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On Sunday, April 7, the fourth round of the Candidates Chess 2024 tournament saw the Indian grandmasters Dommaraju Gukesh and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa secured draws at the Great Hall in Toronto. But, Vidit Gujrathi suffered a defeat at the hands of the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi, who took a sole lead with three points in the men’s competition.
In the top of the table clash, Dommaraju Gukesh drew against the American Fabiano Caruana in the Italian game after his pawn sacrifice to shred the opponent’s queenside didn’t prove to be enough. Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa managed to tackle the Ruy Lopez opening from Hikaru Nakamura before taking a threefold repetition draw from a position of strength, controlling the open A file.
Ian Nepomniatichtchi defeated Vidit Gujrathi by steering him to the Berlin Defense endgame wherein he got a passed pawn on the kingside after a mistake from his opponent. With this impressive win, the Russian grandmaster gained 0.5 advantage on the Candidates Chess 2024 tournament points table with two wins and two draws after four rounds.
The fourth round of the women’s competition saw Vaishali Rameshbabu from India draw her match against Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia, but her compatriot Koneru Humpy lost to Nurgyul Salimova of Bulgaria. With these results in the Candidates Chess 2024 tournament, Vaishali finds herself in tied third place with two points, while Koneru Humpy is currently in tied sixth place with 1.5 points.
The lead in the women’s competition belongs to Tan Zhongyi from China, who is 0.5 points ahead of the rest of the field, gaining three points after two wins and two losses in four rounds.