With a victory over his fellow countryman Vidit Gujrathi, D Gukesh re-joined Ian Nepomniachtchi at the top of the standings in the 2024 FIDE Candidates tournament. The Indians had a reasonably successful round 8 as Koneru Humpy recorded her first win.
With five points apiece, Gukesh and Nepomniachtchi lead the Open division, but Hikaru Nakamura and Praggnanandhaa are breathing down their necks with 4.5 points apiece. While Nakamura defeated Fabiano Caruana to advance, Praggnanandhaa and Alireza Firouzja drew.
Gukesh bounced back from his heartbreaking defeat to Firouzja with a well-deserved victory over Vidit. Gukesh, the youngest competitor at the Candidates, needed this outcome badly since it puts him back in the lead. Although it appeared that Praggnanandhaa vs Firouzja would result in a clear winner, the two players ended up sharing the points.
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Nakamura, who had previously been defeated by Vidit, advanced past Caruana to record his third straight victory. As a result of the outcome, he now stands above Praggnanandhaa in the rankings, sharing the 3–4 bracket. Nepomniachtchi drew with Abasov for the second time in this tournament, missing an opportunity to get ahead of the pack.
In the women’s division, Zhongyi Tan’s dominance was disrupted when she suffered her first tournament loss at the hands of her countrywoman Lei Tingjie. Humpy had a great day as she defeated R Vaishali to earn her first victory in eight games and advanced to the 5–6 bracket.
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