May defy the odds once again

Vidit Gujrathi (right) during his Rd Two match against World No. 3 Hikaru Nakamura; D Gukesh; Koneru Humpy; India chess star R Praggnanandhaa. Pics/FIDE’s X account

After two rounds of the FIDE Candidates Chess tournament which commenced at Toronto, Canada, the Indians in fray have clearly demonstrated that they are no pushovers, if not firm favourites.

R Praggnanandhaa, Domaraju Gukesh and Vidit Santosh Gujrathi bunched rating wise in the lower half of the elite eight player field, have had no takers for them during the lead up to the tournament.

The Candidates clearly is the fiercest hunting ground for the only spot of the winner which comes with the entitlement of directly challenging the World Champion as a Challenger.

In the very second round, Vidit, who has had a magnificent run to this event, played a fantastic game to score a scintillating victory over Hikaru Nakamura of USA, the second seed here and the third highest rated player in the world.

It was a well prepared and excellently executed victory, one which not only enhances Vidit's morale but raises his strength measuring bar significantly.
Boost for Vidit.

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Incidentally, Vidit also halted Nakamura's unbeaten stint of 47 games in Classical Chess. An early victory against one of the overwhelming favourites is a boost for Vidit and the other Indians.

In another all Indian encounter, in this eight player Double Round Robin tournament, where each player will play all the others twice, once with the White pieces and once with Black pieces, 18-year-old Pragg ended on the losing side against 17-year-old Gukesh.

Incidentally, Pragg had equalising opportunities at times, but quite clearly was gunning only for victory. Gukesh on the other hand, displayed a calm demeanour, waiting patiently for errors or inaccuracies to creep into Pragg's handing of the position.

Two draws for Humpy

In the women's section, Koneru Humpy has vast experience and expertise in playing at the highest level of the game and has begun sedately with two draws.

The World title is the only eluding title so far and Humpy has the ability to go for the kill when needed.

R Vaishali on the other hand, makes her debut and is rated a good distance behind the Top 6 in fray.

Top Grandmasters, commentators, experts and the highest rated player on the planet Magnus Carlsen, though crediting them with good playing strength, have made it clear that they are not in contention for the Challenger title.

In short, the gist has been that the Indians in the fray can be Kingmakers if not Kings, for now.

Interesting mix

This edition of the Candidates perhaps has a most interesting mix of players, the top three contenders Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Ian Nepomniachtchi in their thirties, Gukesh and Pragg in their teens and Vidit, Alireza Firouzja and Nijat Abasov in their twenties.

The quality of the field needs no validation, but what sets apart Caruana, Nakamura and Nepomniatchi is their experience in previous Candidate tournaments and their extensive training for events of this magnitude.

Both Fabiano and Nepomniachtchi have been Challengers twice and are clearly aware of how to set the pace for this long event which could be termed as a combination of sprint as well as a marathon.

Secrecy shrouds over the combination of the team or ‘Seconds' the players have been working with and interestingly though a few players have refused to divulge the name of their teams, Viswanathan Anand's shadow looms large as most of his former ‘Seconds' have been working with Vidit, Vaishali and Gukesh.

Surya Shekhar Ganguly, a vital member of Anand's team in his World Championship matches, has been working with Vidit, while Sandipan Chand has been assisting Vaishali and Grzegorz Gajewski , also a former Anand teammate, has been roped in by Gukesh.

RB Ramesh, who won the Dronacharya Award this year, has been working extensively with Pragg and Vaishali for years now, quipped on a cautious note: "It is a good sign that five Indians are in the fray for the Candidates. Bright future for Indian chess and I hope few of them will be able to make a mark in this event."

When quizzed about the special preparation for this event, Ramesh replied: "We have done some good work in the last few months."

The odds may be heavily stacked against the Indians, but then, in the year 2023, they have defied them!

Emphatically at that! The way the Indians went about garnering spots for the Candidates is everything bordering on the brilliant!

Pragg stormed into the finals of the World Cup after being seeded 31st, Vidit won the Grand Swiss, starting as the 15th seed, Gukesh clinched the Chennai Super GM, Vaishali was seeded 12th, but clinched the Women's Grand Swiss, Humpy qualified on her rating basis. All that this bunch need is to play to their true potential to defy the odds once again.