Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa almost went out of contention for a top place finish after a loss against Anish Giri of the Netherlands in the eighth round of the Candidates chess tournament here on Tuesday.
On a day when Uzbek Javokhir Sindarov just decided to consolidate his lead and drew with tailender Andrey Esipenko of Russia, Praggnanandhaa, who had scored his sole victory over Giri in the first round, fell prey to some simple tactics from a seemingly equal position and lost his second game in the tournament.
Sindarov took his tally to 6.5 points out of a possible eight and looks like headed for a victory as his lead now stands at a massive two points with six rounds remaining in the USD 700000 prize money tournament that will also select the next challenger for reigning world champion D Gukesh in the world championship match later this year.
Sindarov is now followed by Giri and Fabiano Caruana of United States who both are two points behind and need a miracle to catch up with the leader. Praggnanandhaa, Wei Yi of China, Matthias BLuebaum of Germany and Hikaru Nakamura of the USA share the fourth spot on 3.5 points each, a full point clear of last placed Esipenko.
It was a hard day at work for Praggnanandhaa who started off with the Vienna variation with the black pieces. After initial opening discussions, Giri enjoyed a small advantage that the Indian was able to neutralize as the game progressed.
However, it was on the 35th move that Praggnanandhaa made an error, allowing Giri to unleash a sequence of moves that proved dangerous. Another mistake three moves later and it was curtains for the Indian.
In another game, Matthias Bluebaum played out a draw with Wei Yi of China and the result inched them both up to 3.5 points apiece. In the big game of the day, Nakamura finally proved his mettle and scored a huge victory over American compatriot Fabiano Caruana. In the women`s section, R Vaishali ensured that she remained within striking distance of the leader and drew with Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan.
While the other games were still in progress in this section, it seemed like Zhu Jiner was poised to give a knockout blow to Chinese compatriot Zhong Tan, Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine is likely to protect her half point lead on 5 points as she was headed to a draw with Divya Deshmukh while Kateryna Lagno defeated fellow Russian Aleksandra Goryachkina to match Vaishali on 4.5 points.
Results round 8: Anish Giri (Ned, 4.5) beat R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 3.5); Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 3.5) beat Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 4.5); Andrey Esipenko (Rus, 2.5) drew with Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb, 6.5); Wei Yi (Chn, 3.5) drew with Matthias Bluebaum (Ger, 3.5).
Women: Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 4.5) playing Divya Deshmukh (3.5); Kateryna Lagno (Rus, 4.5) beat Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus, 3); Bibisara Assuabayeva (Kaz, 3.5) drew with R Vaishali (Ind, 4.5); Zhongyi Tan (Chn, 2.5) playing Jiner Zhu (Chn, 3).
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