Nurgyul Salimova achieved her first victory at the Women's Candidates Tournament 2024 in Toronto, Canada. In the fourth round of the tournament, the 20-year-old Bulgarian won with the white pieces against former world number 2 Humpy Koneru (India).

Salimova countered Koneru's attacking attempts and the game was very slow until the 20th move. The two chess players were forced to play the next 20 moves with less than 5 minutes of thinking time per move. The much less experienced Nurgyul played much better.

The remaining 3 games in the round ended in draws. Salimova has 2 points in her tally and shares the third place in the standings with Vaishali Rameshbabu and Kateryna Lagno. The leader with 3 points is Tan Zhongyi, followed by Aleksandra Goryachkina. In the fifth round, which is on Tuesday, Salimova will play the white pieces against Tan Zhongyi.

• Nurgyul Salimova with first loss at FIDE Candidates Tournament in Toronto