MOSCOW, June 27 Madrid of the Candidates Tournament after the games of the ninth round. On Monday, Nepomniachtchi played a draw with black pieces against his closest pursuer, the American Fabiano Caruana. ;Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) — Hikaru Nakamura (USA) — 1:0 Ding Liren (China) — Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland) — 1:0. Nepomniachtchi takes first place in the standings with 6.5 points. Next come Caruana (5.5 points), Nakamura (4.5), Ding Liren (4.5), Radjabov (4), Firouzja (4), Rapport (4), Duda (3). The Candidates Tournament will last until 5 July. Its winner will play a match for the world title with the reigning Norwegian title holder Magnus Carlsen. Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin has been suspended by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) for six months due to the publication of an open letter on social networks in support of the policy of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the special operation in Ukraine . His place was taken by Ding Liren.
