Vidit Gujrathi beats Nakamura again to come back in hunt
Toronto (PTI): Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi came back firing on all cylinders after previous match defeat and crashed through the defences of second seed Hikaru Nakamura of United States in the ninth round of the Candidates chess tournament here.
The all-Indian duel between D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa ended in a draw without much ado as the day saw no other decisive games.
Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia lived by the sword against Frenchman Firouza Alireza before signing peace while Nijat Abasov of Azerbaijan showed that he was almost impregnable as white and held his forte against American Fabiano Caruana.
With five rounds and two rest days still to come in the biggest event of the year, Nepomniachtchi and Gukesh continued to be joint leaders on 5.5 points out of a possible nine while Praggnanandhaa is the sole third half a point behind.
Nakamura, Gujrathi and Caruana share the fourth spot on 4.5 points and are all within string distance with Alireza on 3.5 and Abasov on three points.
The Candidates had begun with four draws on the opening day and followed up with a brilliant victory by Gujrathi over Nakamura. The second half was just a reminiscent as Gujrathi was in his element yet again to score over the American again.
The Indian might have been predictable as far as the openings are concerned with either colour but clearly he knows his stuff.
Despite losing to Gukesh in the previous round, Gujrathi decided to continue with the Italian opening and got rewarded as Nakamura went for a side variation by pushing his king side pawns too early.
With a timely breakthrough in the centre, the dynamics in the position remained but Gujrathi was quick to spot a tactic missed by Nakamura. What followed was mayhem for black on the board. Nakamura called it a day when checkmate became inevitable.
Gukesh tried his hands at the Ruy Lopez as white but did not get much against Praggnanandhaa. Both the teenagers have been showing great skills here against the world’s best and there was nothing to choose between them when pieces flew off the board in tandem. The game was drawn in 41 moves.
Nepomniachtchi was in definite troubles but he did not show it to Alireza. Playing black, the Russian was looking at a locked position with passivity written all over it for some time but wriggled out thanks to some perfect defense. Alireza might have had some deep strategic chances but the Iranian-turned-French decided to play it safe.
In the other game of the day, Abasov simply gave no chances to Caruana to hold on to another draw with his white pieces.
In the women’s section, R Vaishali’s hope for a turnaround ended with another loss coming at the hands of Zhongyi Tan of China. The Chinese shot back into sole lead on six points in nine games. Tan-Vaishali contest was the lone decisive game of the day.
India's Koneru Humpy improved her position a bit after drawing with Kateryna Lagno of Russia while overnight joint leader Tingjie Lei was held to a draw by Nurgyul Salimova of Bulgaria.
In the other game of the day, Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine played out a draw with Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia.
Lei shares the second spot with Goryachkina on 5.5 points with Lagno on their toes with a half point adrift.
Salimova and Humpy are bunched together with four points apiece sharing the fifth spot with Muzychuk on 3.5 points. Vaishali now needs a miracle of sorts with just 2.5 points but she might do better to put an end to her string of four losses in a row.
Vaishali lost a quick game against Tan from the white side of a Sicilian defence that took shape more like a French defense.
The Indian was out of book and out-of-sort early in the middle game as she missed the track allowing Tan to take control and a simple tactic proved decisive with the game ending in a mere 21 moves. This was by far the shortest decisive game of the event in both sections so far.
Humpy, as white, faced the Ragozine defence against Lagno and did not get what she might have hoped for. The Russian, who has to play under the FIDE flag here, neutralized white’s initiative early and emerged with an extra pawn in the ensuing rook and pawns endgame that proved to be level.
Results round 9 (Indians unless specified): D Gukesh (5.5) drew with R Praggnanandhaa (5); Vidit Gujrathi (4.5) beat Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 4.5); Firouza Alireza (Fra, 3.5) drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi (Fid, 5.5); Nijat Abasov (3) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 4.5).
Women: R Vaishali (2.5) lost to Zhongyi Tan (6); Tingjei Lei (Chn, 5.5) drew with Nurgyul Salimova (Bul, 4); Kateryna Lagno (Fid, 5) drew with Koneru Humpy (4); Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 3.5) drew with Aleksandra Goryachkina (Fid, 5.5).
