Aleksandra Goryachkina Pursues Leader at FIDE Women's Candidates

There are three leaders in the open event.

Round 3 of the FIDE Candidates was played in Toronto on 6 April. The only decisive game of the open tournament saw Rameshbabu Praggnanadhaa employ the "improved" Jaenisch Gambit to outplay Santosh Vidit as Black by developing an attack on the opponent's king in a double-edged position with the opposite-side castles. 

Ian Nepomniachtchi managed to hold a difficult endgame against Gukesh with the black pieces: a draw was agreed immediately after the time control move. Firouzja – Caruana and Abasov – Nakamura also drew their games.

Standings after Round 3:

1-3. Fabiano Caruana, Dommaraju Gukesh, Ian Nepomniachtchi – 2
4-5. Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Rameshbabu Praggnanadhaa – 1.5
6-8. Nijat Abasov, Alireza Firouzja, Hikaru Nakamura – 1

Round 4 pairings:

Nakamura – Praggnanandhaa
Nepomniachtchi – Vidit
Caruana – Gukesh
Abasov – Firouzja

In the Women's Tournament, the game between the leader Tan Zhongyi and Humpy Koneru ended peacefully. The game between Lei Tingjie and Aleksandra Goryachkina was drawn as well: the Chinese player was obviously counting on the effect of surprise by using the Evans Gambit, which is rare these days, but the Russian managed to get a full-fledged game with a confident play. 

Playing Black, Kateryna Lagno survived a dangerous moment near the time control move and went to make a draw against Anna Muzychuk. Rameshbabu Vaishali defeated Nurgyul Salimova as White.

Standings after round 3:

1. Tan Zhongyi – 2.5
2. Aleksandra Goryachkina – 2
3-5. Rameshbabu Vaishali, Humpy Koneru, Kateryna Lagno – 1.5
6-8. Nurgyul Salimova, Anna Muzychuk, Lei Tingjie – 1 

Round 4 pairings:

Lagno – Tan Zhongyi
Salimova – Koneru
Goryachkina – Vaishali
Muzychuk – Lei Tingjie

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