HYDERABAD: Daksh Santosh Nathani, 13, has been sleeping late for the past couple of weeks, at least ahead of school holidays. The reason: The FIDE candidates tournament in which a record five Indians are taking part — three in the open section and two in the women’s — has been going on in Toronto, Canada since April 3. And it begins at midnight IST.
On days he misses the games as he has to go to school, the Class 9 student wakes up early to watch the highlights of the Candidates event - the second-most important event in the chess calendar, even ahead of the World Cup.
“Sometimes I even wake up at midnight to watch the games. My favourite match so far has been the one between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Hikaru Nakamura. Even though it ended in a draw, they both played some of the best moves I have seen. Hikaru defended well while Nepo was aggressive on the attack,” Nathani, who has a FIDE rating of 1405, told TNIE on the sidelines of a local chess tournament in Begumpet.
Gaurav Karthikeya Pasangulapati (11) is Nathani’s training partner at Indian Chess Masters, a Hyderabad-based chess academy. His favourite players were Indian grandmasters Gukesh D and R Praggnanadhaa, both of whom are taking part in the open section of the Candidates. “Gukesh has been in amazing form while Pragg had defeated [world champion] Ding Liren as well as [women’s world champion] Ju Wenjun recently,” Karthikeya, rated 1598 in FIDE rankings, told TNIE.
Apart from the two Chennai-based prodigies Gukesh and Pragg, the other Indian in the eight-player open section is Vidit Gujrathi. Only 17-year-old Gukesh is still in contention and at the time of going to press (standings at the end of Round 12), he is in joint lead along with Nepomniachtchi and Nakamura. If he wins the event, he will face Ding in a match to decide the new world champion.
Koneru Humpy and Pragg’s sister R Vaishali are the Indians who are taking part in the women’s section. Their compatriot Dronavalli Harika, a seasoned campaigner who among other achievements has bagged bronze in the 2012, 2015 and 2017 Women’s World Championships, spoke about dealing with pressure in the tournament. “There is a distinction that the World Cup is a knockout, and pressure would be high as your fate could be decided in a single day. But I feel Candidates is much harder even though you have 14 days and there is a chance to recover. What is important is to maintain consistency while facing different opponents,” the Hyderabad-based grandmaster told TNIE.
Prior to the tournament, Telangana’s third chess grandmaster, Harsha Bharathakoti believed that Americans Nakamura and Fabiano Caruna would have the edge. “But to my surprise all three Indians are doing very well, especially Gukesh. I am completely rooting for Gukesh and hope he wins it. His 12th round game left several players impressed with his preparation,” Bharathakoti told TNIE.
NVS Ramaraju, who has trained current India no.1 (in the live ratings) Arjun Erigaisi as well as Harika, noted that Gukesh’s aggressive chess has been paying off. “In the previous game against Nijat Abasov (Azerbaijan), he played a rare opening move in the Nimzo Indian.” Ramaraju, who has been running RACE academy in Madhapur for over two decades now, also expected Caruna and Nakamura to come out on top. “From the Indian players point of view, I expected Pragg or Gukesh to perform well. Gukesh now has the chance to win,” the coach told TNIE.
However, Ramaraju and several chess lovers in Telangana are dejected that Erigaisi, a native of Warangal, narrowly missed a spot in the Candidates. “There is no doubt about his quality. He is multi-talented as he knows to play with sharp openings, can take numerous calculated risks and his endgame knowledge is very high at a young age,” asserted Ramaraju.