Praggnanandhaa under pressure at halfway stage in Candidates
Paphos: Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa will be desperate for an elusive win in his bid to stay afloat in the Candidates tournament when he takes on Dutchman Anish Giri in the eighth round here on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old from Chennai, who currently occupies the third spot with Giri after logging 3.5 points in seven rounds, just has another seven rounds to turn the tide at the halfway stage.
Starting off with a victory over Giri in the opener, Praggnanandhaa has been looking for a second win that is just not forthcoming.
It has been a tough ride in which he has drawn five games and lost one against tournament leader Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan, who has enjoyed a fairytale journey since last October when he won the World Cup against a highly competitive field.
At the start of the tournament he was, at best, a dark horse according to pundits but he has proved himself way stronger than the rest.
He has, so far, clocked the most impressive performance in the history of the tournament by winning five and drawing the remaining two games. With Sindarov on six points, the nearest contender and only one within striking distance is Fabiano Caruana of United States and he too is 1.5 points behind the leader.
The eighth round will see Praggnanandhaa take on Giri with white pieces while Sindarov has to fight it out against Esipenko.
Wei Yi of China is on the joint fifth spot with Matthias Bluebaum of Germany on three points while Hikaru Nakamura closely follows them half a point behind.
Andrey Esipenko of Russia is in the last spot in the $700,000 prize money tournament that will decide the challenger to reigning world champion D Gukesh later this year. The women’s event being held simultaneously is comparatively open but the surprise package has been Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine who leads on 4.5 points out of her seven games.
Muzychuk, who replaced Koneru Humpy after the latter withdrew citing security concerns, was probably least prepared for the event but has thus far given a good
account of herself.
