My intuition was right about the first round of the Candidates Open; my wishful thinking turned out to be just that. Though the games were draws, all but Nepo-Abasov featured exciting chess, especially by Naka and Alireza.

My predictions for today:

  • Pragg-Gukesh: draw
  • Naka-Vidit: 1-0
  • Nepo-Alireza: draw
  • Fabi-Abasov: 1-0

I forgot to post my prediction for the Women’s Candidates, which I expected to be all draws. But my prediction was dashed by Zhongyi Tan’s unexpected revenge for her loss to Tingjie Lei in the 2023 Candidates final!

My predictions for today:

  • Zhongyi-Vaishali: 1-0
  • Lagno-Humpy: draw
  • Nurgyul-Tinjie: 0-1
  • Goryachkina-Muzychuk: draw

All my predictions are partly wishful thinking :)

Watch the games on lichess’s (amazing new) broadcast page!