Candidates Round 2: Fireworks in Toronto, Tan Solidifies her Lead

Yesterday's games were not tepid draws, but, they were, at the end of the day, draws. The same cannot be said about today's round, with its spectacular piece sacrifices, king walks, and indecipherable tactics. All games in the Open were decisive, with Caruana, Nepomniachtchi, Vidit, and Gukesh emerging victorious against Abasov, Firouzja, Nakamura, and Praggnanandhaa, respectively. In the Women's section, two calm draws stood in contrast to the action in the Tan - Vaishali and Goryachkina - Muzychuk games, where Tan and Goryachkina won rather quickly after abrupt blunders from their respective opponents.

As well as broadcasting the live games from the two tournaments, Lichess is providing a live stream for every day of the Candidates. Make sure to tune in to our Twitch or YouTube channels, with streams starting from 14:15 Toronto time (18:15 UTC).

We're also providing daily annotations on some of the games from GM Brandon Jacobson and IM / WGM Padmini Rout.

Schedule

Round Recap

Open Section

It's difficult to pick one game of the day today because there were two particularly spectacular and flashy games. The other two games were intriguing, but not quite as much as the Nakamura - Vidit and Nepomniachtchi - Firouzja bouts. So, we'll take a look at those two first.

In the post-game press conference, Vidit thanked his team (we know this is likely at least Ganguly and Vocaturo) for preparing 8...c6, a fantastic novelty, especially at the top level. It's quite a feat to find a novelty on move 8 of the Berlin Defence of the Ruy Lopez. Nakamura seemed to be taken aback by this novelty and, instead of eschewing complications with a move like 10. Re1, which would just transpose to a previously-played position, went head-on and took Vidit's central pawn. Vidit responded with a brilliant and prepared sacrifice, 11...Bxh3. Astute observers will remember that Vidit also sacrificed a bishop yesterday against Gukesh, but today's sacrifice is even more flashy and dazzling. Nakamura reacted poorly with 12. Nc4; he had the possibility of accepting the sacrifice with 12. gxh3, allowing Black to stabilize and regain the piece after 12...Qb8 13. Bf4 Bc7 14.Bg3. Nakamura continued to go wrong with a second mistake on move 18, eventually losing on move 29; his first classical loss since the Madrid Candidates 2022. GM Brandon Jacobson takes you through this game and all its hidden complications:

Nepomniachtchi got close to winning his game against Firouzja, but not quite. Wait a minute! Wasn't it mentioned in the introduction that he did win? Well, he did win in standard chess, but narrowly missed winning in King of the Hill as his king only got to d3 in a complex position with queens on the board. Unfortunately for Firouzja, he could not quite mate Nepomniachtchi's king, and, after having sacrificed a piece on move 30 to get Nepomniachtchi's king out and about, had to resign shortly after the time control.

Praggnanandhaa has not had the best results against Gukesh recently, and today's round did not reverse his fortunes. In a relatively unexplored opening, which could be best described as a Catalan-esque opening, Praggnanandhaa went for a typical pawn sacrifice with 13. d5 and 14. e5. He followed that up with 15. e6, going for a please-take-my-pawn push, which Gukesh declined with 15...f5. The game continued being quite complicated, with dynamic equality achieved on move 24. Perhaps too eager to prove some compensation, though, Praggnanandhaa then played a critical mistake, 25. Qg4, and kept on committing more mistakes, eventually resigning on move 33. GM Brandon Jacobson answers all your questions in his detailed annotations to the game:

Caruana's game against Abasov was the typical 2800-massaging the strongest chess players in history are known for. Caruana had a clear target on f6 and kept piling on the pressure, eventually forcing Abasov to make some inaccuracies on the queenside. Caruana capitalized by gaining a passed pawn on that side of the board, eventually converting by getting some kingside initiative.

Following these results, our simulations show that Caruana's winning chances have understandably continued to rise, while Nakamura's have collapsed. That said, only two rounds have been played, so obviously nobody's chances should be written off yet.

Women's Section

Half peaceful, half stormy — this would be the way to describe today's round in the Women's Section. Two draws — coincidentally both on move 38 — one strong kingside attack, with earlier dubious queenside play, and a series of oversights under time pressure, were on today's menu. Let's dive into the games!

Tan Zhongyi, who was the sole winner from round 1, went for a Jobava London in her game against Vaishali Rameshbabu. An interesting choice, out of which the game could enter into uncharted territory and a variety of positions — despite the reputation that its sibling, the London opening, has amongst chess fans.

Indeed, by move 14, both players were out of book, and a position with three vs. two pawns on the queenside for Tan and four vs. three on the kingside for Vaishali had occurred. In these kind of pawn structures, Black would usually like to keep the prospect of a minority attack on the queenside open. However, what happened in the game was quite different. After 17...Nb3 - 18... a5 - 19...a4, this idea was no longer available, and while the knight seems to have some outposts on the light squares, it's not clear what purpose it will serve. In the meanwhile, even if at a first glance unexpected, Tan was masterfully placing her pieces to launch a queenside attack.

With Black being in a hard spot, the critical blow came after 30...f5; with 32. Ndf4 played, White was ready to finish off her attack with 33.Nf6! gxf6 34. Ng6!. Black resigned in view of Nxe7 followed by a discovery, amongst other variations. IM / WGM Padmini Rout walks you through this aggressive game:

In this round of the Women's Candidates, Humpy Koneru, a veteran of the Women's World Championship Cycle, and Kateryna Lango, Women's World Championship finalist in 2018, faced each other. With a Ruy Lopez on the board, the two players entered an endgame before move 20. Despite some imbalances in the pawn structure, they exchanged down into an equal queen endgame, with the game later ending in a draw by repetition on move 38.

Nurgyul Salimova faced Lei Tingjie in a game in the Queen's Gambit Accepted. With Salimova having a fairly solid start to this tournament, drawing Anna Muzychuk, and Lei coming from a defeat by her compatriot Tan, the two players had a very balanced game, entered into an equal endgame, and drew by move 38.

In the second battle of veterans, Aleksandra Goryachkina faced Anna Muzychuk. After an exchange Slav was played, the game seemed to be heading toward equality — with a significant caveat, however: the clock. Goryachkina, probably due to successful preparation, got out of the opening with a decent time advantage, which she maintained throughout the whole game. That definitely worked in her favour, as Muzychuk, under time pressure, misevaluated the position after 25. Rec1 and her opponent's plan's strength, resulting in a positional and later tactical oversight that cost her the game. IM / WGM Padmini Rout analyzed this positional and instructive game:

Following these results, our simulations show that both Tan and Goyachkina have good chances to win the tournament, while Humpy and Lagno are also left with somewhat decent chances, albeit with the same provisos as previously!

Round 3 Preview

In the Open, Nakamura has a chance to bounce back as he faces the lowest rated player: Abasov, rated 157 points below Nakamura. Caruana has a tough test as he faces Firouzja, who will definitely be wanting to bounce back with the White pieces. Gukesh vs. Nepomniachtchi and Vidit vs. Praggnanandhaa also promise to be very exciting games, especially considering the form these players are in.

In the Women’s section, the two rookies, Vaishali and Salimova, will face each other — Vaishali coming off a loss and looking to bounce back, while Salimova has had a solid start with two draws, and will not want to take too unnecessary risks. Muzychuk and Lei, both on a minus score, will play against Lagno and Goryachkina, respectively. Finally, Tan, who's on 2/2, will play veteran Koneru Humpy.

Make sure to follow the action with us in Round 3!