Chess

[Jaymann]

Today Gukesh beat Vidit to tie Nepo for first at 5/8. Meanwhile Nakamura bested Caruana to tie for second with Pragg at 4.5/8.

[Jaymann]

Nakamura had a promising position with Black but lost to Vidit in the only decisive game of the round. Gukesh and Nepo remain tied for first.

[Jaymann]

Gukesh and Nepo drew each other to maintain their lead at 6/10. Caruana and Nakamura won to gain ground, creating a logjam with prag at 5.5/10.

[Moliere]

ShoeGate controversary:

After his match with Nepomniachtchi, Firouzja took to social media to complain about chief arbiter of the tournament. He said the arbiter came to him in the middle of the game and told "his shoes were making a lot of noise" and asked him to wear a different pair in the next round. This ended up being a big distraction and Firouzja lost his focus.

He also went on to allege that "all these unprofessional things" are happening to him in almost every tournament and he's tired of it.

According to Firouzja, the formal shoes were approved by the authorities and he has been using them in competitions for more than a year.

[AWS260]

Was he wearing clown shoes? Because that seems ridiculous.

[Jaymann]

The shoes were fine but his socks were too loud.

[Jaymann]

Naka and Nepo were winners today. Nepo is in sole first place with 7/11, definitely in the driver's seat. Naka and Gukesh are .5 back with 3 rounds to go.

[Jaymann]

Gukesh and Naka both won today to catch Nepo at 7.5 with two rounds to go. Caruana is only .5 back at 7. It's game on!

[Jaymann]

Gukesh! The 17 year old beats Firouzja in the penultimate round to take the sole lead at 8.5/13 in his bid to become the youngest ever champion. Meanwhile Naka held Nepo to a draw with Black, while Caruana beat Pragg with Black to set up a three-way tie at 8/13.

In the final round Naka has White against Gukesh and Caruana has White against Nepo. What a great finish.

[Jaymann]

Gukesh is the challenger! Naka could get no traction with White against Gukesh. Meanwhile Caruana had a crushing position against Nepo, but squandered the win. Even with Nepo blundering the draw a couple times, Caruana could not bring home the bacon.

All hail the youngest challenger to the world title in history.

[AWS260]

17! That's amazing. Ding hasn't been at his best this year, so Gukesh has a really good shot at the championship.

[Isgrimnur]

D Gukesh: 'Wouldn't have been close to what I am without Viswanathan Anand'

D Gukesh , the Candidates Chess champion , paid tribute to legendary Viswanathan Anand for playing a huge role in shaping his career. He said, “I wouldn’t have been close to what I am now if it wasn’t for him”.

The 17-year-old Grandmaster created history on Monday by winning the tournament in Toronto to become the youngest challenger to the world title, beating a record held by the legendary Garry Kasparov 40 years ago.

The triumph paved way for Gukesh’s clash against reigning world champion Ding Liren of China later this year.
...
Gukesh has trained at the Westbridge-Anand Chess Academy which was set up in 2020. Incidentally, before Gukesh, Anand was the only Indian to have won the Candidates (2014).

[AWS260]

Carissa Yip, defending champion, is absolutely steamrolling the U.S. Women's Championship right now. 4/4 games won.

(Oh, and there's a new chess cheating scandal in a different tournament.)

[Jaymann]

Today is a rest day and Caruana is holding a .5 lead over Hans Niemann, Wesley So, and Sam Savian. Niemann faces off against So tomorrow.

[AWS260]

The chess drama never stops. Christopher Yoo thrown out of the U.S. Chess Championship for throwing a fit and hitting a videographer after losing his game yesterday.

[Jaymann]

Caruana's win against Yoo will not count in the tournament (but he still receives elo rating points). Others will also have their prior games against Yoo annulled, and players scheduled to meet him will get a bye. What a clusterf**k.

[Jaymann]

After 8 rounds Caruana is maintaining a .5 game lead. He is now paired with Awonder Liang who trails him by that half point.

Insane development on the Women's bracket where Caressa Yip has won 8 straight games. Three more wins and she scores the bonus $64,000 Bobby Fischer prize. No one has scored a perfect 11/11 since Fischer did it.

[Jaymann]

And the dream of a perfect score is over for Carissa Yip. She blundered horribly with the White pieces and lost in Round 9.

All the contenders in the Men's bracket drew, so Caruana still leads by .5.