Ian Nepomniachtchi Takes Lead at FIDE Candidates Tournament
He defeated Alireza Firouzja in Round 4.
The fourth round of the FIDE Candidates Tournament finished in Madrid. Ian Nepomniachtchi crushed Alireza Firouzja as White: the former's preparation in a very sharp line of the Najdorf Sicilian was deeper than that of his opponent, and Ian managed to smash Black's position convincingly. The games Rapport - Nakamura, Duda - Radjabov, and Ding - Caruana were drawn.
Standings after Round 4:
1. Ian Nepomniachtchi - 3
2. Fabiano Caruana - 2.5
3-5. Richard Rapport, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Hikaru Nakamura - 2
6-8. Alireza Firouzja, Ding Liren, Teimour Radjabov - 1.5.
Round 5 pairings:
Nakamura - Nepomniachtchi, Caruana - Rapport, Radjabov - Ding, Firouzja - Duda.
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