Candidates R9: Maiden wins

Round 9 of the Candidates Tournament saw three players scoring their first wins of the event. The one drawn encounter was the showdown between Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi, in which Caruana tried an offbeat line against his opponent’s Petroff but could not make the most of the small advantage he got in the middlegame. The winners of the day were Ding Liren, Alireza Firouzja and Teimour Radjabov. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage