianchetto setup with white and managed to get a significant edge. The key moment
seems to have been on move 29. White had to choose between 30.gxf6 as played or closing the
King’s wing with 30.g6 and then opening the Queenside. The way Firouzja chose looked
dangerous but Nepomniachtchi held, 30.g6 looks more promising in retrospect.

Gukesh against Praggnanandhaa was a slow manoeuvring game. The engines think white
might have had some small edge about move 30 but it just looked like a well played draw.
Fabiano Caruana just about won the opening battle with the black pieces against Nijat Abasov.
3.Bb4 in a Queen’s Gambit turned into a Semi-Slav. Caruana was fine but Abasov didn’t give
any more ground and the game was drawn in 44 moves.

Round 9 Standings:
1st= Gukesh, Nepomniachtchi 5.5pts
3rd Praggnanandhaa, R 5pts
4th= Nakamura, Vidit, Caruana 4.5pts
7th Firouzja 3.5pts
8th Abasov 3pts.

Round 10 15th April at 19:30BST:
Nakamura-Abasov,
Caruana-Firouzja,
Nepomniachtchi-Gukesh,
Praggnanandhaa-Vidit.