Gukesh Dommaraju beat compatriot Vidit Gujrathi in the eight round of the 2024 Candidates in Toronto, Canada on Saturday.
Gukesh, using black pieces, picked up his third win in the competition, the most by any of the eight players in the open category, to get to five points – level with two-time winner Ian Nepomniachtchi, who drew against Nijat Abasov.
The other Indian competing in the section, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu drew French Grandmaster Alireza Firouzja.
While Gukesh tops the leaderboard in the race for the World Championship match, Praggnanandhaa is in joint-third place with Hikaru Nakamura on 4.5 points. Gujrathi is sixth with 3.5 points.
In the women’s section, Koneru Humpy picked up a win over compatriot Vaishali Rameshbabu while using white pieces.
The win was Humpy’s first of the competition and takes her up to joint fifth spot with Bulgaria’s Nurgyul Salimova on 3.5 points. Vaishali is in last place with 2.5 points.
The women’s event has three joint leaders on 5 points each – Chinese players Lei Tingjie and Tan Zhongyi and Russia’s Aleksandra Goryachkina.
There are six more rounds to go before the winner of the event is crowned.
