Chess: India’s D. Gukesh slipped to joint-second after playing out draw against USA’s Fabiano Caruana in round 11 of FIDE candidates tournament

In Chess, India’s D. Gukesh slipped to joint-second after playing out a draw against USA’s Fabiano Caruana in the round 11 of the FIDE Candidates tournament in Toronto last night. 

Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi ascended to the top and became the sole leader of the Candidates after beating Vidit Gujrathi with black pieces.

GM Hikaru Nakamura handed a crushing loss to R. Praggnanandhaa and joined Gukesh on second place with 6.5 points.

In the women’s category, Both Koneru Humpy and R. Vaishali won their respective round 11 games. India’s Koneru Humpy moved up to joint third after beating Nurgyul Salimova, while R. Vaishali came up in seventh place after registering wins against Aleksandra Goryachkina in their round 11 clashes.

Meanwhile, China’s Tan Zhongyi grabbed her first position back after beating Kateryna Lagno.

The Candidates Tournament is organized by chess’s international governing body, FIDE, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship.

It is a double round-robin event with each player playing the rest of the contestants twice in a total of 14 rounds.

The winner of the Candidates earns the right to a match for the World Championship against the incumbent world champion.

The current world champions are Ding Liren in the open section and Ju Wenjun in the women’s category, both from China.