Russians Sharing Lead in Toronto

Round 8 of the FIDE Candidates is over.

Round 8 of the FIDE Candidates finished in Toronto.

In the open section, Ian Nepomniachtchi did his best for a long time to use his white pieces advantage over Nijat Abasov, but the Azerbaijani Grandmaster defended stubbornly and achieved a draw in what was the longest game of the round. Santosh Vidit's opening as White vs. Domraju Gukesh was so bad that he soon got into trouble and went down. Hikaru Nakamura managed to outplay Fabiano Caruana as White. The younger of the American GMs made a series of inaccuracies and then collapsed under time pressure. The game Praggnanandhaa and Firouzja ended in a draw.  

Standings after round 8:

1-2. Ian Nepomniachtchi, Dommaraju Gukesh – 5
3-4. Hikaru Nakamura, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa – 4.5 
5. Fabiano Caruana – 4
6. Santosh Vidit – 3.5 
7. Alireza Firouzja – 3
8. Nijat Abasov – 2.5

Round 9 pairings:

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

In the women's section, the game Lagno vs. Goryachkina was a draw. In the Chinese derby, Lei Tingjie was able to take her revenge on Tan Zhongyi and ended up sharing the first place with her rival and with Goryachkina. Humpy Koneru has scored her first win of the tournament, defeating Vaishali Rameshbabu, while Salimova vs. Muzychuk ended in a draw.

Standings after Round 8:

1-3. Aleksandra Goryachkina, Lei Tingjie, Tan Zhongyi – 5
4. Kateryna Lagno – 4.5 
5-6. Humpy Koneru, Nurgyul Salimova – 3.5
7. Anna Muzychuk – 3
8. Rameshbabu Vaishali – 2.5

Round 9 pairings:

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

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