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Putin meets Iran's FM Araghchi, says Russia ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia
Moscow (PTI): Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday met Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hailed the Iranian people for fighting bravely and heroically for their sovereignty and said Moscow is ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia as soon as possible.
Araghchi, who held talks with Omani and Pakistani leadership before arriving in Russia, met Putin in St. Petersburg and thanked him for supporting Iran, state-owned TASS news agency reported.
"Russia is ready to do everything in its power to ensure that peace in the Middle East is achieved as soon as possible," Putin said during his meeting with Araghchi, which was also attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Revealing that he received a message from Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei last week, Putin asked Araghchi to convey his "gratitude for this message and best wishes for his health and well-being."
He praised the Iranian people for fighting "bravely and heroically" for their sovereignty, Iran's state-run PRESS TV reported.
"We really hope that, based on the courage and desire for independence, the Iranian people, under the guidance of the new leader, will weather this difficult period of trials and peace will come,” Putin said.
He also stressed that Russia “intends to maintain” its strategic relations with Iran.
Araghchi said that the world witnessed Iran’s strength in countering the US during the recent war, and that the Islamic Republic is a "stable and powerful establishment."
"With their courage, the Iranian people succeeded in resisting the US aggression and will be able to endure it,” he said.
He said that it became clear that Iran has “great friends and allies” like Russia, and conveyed “warmest greetings” from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian to the Russian leader.
Araghchi said relations between Moscow and Tehran represent a “strategic partnership at the highest level” and will continue to develop "regardless of circumstances."
"We are grateful to you for the solid and strong positions in support of the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.
Foreign Minister Lavrov said that the talks between President Putin and the Iranian Foreign Minister were "useful and constructive."
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said that Russia is "ready to provide any good offices, any mediation services that are acceptable to the parties."
"We will be ready to do everything so that ultimately peace ensues, guaranteed peace, and that there is no return to hostilities," Peskov was quoted as saying by TASS.
He was asked how Moscow can assist in future negotiations on the Iranian settlement.
Araghchi arrived in Russia after his whirlwind trip to Islamabad, which, according to him, was “very productive” and involved “good consultations" with Pakistan's Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, amid uncertainty over the second round of peace talks to resolve the war in West Asia.
"We held good consultations with our friends in Pakistan. The trip was successful. We assessed the outcome of our recent (meetings) and discussed in what direction and under what conditions talks can move on,” Araghchi said in a video posted on his Telegram channel upon his arrival in St Petersburg.
Referring to the second round of talks between the US and Iran to resolve the conflict in West Asia, Araghchi said: "Developments have taken place in the negotiations."
"Despite some progress in earlier rounds, the talks failed to reach their objectives due to the Americans' approach, the excessive demands they made, and the wrong approaches they adopted. Therefore, it was necessary to consult with our friends in Pakistan to review the latest situation,” Iran's official news agency IRNA quoted him as saying.
He said that the trip to Pakistan was a good opportunity to review developments related to the US-Israeli war against Iran, expressing confidence that “these consultations and coordination between the two countries will be highly significant.”
Araghchi arrived at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport early Monday, where he was welcomed by Russian officials and Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, the report said.
The first round of peace talks between Iran and the US, held on April 11 and 12, failed to bring the desired result for the parties to the conflict.
The Iranian minister arrived in Islamabad for the second time on Sunday after a short visit to Oman, where he held talks with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said on security in the Strait of Hormuz and diplomatic efforts to end the Iran-US conflict.
After Araghchi left Pakistan for Oman on Saturday, President Donald Trump announced that US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would no longer be going to Islamabad for talks with Iran, contending that Washington held all the cards on the matter.
Trump on Sunday reiterated that the US and Iranian officials can talk by phone for a peace solution to the conflict.
On Tuesday, Trump extended the two-week ceasefire with Iran indefinitely to give Tehran more time to prepare a unified proposal to end the war, just hours before the truce was set to expire.
The war began when the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran on February 28, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several top commanders. The retaliation by the Islamic Republic extended the war to the entire Gulf region.
