4 min learnApr 8, 2026 12:10 AM IST
On a day that had vital ramifications for the standings of the Open and Girls’s Candidates tournaments in Cyprus, R Praggnanandhaa misplaced to Dutch grandmaster Anish Giri to stoop three factors behind the match chief Javokhir Sindarov whereas Divya Deshmukh pulled off a miracle within the Girls’s Candidates match by upsetting match chief from Ukraine Anna Muzychuk.
Divya’s victory means she, together with Vaishali Rameshbabu, are among the many 5 ladies main on the finish of the eighth spherical. It was Divya’s second victory on the Girls’s Candidates and Muzychuk’s first defeat after she had been drafted in on the final minute as a alternative for Koneru Humpy. R Vaishali held Bibisara Assaubayeva to a draw to surge to the joint lead.
Divya’s turnaround was a miracle for the teen from Nagpur contemplating she had been below strain from the beginning of the sport with Muzychek developing with some glorious opening prep.
As chess legend Judit Polgar identified on the Chess24 commentary, “Divya would have needed to give up the sport (by transfer 25). The place Anna had (out of the opening section of the sport), it’s unbelievable to wreck it! She was completely successful. Had a dream place you possibly can think about! After which a miracle occurred. She simply began to blunder, misplaced pawn after pawn.”
In the meantime, enduring his personal heartbreak was India’s Praggnanandhaa. For about 5 minutes on Tuesday when the inevitable grew to become obvious, the 20-year-old from Chennai sat on the board with a thousand-yard stare. He was nonetheless coming to phrases with the truth that the sport in opposition to Giri was unsalvageable. His Dutch opponent was again within the gamers lounge, leaving his quarry to ruminate in regards to the recreation by himself.
Ultimately, when Giri appeared, the Indian teen resigned. It’s a end result that probably marks the tip of the Indian grandmaster’s possibilities of successful the Candidates this time round as properly after his heartbreak on the Toronto version two years in the past.
Defeat in spherical 8 to Giri leaves Praggnanandhaa on 3.5 factors, a full three factors behind match chief Sindarov, who ended his conflict with Andrey Esipenko with a fast draw. Forward of Pragg are Fabiano Caruana, who misplaced on Tuesday to compatriot Hikaru Nakamura, and Giri. Each Caruana and Giri have 4.5 factors, yet another than Pragg. The Indian finds himself degree on factors with three different gamers with solely Esipenko behind him.
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Earlier than the Candidates started in Cyprus, Praggnandhaa was chalked as one of many contenders for the title, since he had already skilled the strain of the Candidates two years again in addition to occurring a scorching streak in 2025. However the Spherical 8 defeat in 44 strikes with black items leaves his dream of difficult compatriot D Gukesh on the World Chess Championship later within the 12 months hazier.
Giri and Praggnanandhaa had been tied on 3.5 factors every on the midway mark of the Candidates match, trailing match chief Javokhir Sindarov by 2.5 factors. However Giri’s win, coupled with Sindarov’s draw in opposition to Andrey Esipenko on Tuesday sees the Dutchman hold alive his hopes of constructing it to his first-ever World Chess Championship battle.
Having misplaced to Pragg within the match earlier, Giri got here to the board after Monday’s relaxation day with a heady concoction of opening prep that included a gap novelty on transfer 11 (pushing his knight to a3, a sq. the place prime layers hardly ever place their knights because it limits the attacking squares out there for it).
Pragg’s recreation began to bitter within the span of 5 or 6 strikes earlier than the time management, as a recreation ambling in the direction of a draw lurched in the direction of a defeat for the Indian.
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