Nepomniachtchi in charge after Round 8 of the Candidates - 8

Ian Nepomniachtchi took a short draw against Ding Liren with the white pieces in Round 8 of the the FIDE Candidates tournament in Madrid, this turned out to be a very sensible decision as he ended up extending his lead to a full point after his close rival Fabiano Caruana fell back after losing to fellow countryman Hikaru Nakamura in a sharp open Ruy Lopez.

Caruana has white against Nepomniachtchi in Round 9 but will be feeling depressed by his loss today and in addition it took many more hours to happen. If people wonder why players take quick draws in important events then this is why. If I'd been Caruana I wouldn't have gone to war today, not even in retrospect was this the key game, now he's lost ground and has to play the really important game tomorrow with many disadvantages. That said - Caruana wins tomorrow - that still change a lot in his favour. On the other hand if Caruana loses in some kind of Kamikaze shit or bust game against Nepomniachtchi the battle for first place probably ends or at least Nakamura assumes the role of challenger.

Richard Rapport beat Jan-Krzysztof Duda in a fluctuating game where Rapport seemed to lose the opening battle as white but later took over the position and Alireza Firouzja drew with Teimour Radjabov. Sorry for the very brief report but I decided that going to see my favourite band after two years of Covid was more important than sticking around to write a full report (the Dandy Warhols in Leeds turned out to be great btw).

Round 8 Standings: 1st Nepomniachtchi 6pts, 2nd Caruana 5pts, 3rd Nakamura 4.5pts, 4th Rapport 4pts, 5th Ding Liren 3.5pts, 6th Duda 3pts, 7th Radjabov 3pts, 8th Firouzja 3pts.

Round 9 pairings Monday 27th June 2pm BST: Firouzja-Rapport, Radjabov-Nakamura, Caruana-Nepomniachtchi, Ding Liren-Duda.