“Ian betrayed his game”: Nepomniachtchi finished the Candidates Tournament ingloriously Chess player Smagin stated that Nepomniachtchi was restricted in the Candidates Tournament 04/22/2024, 14:45

Confident start and smooth finish

The tournament, organized for the candidates’ right to compete with Chinese world champion Ding Liren for the world chess crown, ended in Toronto. The competition was won by someone few expected: 17-year-old Indian Gukesh Dommaraju. Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi held the lead for a long time but ultimately missed out on winning the competition.

And it all started extremely positively for Ian: he claimed two victories in the first five rounds, upsetting the completely different Frenchman Alireza Firouzja and Vidit Gujrati, one of the three Indian representatives in the tournament. At the end of the first lap, Nepomniachtchi confidently moved into the lead.

But then there was a clear decline in the Russian’s game, and he drew several times only because his opponents truly forgave him. Nepomniachtchi won his only victory in the second round – again against Vidit – in a tough, almost six-hour game, in which he was in a losing position many times, but the Indian somehow miraculously missed opportunities to develop an advantage and, in the end, himself became nervous and lost.

Meanwhile, the contestants started to earn points. Americans Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana, clear favorites, were chasing Yan. But the obvious favorite put in a much sharper performance – Gukesh Dommaraju, who not only caught up in the final round but also beat both Ian and the two US representatives. The Indian’s draw with Nakamura in the final match was enough to at least secure a tiebreaker; That’s what happened. Yang too could only hope to break the tie if he beat Caruana, but with black he not only failed to force the fight but also narrowly avoided losing.

Thus, the Russian became the only player who did not lose a single match in the tournament, but this did not help him achieve ultimate success.

“Ian was not in ideal condition”

President of the Moscow Region Chess Federation (MSF), former world championship contender Sergei Karyakin, explained Nepomniachtchi’s failure with poor form. In his comments to socialbites.ca, he praised Ian for trying to take advantage of his chance and emphasized that the tournament winner showed more consistency than Nepomniachtchi.

“It seems to me that overall Ian was, oddly enough, not exactly in ideal shape. He struggled at first: Once he won a few games, everything seemed fine. But then he sank, he had a few positions that he definitely lost, and his rivals miraculously forgave him.

So in global terms, Yan was objectively weaker than Gukesh in terms of the quality of his game – but this does not only concern Yan. When a person organizes such a magnificent tournament, it is difficult to compete with him.

Ian did really well; He fought, took advantage of all opportunities and tried to get the maximum points in every match. But Gukesh was actually more stable,” Karjakin said.

“Nepomniachtchi betrayed his game”

According to Russian Chess Federation (RFC) vice-president Sergei Smagin, Yan was disappointed due to his desire to maintain the result achieved in the first round. After all, he did not play Nepomniachtchi’s game, he told socialbites.ca.

“All commentators noted that the start of the second round was extremely difficult for Ian. And no other positive changes occurred. Why? Perhaps there was a decision to preserve the athletic result achieved in the first round. This, it seems to me, predetermined Ian’s apparent harshness. After all, he is a lively, agile chess player, he loves a wide game – and here he closed from the opening. So if nothing goes right at launch, I just finished the game.

And in my opinion, the main reason for the failure was that he changed his playing style.

In the end, apparently, the sport thought – and they had such reasons, after all, the two candidates won the tournament – that +3 guaranteed it at least a tiebreaker. But everything went wrong. The new generation of young Indian chess players are not sparing themselves at all. In the second round, there was a fierce fight. Nakamura played five effective games and Caruana played four. In short, everyone except Ian. He needs to thank God that he still has +3 because he could easily fall behind three in terms of play and positioning,” says Smagin.

“Gukesh made a splash”

Separately, experts drew attention to a 17-year-old Indian. Karjakin admitted that he did not expect the Indian chess school to return to a leading position so quickly.

“I already believed that the Indian chess school was developing rapidly and young grandmasters were emerging who would compete for the world championship match. But I didn’t think it would happen this quickly. Already a 17-year-old is being selected for a match – this was unimaginable before. Maybe Carlsen was an exception, but he is truly unique.

I don’t know how Gukesh will go forward in replicating Carlsen’s results, but he has real championship potential and I see him as the favorite for the world championship match with Ding Liren.

Gukesh surprised everyone the most. Before the tournament I saw Nepomniachtchi, Caruana and Nakamura as the favorites and any of them could win.

But 17-year-old Gukesh made a real sensation. I think this will give additional impetus to the development of chess in India.

And we need to draw conclusions and move on. “The tournament was interesting,” said Karyakin.

“The Indian player will be the favorite in the match against Ding Liren”

Smagin expressed his support for Karjakin’s idea and called Gukesh the favorite in the upcoming championship match.

“I was surprised by Gukesh’s rising play. He improved greatly in the second round and the versatility of a very young chess player began to be felt. In the last game, he brilliantly understood the intricacies of a not so simple position and drew with Nakamura from a strong position. He is simply athletic “Not only his result, but also his play shows that he is a chess player with great abilities. I think he will definitely be the favorite of many in the match against Ding Liren,” Smagin concluded.