Ding Liren defeated Fabiano Caruana in a match between two pre-tournament favourites at the Fide Chess Candidates tournament in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on Thursday.
The Chinese Grandmaster got his first win of the tournament after losing his previous two matches. Liren countered the world No 2’s aggressive play to seal a 1-0 win.
There were three other matches on the day and they all ended in draws. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave held Anish Giri to a draw with black pieces, Kirill Alekseenko drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi, and Alexander Grischuk managed to hold Wang Hao.
After three rounds in the tournament, there are three players tied at the top of the standings – Hao, Nepomniachtchi and Vachier-Lagrave.
The eight-player Candidates tournament is held every two years and the winner will get to face Magnus Carlsen for his World Chess Champion title.
Standings after round three
| Rank | Name | Rating | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nepomniachtchi,I | 2774 | 2.0 |
| 2 | Wang,H | 2762 | 2.0 |
| 3 | Vachier-Lagrave,M | 2767 | 2.0 |
| 4 | Grischuk,A | 2777 | 1.5 |
| 5 | Caruana,F | 2842 | 1.5 |
| 6 | Ding,L | 2805 | 1.0 |
| 7 | Giri,A | 2763 | 1.0 |
| 8 | Alekseenko,K | 2704 | 1.0 |
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