Gukesh openings / 2024 Candidates 2 rounds to go

Gukesh is a very interesting player. currently shared lead in candidates with Hikaru and Nepo.

With White 1.e4

Ruy Lopez against Pragg.

and on round 5 against Abasov

Petroff defense. Is Gukesh a 1.e4 player ?

not so fast !

on this old picture, he is showing 1.d4. is it to make people think he is preparing 1d4 ?

against Vidit Gujrathi

and we get 1.d4 played in the current candidates tournament against the indian GM.

Queen's Gambit

and against Nepo round 3?

We have 1.d4 and the Catalan opening.

Very versatile.

With Black

Gukesh likes to answer 1.e4 with 1..e5

He won a nice game with Black against Vidit.

and against 1.d4 he likes the Nimzo indian 1d4 Nf6 2c4 e6 2Nc3 Bb4

but he can also play 1..d5 followed by e7-e6 and sometimes Bb4 next.

see against Pragg

A promising player who keeps switching openings with White and to a certain extent with Black against 1.d4, alternating between Nimzo and Queen's Gambit

who are the main contenders left besides Gukesh ?

The usual suspects two rounds before the end

and 0.5 point behind,

so Gukesh has an important 2 rounds remaining as well

Round 13 pairings

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and final round (14) pairings

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Who will win the 2024 candidates and get the right to challenge Ding Liren for the world championship match ?