Candidates Chess: Sindarov outclasses Praggnanandhaa; Vaishali on top

R Praggnanandhaa played a bishop move on the 22nd turn and overlooked the threat Rf7 from his in-form opponent. And this time, Javokhir Sindarov was in no mood to waste an opportunity.

The Uzbek, who missed a winning sequence against Matthias Blubaum of Germany on Wednesday, showed the Indian no mercy in the 10th round of the Candidates chess tournament in Cyprus on Thursday.




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Sindarov scored a recordbreaking sixth win in the Candidates history (since this format was started in 2013) and jumped to eight points, with second-placed Anish Giri a full two points behind.

Though Pragg lost in 53 moves, his sister R Vaishali kept the siblings’ flag flying with a draw with black against Anna Muzychuk. Being an overnight co-leader, it took Vaishali to six points. The 24-year-old Tamil Nadu girl, the lowest seed in the event, had drawn her first-leg game against the Ukrainian in the third round of this event. Their 10th round game on Thursday lasted 42 moves with only black-square bishops and two pawns each remaining on the board.

When the tournament started, the odds of Pragg winning the event were way higher than his sister Vaishali winning her section. But Vaishali has made the most of her opportunities and Pragg has wilted under pressure. Why Pragg needed 31 minutes to play his 18th move (Qe7) was baffling for the experts too.

Pragg’s (4 points) oversight against Sindarov meant he lost his queen and it turned out to be queen and five pawns vs two rooks and two pawns endgame in Sindarov’s favour. When the things were turning decisively in Sindarov’s favour, his good friend from the women’s section — Bibisara Assaubayeva — had a peek at the board. The Kazakh, on 5.5 points like Muzychuk, went on to beat joint leader Zhu Jiner of China and helped Vaishali become sole leader.

Anish Giri (6 points) needed to win to reduce the gap with Sindarov. But he had not beaten Hikaru Nakamura (4.5) in classical chess for more than 10 years.

Top-3 (with 4 rounds to go):

• Open: Sindarov 8 points; Giri 6; Caruana 5;
• Women: Vaishali 6; Jiner & Muzychuk 5.5 each.

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