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In the eighth round of the Candidates Chess 2024 tournament, the Indian grandmaster, Dommaraju Gukesh has defeated his compatriot Vidit Gujrathi, putting behind the heartbreaking loss from the last round behind him, at the Great Hall in Toronto. With this impressive performance, Dommaraju Gukesh has reclaimed the joint lead in the tournament alongside the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi with five points each.
From the very beginning, Vidit Gujrathi lost time in the Italian Opening, getting down to 20 moves on the clock with just four moves in. Dommaraju Gukesh managed to equalise the position by move 11th before he started to outplay his opponent, who ended up resigning a move before checkmate.
After securing the victory, Dommaraju Gukesh spoke about his performance in the eighth round of the Candidates Chess 2024 tournament, and said, “Coming back into the joint lead, it's good, but I'm just happy that I played a good game and I came back to the shape that I'm supposed to be in.”
In the other matches in the men’s competition, the Indian grandmaster, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, settled for a draw with Alireza Firouzja after the Frenchman employed the Taimanov Sicilian with the black pieces. Both players were unable to get a clear advantage during their match before they traded down the position.
The eighth round of the women’s competition at the Candidates Chess 2024 saw the Indian grandmaster Koneru Humpy get the better of her compatriot Vaishali Rameshbabu, who is now in the eighth and final position on the points table with just 2.5 points. Also, after the China's Lei Tingjie defeated her compatriot Tan Zhogyi, she joined her in the joint lead of the tournament with five points, alongside Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia.