R Praggnanandhaa Aims for Victory Against Anish Giri in Candidates Tournament
Praggnanandhaa's Quest for a Win
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa is eager to secure a much-needed victory in the Candidates Tournament as he faces Dutch player Anish Giri in the eighth round on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old from Chennai currently shares the third position with Giri, having accumulated 3.5 points over seven rounds. With only seven rounds remaining, he needs to shift his fortunes at this midpoint of the tournament.
After starting strong with a win against Giri in the first round, Praggnanandhaa has struggled to find a second victory, resulting in five draws and a single loss to tournament leader Javokhir Sindarov from Uzbekistan, who has had a remarkable journey since winning the World Cup last October.
Initially viewed as an underdog, Sindarov has proven to be a formidable competitor, achieving an outstanding record of five wins and two draws so far.
Currently, Sindarov leads with six points, while the closest contender, Fabiano Caruana from the United States, trails by 1.5 points.
In the upcoming eighth round, Praggnanandhaa will play with the white pieces against Giri, while Sindarov will compete against Esipenko.
Wei Yi from China and Matthias Bluebaum from Germany are tied for fifth place with three points each, closely followed by Hikaru Nakamura, who is half a point behind.
Andrey Esipenko of Russia sits at the bottom of the leaderboard in this USD 700,000 prize money tournament, which will determine the challenger for reigning world champion D Gukesh later this year.
Simultaneously, the women's event is also underway, with Anna Muzychuk from Ukraine leading with 4.5 points out of seven games, surprising many after stepping in for Koneru Humpy, who withdrew due to security issues.
Praggnanandhaa's sister, Vaishali, is performing well, currently in second place with four points, just ahead of Divya Deshmukh and Russian player Kateryna Lagno.
In fourth place, Ziner Zhu from China shares three points with Kazakhstan's Bibisara Assaubayeva and Aleksandra Goryachkina from Russia, who are half a point ahead of former women's world champion Zhongyi Tan from China.
In their next matches, Vaishali will play with black pieces against Assaubayeva, while Divya will also face Muzychuk with black.
Round 8 Pairings:
Anish Giri (Ned, 3.5) vs R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 3.5); Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 2.5) vs Fabiano Caruana (USA, 4.5); Andrey Esipenko (Rus, 2) vs Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb, 6); Wei Yi (Chn, 3) vs Matthias Bluebaum (Ger, 3).
Women: Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 4.5) vs Divya Deshmukh (3.5); Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus, 3) vs Kateryna Lagno (Rus, 3.5); Bibisara Assuabayeva (Kaz, 3) vs R Vaishali (Ind, 4); Zhongyi Tan (Chn, 2.5) vs Jiner Zhu (Chn, 3).