Toronto (Canada): In a day where most of the games ended up with draws, siblings R Praggnanandhaa and R Vaishali inked victories over Vidit Gujrathi and Nurgyul Salimova respectively. D Gukesh was impressive in his match against two-time challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi but missed out on a winning opportunity and the game ended in a draw by the end of the day. Vaishali played a brilliant game to secure a win.
Gukesh, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura are jointly leading the points table currently with two points each. Vidit and Praggnanandhaa are at 1.5 points apiece while Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja and Nijat Abasov trail half a point behind in the eight-player double round robin tournament. The fixture between Alireza and Caruana was an uneventful one both the players were glad to split the points as it ended in a Sicilian defence after 38 moves.
Tan Zhongyi of China is at the top of the points table in women's candidates with 2.5 points to her name while Aleksandra Goryachkina lags by half a point. Humpy, Vaishali and Kateryna Lahno have earned 1.5 points each so far while Lei Thingjie, Nurguyl and Anna Muzychuk are at the bottom of the pile with one point each.
