Chess, Candidates 2024: Gukesh Dommaraju beats Nijat Abasov to become joint leader after fifth round

Indian chess Grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju moved to the top spot of the standings in the open section of the 2024 Candidates event, on Tuesday in Toronto, Canada.

The 17-year-old from Chennai – the youngest player competing at the prestigious tournament this year – came up with a win over Azerbaijani Grandmaster Nijat Abasov in a match that lasted almost six hours and saw them make 87 moves.

Gukesh, who is the second youngest player to compete at the event, after the legendary Bobby Fisher (who was 16 at the 1959 edition), is now level on points with two-time Candidates winner Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia at 3.5.

BIG wins today for both Gukesh and Hikaru! ????

Gukesh finds himself tied for FIRST place, and Hikaru is right back to even with his first win on the board! #FIDECandidates pic.twitter.com/gsflRUe4nt— Chess.com (@chesscom) April 10, 2024

There was a chance that Gukesh may not have been the only Indian winner on the night, however. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Vidit Gujrathi were in strong positions against Nepomniachtchi and world No 2 Fabiano Caruana respectively. The veterans eventually managed to hold their Indian opponents to draws.

In Gujrathi’s case, he managed to end a streak of two consecutive losses – to Praggnanandhaa and Nepomniachtchi – which came after his stunning...

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