Chess Candidates 2024: How the Indian grandmasters fared

Of the five debutant Indians in the 2024 Candidates, D. Gukesh went on to claim the title in the open section, where an eight-man field included four from the world’s top-10 list.

The other four — two in each section — also had their moments. If R. Praggnanandhaa played to his rating and seeding, Vidit Gujrathi had the rare distinction of beating World No. 3 Hikaru Nakamura twice. If third-ranked Koneru Humpy showed steely resolve to bounce back from a poor start to finish joint-runner, young R. Vaishali matched her senior compatriot’s tally by dramatically rising from a four-game losing streak to finish the campaign with five straight victories.

Here are the Candidates’ report cards of these four Indians. Read on…

R Praggnanandhaa came to Toronto with the seasoned Russian Grandmaster Peter Svidler as part of his team. In spite of playing to his rating, he was left to rue a few missed chances, including one against Gukesh in the second round, which he eventually lost. His opening preparation clearly stood out, and he was seldom in any trouble going into the middle game. Clearly, he could shift gears when needed.

Looking back, Praggnanandhaa was sure to reflect on his fifth-round clash against Ian Nepomniachtchi, whom he out-prepared in the opening phase and then missed a possible victory before agreeing for a draw.

In fact, his seven-game winless streak, from Round 8 to 13, including losses to Nakamura and Caruana, effectively pushed him out of the title race.

Of his three victories, including two against last-man Nijat Abasov, the one with black pieces against Vidit was well-crafted. Praggnanandhaa’s losses to the two Americans — Nakamura and Caruana — late in the competition must have taught the youngster a lot. In both these encounters, he played white but could not deal with the superiority of these two players, who are considered the strongest after Magnus Carlsen in the past decade.

Overall, Praggnanandhaa can draw strength from the fact that, despite being a debutant, he could play to his seeding in such a challenging field.

He won and lost an equal number of games. He will remember his first Candidates as the one where he could have clearly done better.

Vidit Gujrathi, the most experienced of the three Indian debutants, left his stamp on the Candidates with a display of enterprise that surprised many.

Though his points tally does not reflect the value he brought to the competition, his twin victories over Nakamura will be recalled in every discussion of this premier event.

Victories over World No. 3 Nakamura and World No. 4 Alireza Firouzja gave Vidit instant recognition in the chess world. Though Vidit won the Grand Swiss — considered the toughest open tournament — to qualify for the Candidates, the conquests of Nakamura and Firouzja surely did bring never-before attention to his skill sets.

When Vidit beat Nakamura in their return encounter in the second half of this double round-robin event, it was believed that the popular American’s title prospects were firmly buried. But Nakamura bounced back to stay in contention until the final-round deadlock against eventual champion Gukesh.

Vidit was sure to rue the losses to Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh, but nothing was more shattering than the defeat to Ian Nepomniachtchi.

He appeared to be on the threshold of victory but slipped and lost to the two-time defending champion, who remained the only unbeaten player in the competition. Vidit hid his face in his hands and fought back tears. What a huge miss it was!

Overall, Vidit could take back plenty of positives, the biggest being the way he ended Nakamura’s 47-game unbeaten streak in classical time format. It was a great learning experience for him, who is showing great skill in matching some of the finest in the world.

Koneru Humpy made up for a slow start in the second half of her campaign to share the second spot.

Given her experience and head-to-head record against those in the field, the 37-year-old was expected to do better. But she deserves all credit for giving it her all despite struggling with form.

In the first half of seven rounds, Humpy was not only winless but suffered a loss to the lowest-rated Bulgarian Nurgyul Salimova in the fourth round and to second-seeded Chinese Lei Tingjie in the sixth.

However, it was in the second half that Humpy’s determination came to the fore. She resurrected her campaign by not only staying unbeaten but also scoring over compatriot R. Vaishali, avenging the loss to Salimova, and finishing her campaign by beating second seed and defending champion, Lei Tingjie. This triumph saw her match Lei’s tally and finish joint runner-up, before Vaishali joined the duo.

It is creditable that, despite lacking the cutting edge for the better part of the Candidates, Humpy could draw from her vast experience to bounce back.

Though champion Tan Zhongyi, who never trailed, went beyond the reach of the other contender towards the closing stages, Humpy did extremely well to occupy the next best spot.

R. Vaishali was the discovery of the Candidates, for which she had qualified by emerging as the surprise champion of the Grand Swiss in November. After becoming the country’s third female Grandmaster, she had rightfully earned her spot.

Equally, she was not expected to make a splash in the Candidates since she hardly had opportunities to play with the elite.

But she did.

Rated seventh in the field of eight players, Vaishali had a highly forgettable first half despite a decent start. In the first three rounds, she was part of all three possible results, with her victory coming over the lowest seed, Salimova, in the third round.

However, the victory was to remain the brightest part for Vaishali for the next six rounds, since she lost the last four rounds of the first half.

When she ended the first half with two defeats and resumed the second half with two losses, Vaishali’s campaign appeared to be in tatters.

She lost a few games by committing early blunders and the rest by playing moves of suboptimal strength in crucial positions.

What followed was simply sensational and unforeseeable. She won the remaining five rounds to finish as joint runner-up.

Notably, her victims included top seed Aleksandra Goryachkina, second seed Lei Tingjie, fourth seed Kateryna Lagno, and former World Championship runner-up Anna Muzychuk.

Beating Goryachkina and Lagno, the two Russians in the fray, was clearly a big takeaway for Vaishali.