Intense Clashes in the Seventh Round of the 2024 Candidates Tournament

We'll see if Ali can now recover, as he is trailing by 2 points behind the leader Nepo. It's a significant loss, but it's still recoverable. Today is a rest day.

The results of the seventh round are as follows:

Hikaru Nakamura - Ian Nepomniachtchi 1/2

Fabiano Caruana - Praggnanandhaa R 1/2

Nijat Abasov - Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 1/2

Alireza Firouzja - Gukesh D 1-0

The duel of the seventh round might have been the game between Hikaru Nakamura and Ian Nepomniachtchi. It featured the Russian Defense, where Hikaru surprised with the move 12.g3!? which has been rarely played. A fierce tactical shootout ensued, which both players conducted swiftly. The result was a position after 21.Qd3+. Hikaru was playing very quickly so far, while Nepo was starting to lose time. Nevertheless, he must have known that this position, despite being down in quality and a pawn, was not bad. Moreover, it suited Nepo's style well. It's true that the white king certainly didn't feel safe, however, Hikaru was perfectly prepared. After 26.a4, it seemed that white would play 27.Ra3 with an advantage, but Nepo found 26...Nxg3! followed by 27...Nf4+ which led to a queen capture, albeit at the cost of a lot of material. The black queen was very active, and the game ended in a draw by perpetual check. You can watch the game here:

Hikaru comments on the game here: 

I couldn’t believe my own eyes when I saw the French Defense on the board in the matchup between Fabiano Caruana and Praggnanandhaa R! Wow, that was spectacular :-) And Pragg was excellently prepared, gaining a good position right after the opening. Pragg chose a typical knight maneuver to c4. He then played 15...g6 followed by ...h5 and ...Bh6 nicely. The position completely equalized and the game ended in a well-deserved draw. You can watch the game here:

"The game between Nijat Abasov and Vidit Santosh Gujrathi was tough. It featured the Berlin Defense with 4.d3. Interestingly, Vidit had already spent nearly half an hour after just eight moves. A dynamically equal position emerged, where white was prepared on the queen’s side and black on the king’s side. However, neither side could do much. Then the position cleared up a bit. Nijat made a mistake when he played 31.Ne2? because after 31...Qd6 32.Nc1, he allowed the opponent 32...f5! And black gained the initiative and advantage. Nonetheless, it was still a complex position where both sides made inaccuracies. The decisive position occurred after 41.gxh4 where it should have been 41...Rh7! However, black played 41...g4, the position balanced out (maybe Vidit overlooked taking on f6), and the game ended in a draw. You can watch the game here: 

Finally, Ali won in this duel: Alireza Firouzja - Gukesh D. However, it didn't look like a win for a long time. Ali chose the London System, which soon transformed into a Carlsbad pawn structure. Ali used an interesting rook maneuver via h3. Nevertheless, after about 14 moves, the position was equal. Ali then decided to sacrifice a pawn on a5, which Gukesh accepted. Chaos ensued on the board. Intense complications followed after 26.b4! when black accepted the challenge again, took the pawn, and then sacrificed a knight on f2! This was the best route to fight for a win, but also for a loss. An endgame arose where black had three pawns for a knight, but Gukesh had to solve two problems: time and his king. And he failed to resolve them at all. He was down to essentially half a minute and basically blundered the game with 36...Kh7?? although the machine adds two question marks to the subsequent moves, it's probably already lost (more analysis on YouTube). Ali then eagerly tightened the noose around the black king and executed him. The move before checkmate, Gukesh resigned! You can watch the game here:

The information you provided is formatted as a table showing the standings after the seventh round of the 2024 FIDE Candidates Tournament in Toronto, Canada. It includes player names, nationalities, ratings, individual game results against each opponent, total points scored, and their performance ratings for the tournament.

Standings:

1. Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia, 2758)- 4.5 points, performance rating 2845
2. Gukesh D (India, 2743)- 4 points, performance rating 2795
3. Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2803)- 4 points, performance rating 2786
4. Praggnanandhaa R (India, 2747)- 4 points, performance rating 2794
5. Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 2789)- 3.5 points, performance rating 2738
6. Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (India, 2727)- 3.5 points, performance rating 2747
7. Alireza Firouzja (France, 2760)- 2.5 points, performance rating 2640
8. Nijat Abasov (Azerbaijan, 2632)- 2 points, performance rating 2603

For more details and updates, you can check the official websites and platforms mentioned:

• The Week in Chess:Link to The Week in Chess
• Lichess Broadcasts:Lichess Broadcasts
• Official FIDE Candidates 2024 Website:FIDE Candidates 2024