Paphos (Cyprus), Mar 29 (PTI) Indian grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa got off to a flier and crashed through the defenses of Dutch GM Anish Giri in the first round of the Candidates chess tournament here on Sunday.
On a very eventful first day of the tournament, World Cup champion Javokhir Sindarov used his excellent tactical skill to turn the tables on Russian Andrey Esipenko, while pre-event favourite Fabiano Caruana of the United States was close to a victory over fellow American Hikaru Nakamura.
The other game of the eight-player double round-robin tournament is between Matthias Bluebaum of Germany and Wei Yi of China.
In the women’s section being played simultaneously, Indian grandmaster and world women’s cup champion Divya Deshmukh drew with last-minute replacement Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine and R Vaishali survived some anxious moments before splitting the point with Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan.
It was in fact all-draw day in the women’s event as Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia drew with compatriot Katerya Lagno and all Chinese duel between Jiner Zhu and Zhongyi Tan also ended in a draw.
Praggnanandhaa had been struggling for past few months before the Candidates but has now bounced back in style. Giri is one of the most consistent and solid player in the circuit but on Sunday Praggnanandhaa was simply unstoppable.
It was a battle of nerves as the Indian started off with the Grand Prix attack to counter the Sicilian defense by Giri, who played black.
Whether the opening had its desired effect or not is a matter of debate but what it did for Praggnanandhaa was gave him a lead on the clock.
Giri is not used to surprises and while he was resourceful enough in the early middle game and equalised, Praggnanandhaa won a pawn in the ensuing rook and minor pieces endgame.
Giri, running low on time, blundered to a lost rook and pawns endgame with a pawn less. The rest was easy for Praggnanandhaa.
Results after round 1 men: R Praggnanandhaa (IND) beat Anish Giri (NED); Javokhir Sindarov (UZB) beat Andrey Esipenko (RUS); Matthias Bluebaum (GER) drew with Wei Yi (CHN); Fabiano Caruana (USA) playing Hikaru Nakamura (USA).
Results after round 1 women: Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS) drew with Kateryna Lagno (RUS); R Vaishali (IND) drew with Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ); Divya Deshmukh (IND) drew with Anna Muzychuk (UKR); Jiner Zhu (CHN) drew with Zhongyi Tan (CHN). SSC SSC
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