2022 Candidates, Round 8: Nakamura stages a major upset, Rapport bounces back
Ian Nepomniachtchi is the sole leader as Fabiano Caruana suffers a defeat at the hands of Hikaru Nakamura, while Richard Rapport bounces back with a victory The major news in round eight is Hikaru Nakamura’s confident victory against Fabiano Caruana, seriously shattering his compatriot’s chances of winning the event. Following the Open Variation of the Ruy Lopez in which Black trades a knight and a bishop for a rook and a pawn (a line that was heavily tested back in the 1940s), a sharp position developed where black pieces had space, but White had the counter-initiative. Both sides seemed well prepared as they were blitzing the opening moves, but Caruana gradually fell into time trouble. First, he advanced the ‘wrong’ central pawn and then allowed White to activate his passive bishop, which immediately gave Nakamura the advantage. Despite ending in a hopeless situation, Caruana refused to surrender, putting his compatriot to serious challenges towards winning a won position. In the end, after over six hours of play (out of which he was winning in the last three), Nakamura succeeded. A major upset in the tournament as with this defeat Caruana – who until this round was breathing down Nepomniachtchi’s neck – has now fallen a full point behind the leader. Nakamura, on the other hand, is now on 4.5 points and has joined the race for the top. The round eight defeat puts immense pressure on Caruana as in his next game, he will be up against Ian Nepomniachtchi as White. If he wants to win the tournament, it seems that it is a must for Caruana to win the next round game against the leader Nepomniachtchi. Richard Rapport – who suffered a tragic defeat in the previous round – stood out in round eight not just with his salmon-pink jacket, but also with the result. He made an important comeback as he defeated Jan-Krzysztof Duda with white pieces. In a theoretical debate in the Four Knights game, where White played a rare 5.g3, Duda exposed himself on the kingside and didn’t defend well against White’s advances. Rapport immediately jumped at the opportunity to force his initiative, creating serious threats to the black king. Duda didn’t have the energy to go through the suffering and resigned on the move 29. With this win, Rapport became only the fourth(!) player in this tournament to have a victory on his scoresheet (next to Nepomniachtchi, Caruana and Nakamura) and with 4/8 still has chances for a place in the top ranks. Duda, however, is in serious trouble – his second defeat (the first one was in round six to Nepomniachtchi) sent him to the bottom of the table. Let us hope that he will regain his strength and continue to play as he did in the first part of the event. Tournament leader Ian Nepomniachtchi had a quiet day on the board as he quickly drew as White against Ding Liren. As in the game against Rapport, Nepomniachtchi opted for a forced line leading to a draw. In the Four Knights Game, there were quick exchanges of heavy pieces early on as the two proceeded to an endgame with opposite-coloured bishops. Following threefold repetition, a draw was called after Black’s 37th move. The game did not last even an hour. Going for a quick draw was a practical decision by Nepomniachtchi. Before this round, he was half a point ahead of Caruana, who is his most serious contender for the top spot and whom he will be playing against in round nine as Black. Following Caruana’s defeat in today’s round, Nepomniachtchi enters day nine of the Candidates in an even better position than he had hoped for. After eight rounds of play, World No. 2 Ding Liren is still without a victory, but with 3.5 points, he has now stepped closer to the middle of the board which represents progress following his poor start. Alireza Firouzja is still not able to get a break in this tournament. Today he drew as White against Teimour Radjabov following more than six hours of play. It was a positional battle in the Italian Game where Firouzja played the first fiddle while Radjabov was effectively thwarting White’s attempts. The game was full of finesses and manoeuvres but with no fire on the board. It seems that Firouzja’s flame is slowly dying out in this tournament, while Radjabov only lights his to get a draw. Here follows a closer look at the games from round eight of the Candidates. Richard Rapport vs Jan-Krzysztof Duda: A salmon-pink comeback Richard Rapport made a comeback as he defeated the young Polish start in a convincing fashion. Speaking of fashion, Rapport showed up for the game wearing a salmon-pink jacked, which made him stand out from the black and blue the other players were wearing. Rapport and Duda had a positional struggle in a rare line of the Four Knights Game. The first piece was exchanged after an hour and a half of play. Following the exchanges of a knight and a bishop each, Black managed to gain more initiative – pushing on the queenside but holding White’s advance on the kingside, including the rook on a7, which was defending the black king’s fortress all the way from the queenside. After 19…Qxg5 20.Qxg5 Nxg5 Black is fine, to say the least, but Duda opted for an ambitious but riskier 19…Nxg5. Two moves down the road, after Black took the bishop on h3, it seems that Duda missed a zwischenzug from White, 22.Rg1, threatening mate on g7. His reaction to this was not precise. The best options for Duda to reply were 22…g6 or 22…Qf6. However, after some consideration, Duda played 22…Ng5 – protecting the g7 spot, defending the h3 bishop and forcing white to take on g5, thus closing the file for the white queen and rook attacking the black king. After 23.hxg5 Bc8 Rapport played a slightly imprecise move 24.Rg2, to which, however, Duda quickly returned the favour with 24…Rae7, immediately giving a considerable advantage