American heartbreak as Gukesh, Tan conquer the Candidates Tournaments

A teen superstar from India and an ex-world champ looking for redemption were the big winners at FIDE’s Open and Women’s Candidates Tournaments that wrapped up Sunday in Toronto, while two of America’s biggest stars were left to ponder what might have been.

With his unexpected victory, 17-year-old Indian GM Dommaraju “D” Gukesh became the youngest player ever to qualify for a world title match, earning the right to take on Chinese world champion Ding Liren later this year.

Gukesh’s 9-5 score was just a half-point clear of Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi and American GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana. Trailing by just a half-point, Nakamura was paired with Gukesh in Sunday’s climactic final round, but could only draw with White.

Caruana’s final-round fate was even more cruel: He had a winning position against Nepo that would have put him into a playoff with Gukesh, but missed several putaway moves in a fiendishly complex position and had to settle for a 109-move draw that left both players just short of the leader.

There was less suspense on the women’s side as Chinese GM Tan Zhongyi finished at 9½-4½, a full 1½ points ahead of Indian GM Humpy Koneru, Chinese GM Lei Tingjie and Indian IM Rameshbabu Vaishali. 

After surviving the nerve-wracking ending of Caruana-Nepomniachtchi, Gukesh in a press briefing credited a clear head and a stable mental state as keys to his Toronto triumph. Nowhere was that more evident than in his rebound from a tough loss to Franco-Iranian GM Alireza Firouzja in Round 7 — Gukesh’s only loss of the event — with a powerful victory over fellow Indian GM Santosh Vidit from the Black side of a Two Knights Defense.

Vidit fires the first shot in this venerable opening with 11. fxe3 Be6 12. b5?! Nb8, but by 15. d4 Qe8! 16. Rae1, it’s clear White has just created a positional headache for himself: trading on a6 hands Black a nice half-open file on which to attack, while letting Black take on b5, as happens in the game, gives Gukesh an entire file to play with.

It turns out that the domination of the a-file will prove critical to Black’s successful assault on the other side of the board. By 24. Nh4 Ra8 (the tripling on the file proves decisive, while White has no counterplay to halt the Black invasion) 25. Nf5 Kf8 26. Rfe1 Ra1, trading down with 27. Qxa1?! Qxa1 28. Rxa1 Rxa1 leaves both of White’s doubled e-pawns as tempting targets.

White prefers a quick smothering to slow asphyxiation: 29. c5 (hunkering down with 29. Rf1 Ra3 30. Qe2 Ra2 31. Rd1 g6! [Nxe4? 32.Qg4] 32. Ng3 h5 leaves Black completely in charge as well) bxc5 30. Nc4 Qe1! (the kingside attack starts via White’s own first rank; here 30…Qxb5!? 31. dxe5 dxe5 32. Rb2 Qa4 33. Nxe5 was unnecessarily messy) 31. Re2 (Kg3 Ra2 32. Qf1 Nxe4+) Qg1+ 32. Kg3 Nh5+, and White’s king is caught in a mating net.

Black finishes in style with 34…Qh2 35. Nf5 Rf1 36. g4 (see diagram; the threat was 36…Rxf5 37. exf5 Qg3 mate) Rxf5! (anyway!) 37. exf5 (Rxh2 g5 mate is very nice) Qg3+ 38. Kg5 Nh7+, and White resigned as 39. Kxh5 Qxh3 is mate.

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Tan, who held the women’s world crown in 2017 when it was determined in a knockout tournament, gets a rematch with reigning Chinese women’s world champion Ju Wenjun, who took the title from her a year later. She played solid, occasionally sharp chess in Toronto, mixing positional and tactical skills well as can be seen in her win over strong Ukrainian GM Anna Muzychuk in Round 6.

Tan as White uses the quiet but subtly dangerous 5. b3 Colle System, obtaining a strong push in the center that naturally sets up a kingside attack. Black’s 18. h4 Ra4 looks like the right idea, trying to distract her opponent with a queenside demonstration, but Tan is not for turning: 18. h5 Rxb4 20. Nd4!, when 20…Rxb2 21. hxg6 hxg6 22. Bxg6! blows up the Black defense in lines like 22…fxg6 23. Qxg6+ Kg8 25. Nxe6, hitting the queen and threatening mate on g7.

