Paphos (Cyprus), April 5 R Praggnanandhaa remained in search of his second win after drawing with the pre-event favourite, Fabiano Caruana, while his sister, R Vaishali, scored a fortunate victory over China's Tan Zhongyi in the seventh round of the Candidates Tournament here.
At the halfway stage, Pragg remains with a fifty percent score and will need a miracle in the final seven games to be in contention. Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan was poised to draw with Anish Giri of the Netherlands. The young Uzbek player had won four consecutive games, and another draw-filled day did not significantly change the standings.
Sindarov, with six points, is firmly ahead of Caruana (4.5), a full point ahead of Praggnanandhaa, and likely Anish Giri. Matthias Bluebaum of Germany and Wei Yi of China are now on three points each, a half point ahead of Hikaru Nakamura of the United States.
Andrey Esipenko of Russia is at the bottom with two points.
In the women's section, Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine continued to lead with 4.5 points after drawing with Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan. R Vaishali has 4 points and is in second place, while Bibisara is now in third place. Divya Deshmukh enjoyed an advantage against Kateryna Lagno of Russia and will join Vaishali if she wins.
In another game, Alexandra Goryachkina of Russia was also competing against Jiner Zhu of China.
Round 7 Results: R Praggnanandhaa (India, 3.5) drew with Fabiano Caruana (USA, 4.5); Andrey Esipenko (Russia, 2) lost to Wei Yi (China, 3); Matthias Bluebaum (Germany, 3) drew with Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 2.5); Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan, 5.5) playing Anish Giri (Netherlands, 3).
Women: Divya Deshmukh (3) playing Kateryna Lagno (Russia, 3); Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kazakhstan, 3) drew with Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine, 4.5); R Vaishali (India, 4) beat Zhongyi Tan (China, 2.5); Jiner Zhu (China, 3) playing Alexandra Goryachkina (Russia, 3).