Never a Dull Moment in the Candidates' Tournament

For example, I was really looking forward to the clash between Gukesh and Naka, and then the pair of Nepo with Fabi.

After just six rounds, I can write about who is out of form. It's Alireza Firouzja. He has only one and a half points and yesterday he really lost 'embarrassingly' right in the opening. This will be hard to recover from. It was expected that Nijat would be 'easy prey'. Consequently, all the other players have a chance and it's going to be very exciting.

The results of the sixth round are here:

Gukesh D - Hikaru Nakamura 1/2

Vidit Santosh Gujrathi - Alireza Firouzja 1-0

Praggnanandhaa R - Nijat Abasov 1-0

Ian Nepomniachtchi - Fabiano Caruana 1/2

The opening in the game Gukesh D - Hikaru Nakamura was surprising. Not only did Naka 'dare' to play the Sicilian, but he even played ...g6 on the second move. Gukesh chose 3.c3 and Naka played 3...d5. White advanced to e5. However, Black quickly placed his bishop on g4 and got quite a good position after the opening. After 16.Bb2 Naka played 16...a5, then several pieces were exchanged, and a completely equal position arose. A well-deserved draw. You can look at the game here:

Naka himself analyzed the game for fans here:

An utterly unsuccessful opening could be seen in the game Vidit Santosh Gujrathi - Alireza Firouzja. Ali boldly chose the Sicilian, specifically the classical Sicilian, where Vidit responded in the style of Bobby Fischer with 6.Bc4. Ali opted for the system with 6...Qb6, which is OK. However, he then did not play very well and completed his "unsuccessful strategy" with a serious mistake after 13...Qxf2? That truly did not go well. Vidit played 14.e5! and Black's position fell apart. Taking on e5 is not possible (main analysis on YouTube), so Black went 14...Nd7, but after 15.exd6, Black was in a catastrophic position. Vidit then played with focus, collected Black's queen's wing, and deservedly won.

Vidit is definitely the most interesting player of the tournament. If he had capitalized on the opportunities he had, he would probably be leading the tournament...You can look at the game here:

A tough battle was seen in the match Praggnanandhaa R - Nijat Abasov. It was clear that Pragg, with white, would try to strike and he did! But the path to the point was thorny. A sort of semi-Tarrasch was played, where white did not take on d5. White soon advanced to c5, leading to an interesting position after the opening, where white probably had a slight advantage. White got a knight on the beautiful c5 square, while black obtained a pair of bishops. Black revived the position after 19...e5, but Pragg was not far behind, playing 23.g4!? A very interesting and sharp position arose. Both combatants made minor inaccuracies, but Pragg still maintained the advantage and pressure.

The position eventually drifted into an endgame, where after 38.Ra8 the engine reports 0.00, but black must play 38...Rd6! with Rd2 and gets sufficient counterplay. However, Nijat took on f6 and then made the decisive mistake after 40...Kg7? After 41.Ra5! it is over, as white's pawns will advance. You can look at the game here: 

The standings after the sixth round are as follows:

• GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, 2758, 4 points
• GM Gukesh D, 2743, 4 points
• GM Fabiano Caruana, 2803, 3.5 points
• GM Praggnanandhaa R, 2747, 3.5 points
• GM Hikaru Nakamura, 2789, 3 points
• GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, 2727, 3 points
• GM Alireza Firouzja, 2760, 1.5 points
• GM Nijat Abasov, 2632, 1.5 points