White’s attack, with the f-pawn joining the fun, almost plays itself: 24. f5 (fxg5 Nxd3 25. cxd3 Bc5 26. g6! was also strong) exf5 (h6 25. f6 Bd8 26. Bc1 Kh8 27. Bxg5! Rg8 28. Bg6! Rxd4 29. Qxd4 hxg5 30. Qg4 Ne4 31. Rxe4 dxe4 32. Qxg5 and wins) 25. Bxf5 Qd8 26. h6 Bc8 28. e6!, and even the long-locked-in bishop on b2 now joins the attack.

The only blemish on a smartly conducted assault comes on 31. Qxg5 Rg8 32. Rxf6!? (cleaner was 32. Bxf6+! Bxf6 33. Qxf6+ Kh7 34. Qf7+ Kh8 [Qxf7 35. exf7 Rf8 36. Re8 Nd7 37. Ne5 Ra8 38. Nxd7 Bxd7 39. Rxa8 Rxa8 40. f8=Q Rxf8 41. Rxf8, with a winning endgame] 35. Ne7 Rag4 36. Nxg8 Rxg8 37. e7 Qxf7 38. Rxf7 Bd7 39.Rf8 and wins) Bxf6 33. Qxf6+ Kh7 34. Ne7, and now the remorseless engines say Black can survive with 34…Be6!; e.g. 35. Nxg8 Qxg8 36. Qe7+ Qf7 37. Rxe6 Qxe7 38. Rxe7+ Kxh6, with a drawn ending.

Instead, White reclaims the win with a nice forking motif after 37…Re4? (understandable, trying to block the White rook from the attack) 38. Rxe4 Nxe4 36. Nxg8! Qxg8 (Nxf6 [Kxg8 37. Qg7 mate] 37. Nxf6+ Kxh6 36. Nxe8 Bxe6 39. Be5) 37.Qf7+, and Muzychuk concedes as the pawn can’t be stopped after 37…Qxf7 38. exf7.

(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)

Vidit-Gukesh, FIDE Candidates Tournament, Toronto, April 2024

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 a6 5. O-O h6 6. a4 Bc5 7. Be3 d6 8. Nbd2 O-O 9. c3 Re8 10. b4 Bxe3 11. fxe3 Be6 12. b5 Nb8 13. Bxe6 Rxe6 14. Qc2 Nbd7 15. d4 Qe8 16. Rae1 axb5 17. axb5 Ra5 18. c4 Qa8 19. h3 Re8 20. Kh2 b6 21. Rf2 Ra2 22. Qd3 Ra3 23. Qb1 Qa4 24. Nh4 Ra8 25. Nf5 Kf8 26. Ref1 Ra1 27. Qd3 Qb4 28. Rxa1 Rxa1 29. c5 bxc5 30. Nc4 Qe1 31. Re2 Qg1+ 32. Kg3 Nh5+ 33. Kh4 Ndf6 34. Nxh6 Qh2 35. Nf5 Rf1 36. g4 Rxf5 37. exf5 Qg3+ 38. Kg5 Nh7+ White resigns.

Tan-Muzychuk, FIDE WOMEN’s Candidates, Toronto, April 2024

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 e6 4. Bd3 c5 5. b3 Nc6 6. O-O b6 7. Bb2 Bb7 8. Nbd2 Rc8 9. a3 Be7 10. Ne5 cxd4 11. exd4 Nxe5 12. dxe5 Nd7 13. Qg4 g6 14. b4 a5 15. Nf3 O-O 16. Rae1 axb4 17. axb4 Ra8 18. h4 Ra4 19. h5 Rxb4 20. Nd4 g5 21. Bc3 Ra4 22. f4 Qc8 23. Bb2 Nc5 24. f5 exf5 25. Bxf5 Qd8 26. h6 Bc8 27. e6 f6 28. Bxh7+ Kxh7 29. Qf5+ Kh8 30. Nc6 Qe8 31. Qxg5 Rg8 32. Rxf6 Bxf6 33. Qxf6+ Kh7 34. Ne7 Re4 35. Rxe4 Nxe4 36. Nxg8 Qxg8 37. Qf7+ Black resigns.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.