Paphos (Cyprus), March 29 Indian grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa had a strong start and defeated Dutch GM Anish Giri in the first round of the Candidates chess tournament here on Sunday.
In a very eventful first day of the tournament, World Cup champion Javokhir Sindarov used his excellent tactical skills to turn the tables on Russian Andrey Esipenko, while pre-event favourite Fabiano Caruana of the United States was close to victory over fellow American Hikaru Nakamura.
The other game in the eight-player double round-robin tournament is between Matthias Bluebaum of Germany and Wei Yi of China.
In the women's section being played simultaneously, Indian grandmaster and world women's cup champion Divya Deshmukh drew with last-minute replacement Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine, and R Vaishali survived some anxious moments before splitting the point with Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan.
In fact, it was a day of draws in the women's event, as Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia drew with compatriot Kateryna Lagno, and the duel between Jiner Zhu and Zhongyi Tan of China also ended in a draw.
Praggnanandhaa had been struggling in the months leading up to the Candidates, but he has now bounced back in style. Giri is one of the most consistent and solid players in the circuit, but on Sunday, Praggnanandhaa was simply unstoppable.
It was a battle of nerves as the Indian started with the Grand Prix attack to counter Giri's Sicilian defense, with Giri playing black.
Whether the opening had the desired effect is a matter of debate, but what it did for Praggnanandhaa was give him an advantage in terms of time.
Giri is not used to surprises, and while he was resourceful in the early middle game and equalized, Praggnanandhaa won a pawn in the ensuing rook and minor pieces endgame.
Giri, running low on time, made a blunder and lost a rook and pawn in the endgame. The rest was easy for Praggnanandhaa.
Results after round 1 men: R Praggnanandhaa (IND) beat Anish Giri (NED); Javokhir Sindarov (UZB) beat Andrey Esipenko (RUS); Matthias Bluebaum (GER) drew with Wei Yi (CHN); Fabiano Caruana (USA) playing Hikaru Nakamura (USA).
Results after round 1 women: Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS) drew with Kateryna Lagno (RUS); R Vaishali (IND) drew with Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ); Divya Deshmukh (IND) drew with Anna Muzychuk (UKR); Jiner Zhu (CHN) drew with Zhongyi Tan (CHN). SSC