Paphos (Cyprus), April 4 Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa played a quick and easy draw against Hikaru Nakamura of the United States, while Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan continued his winning streak by defeating Wei Yi of China in the sixth round of the Candidates chess tournament here on Saturday.
With each round, Sindarov seemed to be distancing himself from the competition, and this is arguably the greatest performance in the history of the Candidates tournaments. With his fifth victory in six games, Sindarov has 5.5 points, awaiting the results of the remaining games.
Praggnanandhaa, with 3 points, is now 2.5 points behind Sindarov, and it remains to be seen if the last eight games can change the fortunes of the other players in the event. For now, it seems that Sindarov is well beyond the reach of anyone.
Praggnanandhaa played the Nimzo Indian defense against Nakamura, who was clearly upset after his previous round loss. The American, who is now more famous as a streamer and is also known as the richest chess player, did not attempt any complications in the opening.
Praggnanandhaa decided to repeat the position quite early in the middle game.
Sindarov was pleasantly surprised by Wei Yi's Bishops opening and did not have any trouble in equalizing with his black pieces. The Uzbek sacrificed a pawn in the middle game, which was a poisoned pawn, and then launched a series of threats, forcing Wei Yi into complications. The game lasted just 36 moves.
Anna Muzychuk, who had no clue if she was even participating in the tournament a week before it started, came up with another impressive performance by defeating Jiner Zhu of China. The Ukrainian has 4 points out of a possible 6 and now has a full point lead over Zhu and Russian Aleksandra Goryachkina, who drew with Zhongyi Tan of China.
The two Indian players in the women's section had excellent results, with Divya Deshmukh scoring her first victory by defeating Bibisara Aasaubayeva of Kazakhstan, while R Vaishali won against Kateryna Lagno of Russia. Both Divya and Vaishali also moved into joint second place with 3 points.
Results, Round 6: Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 2.5) drew with R Praggnanandhaa (India, 3); Andrey Esipenko (Russia, 1) drew with Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2.5); Anish Giri (Netherlands, 2.5) drew with Matthias Bluebaum (Germany, 2.5); Wei Yi (China, 2) lost to Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan, 5.5).
Women: Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kazakhstan, 2.5) lost to Divya Deshmukh (India, 3); Kateryna Lagno (Russia, 3) lost to R Vaishali (India, 3); Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kazakhstan, 2.5); Zhongyi Tan (China, 2.5) drew with Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia, 3); Jiner Zhu (China, 3) lost to Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine, 4).