FIDE Candidates 2024 Round 14
FIDE Candidates 2024 Round 14
We have a new challenger.
Final round of the Candidates tournament. Gukesh needed a draw to secure tiebreaks. Fabi, Naka, and Nepo needed a win to secure tiebreaks. It’s as tense as it gets. Unless you’re Vidit and Alireza, who went for a grandmaster draw in the Berlin. Also, Pragg was no longer in contention, but he still went for a King’s Indian Defense and defeated Abasov in the final round to finish +0 overall.
Hikaru Nakamura - Gukesh D
Gukesh accepted Hikaru’s Queen’s Gambit, and played a solid game, isolating Naka’s pawn and generally getting a really active position in the middlegame. Both players ended up swapping all their pieces off the board, and maybe for the first time the whole tournament, the final position had just their kings on the board.
This meant the end of Naka’s attempt to win — but also Gukesh was guaranteed tiebreaks in the event of the final game going either Fabi’s or Nepo’s way.
Fabiano Caruana - Ian Nepomniachtchi
This one hurts. Fabi pressed hard in an exchange QGD, and the position got wild rather early on move 11:
Despite the pawn structure, White has a lot of plusses here — the king can castle queenside without worry since Black cannot castle kingside, so no pawn storms to fear. Black has the bishop pair but White has a bit of a lead in development. Overall, the position seems positionally double-edged and imbalanced, which is the exact kind of game you go for when you need to win.
Later on move 19…gxf4 the position has definitely gone in White’s favor, but this last move by Black allows White to increase the pressure a lot by adding tension. It’s also worth noting that Black, once castled, is already slightly shaky in the king safety department due to the weakness of the c6 pawn and White’s ability to attack it so many times. Fabi throws down two great pawn breaks in a row:
20.g4!
Of course Black can’t take, because the rook on h8 hangs, but this also means that White is threatening to create a passed pawn on the kingside with gxh5.
20…O-O-O
Probably necessary, but it’s not comfortable. Fabi finds the right continuation:
21.d5!
High pressure! The tension in the position is reaching critical mass. c6 is now completely hanging, and the Black king’s position is in serious trouble. Nepo takes a proverbial gulp and plays 21…h4 22.dxc6 Nc5 23.Bf4+ Kb8 24.Kb1! b6?
Nepo should have traded off rooks on d1. This position is wildly in White’s favor. The king barely has any squares, and the pawn on c6 provides a springboard for White’s pieces to enter the seventh rank.
25.Rd7! Rxd7 26.cxd7 Rd8 27.Qd4 Nxd7 28.Rd1 Qc5
This move feels like pure desperation. Nepo tries to take off the pressure, but the problem is the isolated kingside pawns, which will begin to fall quickly.
29.Qxf4+ Qc7 30.Qd2 h3 31.Be4 a5 32.Qd5 Ka7 33.Qxf7 h2
h1 is under control. The knight is pinned multiple times, and in general White dominates the position. Black has been reduced to near total passivity.
34.Qh7 Kb8 35.a3 Qe5 36.Qh6 Qc7 37.g5 Rg8 38.Rh1 Nc5 39.Bh7?
Fabi was extremely low on time but had a won position. This inaccuracy doesn’t lose the win, but it complicates the process, because now Black has a tactic to re-activate his pieces.
39…Rxg5! 40.Qxg5 Qxh7+
A crucial moment. Both players just reached the time control. One move keeps the advantage.
41.Ka1??
A shocking error that can probably be attributed to nerves. Ka2 had to be played to prevent a check from the knight on b3, but now Fabi will have to spend an extra tempo to move his king there and prevent such an attack. This loss of time gives Nepo enough to fight back. Nepo springs in:
41...Qc2!
This move holds the position together for Black.
42.Qg8+ Ka7 43.Ka2 a4 44.f4
Nepo errs: 44…Nb3??
Now the situation near White’s king appears dangerous, but Black is in a lot of trouble because of the looseness of his king. Fabi goes back on the offensive:
45.Qg7+ Ka6 46.Qc3 Qg2 47.Qc4+ Kb7 48.Re1 Nc5 49.Qf1 Qd5 50.Kb1 Qf5+ 51.Ka1 Qc2
White has been desperately offering queen trades, and Black has been equally desperately staving them off, because the endgame is lost for Black once the queens are gone. But now, White’s pieces control the back rank and the f-file, so White can push the f-pawn to promotion with abandon.
52.f5 Nd3 53.Rb1 Nc5 54.f6 Nb3+ 55.Ka2 Nd2 56.Qh1+ Ka7 57.Rc1 Qb3+ 58.Ka1 Qe6
59.Rc7+?
The problem with this move is that Black will be able to force out the White king with Nb3+ and deliver checks in perpetuity. Rd1 or Re1 were better moves. Qxf6 is coming, but h2 falls, and the rook will outshine the knight as long as the queens are both on the board.
59…Ka6 60.f7 Nb3+ 61.Kb1 Qf5+??
Nd2+ had to be played. Now Fabi goes back on the offensive, again.
62.Ka2 Nc5 63.Qa8+ Kb5 64.Qc6+ Ka6 65.Qa8+ Kb5
It all comes down to this moment. Fabi has a chance to force a win with a sequence that swaps off both promoted pawns and leads him with a better endgame. However, in time trouble (less than 2 minutes on his clock) Fabi couldn’t find it.
66.Qc6+?
A natural move that looks strong but allows Black to defend. Stockfish shows a line with 66.Qe8+: …Ka6 67.Qe2+ Nd3 68.f8=Q Qd5+ (trading queens is resignable, as the knight on d3 falls with check) 69.Ka1 h1=Q+ 70.Qff1 Qxf1+ 71.Qxf1 Ka5 72.Ra7+ Kb5
While this is still a difficult position to convert, White has the clear edge because the d3 knight is pinned.
After 66.Qc6+ Ka6, Nepo defended perfectly, and some 43 moves later the players reluctantly agreed to a draw in this position:
Thus ended Naka, Nepo, and Fabi’s run for the right to the challenger spot in the 2025 World Chess Championship. Gukesh D won in clear first with 9/14.
This tournament was so intense, with many emotional ups-and-downs, theoretical novelties and resurrections, drama on and off the board, and the most exciting tournament I’ve ever witnessed. All I have left to say is: Good luck to Gukesh against Ding Liren, you deserved the win, and I’m rooting for you!!