India’s Vidit Gujrathi and R Praggnanandhaa clinched thumping victories over Firouaz Alizera and Nijat Abasov respectively in the sixth round of the 2024 Candidates Chess tournament in Toronto on Wednesday. Gukesh, meanwhile, held world number three Hikaru Nakamura to a draw to maintain the joint-top position in the tournament with Ian Nepomniachtchia as Indian grandmasters continued to impress.

Nepomniachtchi also played out a draw, against American Fabiano Caruana, who is the top seed.

India’s women players, however, disappointed on Wednesday. R Vaishali, sister of R Praggnanandhaa, lost to Russia’s Kateryna Lagno, who, like Ian, is playing under the FIDE flag. Koneru Humpy too lost her match, to China’s Tingje Lei. In another match, Aleksandra Goryachkina defeated Bulgaria’s Nurgyul Salimova while Zhongyi Tan of China won against Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine.

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Praggnanandhaa began as a favourite against Abasov and ended the match that way. He was at his technical best against the opponent from Azerbaijan and for the young Chennai player, it’s just about playing well.

“Everyday I am hoping for a calmer game but I am not getting them, it is just that you need to play well whatever position we get,” he said.

Against Nakamura, Gukesh hardly got anything with the white pieces with the latter employing a Sicilian defence.

Against Alireza, who also employed a Classical Sicilian, Gujrathi went with the Sozin variation. He later spoke about his strategy. “I used to play it myself, the Classical, I just thought this will have a mini-surprise effect,” said Gujrathi.

Alizera made an error early on in the contest and that allowed Gujrathi to up his game and eventually win an exchange and pawn to clinch the victory.

With his win, Praggnanandhaa is now joint-third with Caruana on 3.5 points, whereas Gujrathi is joint-fifth with Nakamura on three points. Alireza and Abasov now find themselves in a difficult spot with just 1.5 points each to their name thus far, with the tournament now approaching the halfway stage.

In women’s section, Zhongyi Tan leads with 4.5 points in the women’s section. Aleksandra Goryachkina, is her next closest competitor with four points. Vaishali and Humpy, with 2.5 and 2 points respectively, find themselves in a precarious position with the other competitors catching up.

Results round 6 (Indians unless specified):

Men: Vidit Gujrathi (3) beat Firouza Alireza (Fra, 1.5); D Gukesh (4) drew with Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 3); R Praggnanandhaa (3.5) beat Nijat Abasov (Aze, 1.5); Ian Nepomniachtchi (Fid, 4) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 3.5).

Women: R Vaishali (2.5) lost to Kateryna Lagno (Fid, 3.5); K Humpy (2) lost ot Tingjie Lei (Chn, 3); Zhongyi Tan (Chn, 4.5) beat Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 2); Aleksandra Goryachkina (Fid, 4) beat Nurgyul Salimova (Bul, 2.5).