Praggnanandhaa Falls To Sindarov; Vaishali Takes Solo Lead In Women’s Section Of Candidates

The unstoppable Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan took another stride towards the title as he defeated India’s R Praggnanandhaa to stretch his lead to a huge two points at the end of the 10th round of the Candidates chess tournament in Paphos on Thursday.

Sindarov took his tally to eight points following his sixth victory in the tournament and his second over the Indian.

Anish Giri of the Netherlands is the lone player closest to Sindarov on six points.

Praggnanandhaa is now completely out of contention as he remained on four points following his third loss in the tournament.

In other games of the day, Fabiano Caruana of the United States was held to a draw by Wei Yi of China, American Hikaru Nakamura drew with Giri, while Andrey Esipenko of Russia

played out a draw with Matthias Bluebaum.

R Vaishali, the elder sister of Praggnanandhaa, meanwhile, continued her good form and drew with Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine to emerge as the sole leader in the women’s Candidates on six points.

The Indian is now followed by Muzychuk and Jiner Zhu of China, who both have 5.5 points apiece.

Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan defeated Jiner Zhu and moved to five points alongside Russians Kateryna Lagno and Aleksandra Goryachkina. The last four rounds will decide the fate of the winner and it looks like an exciting finish is on the cards in the women’s section.

Sindarov yet again showcased his deep opening preparation and caught Praggnanandhaa in a deeply worked-out position. The Uzbek sacrificed a piece early, and huge complications arose on the board when Praggnanandhaa erred and lost his queen for two rooks and a handful of white pawns.

Sindarov’s technique was spot on thereafter.

Vaishali was in solid form and did not face any problems in equalising against Muzychuk, while Divya Deshmukh misplayed an endgame to go down against Goryachkina.

Results Round 10: Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb, 8) beat R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 4); Andrey Esipenko (Rus, 3.5) drew with Matthias Bluebaum (Ger, 4.5); Wei Yi (Chn, 4.5) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 5); Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 4.5) drew with Anish Giri (Ned, 6).

Women: Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 5.5) drew with R Vaishali (Ind, 6); Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kaz, 5) beat Jiner Zhu (Chn, 5.5); Kateryna Lagno (Rus, 5) drew with Zhongyi Tan (Chn, 3.5); Divya Deshmukh (Ind, 4.5) lost to Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus, 5)

(With PTI Inputs)