R Praggnanandhaa was held to a draw by Fabiano Caruana, while his sister R Vaishali registered a victory over China’s Tan Zhongyi.
IMAGE: Photograph: Maria Emelianova/FIDE
Key Points
- R Praggnanandhaa drew with Fabiano Caruana in the Candidates Tournament.
- R Vaishali secured a fortunate victory against China’s Tan Zhongyi in the seventh round.
- Javokhir Sindarov leads the Candidates Tournament with six points, showcasing strong performance.
R Praggnanandhaa remained in search of his second win after drawing with 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 FIDE Candidates 2026 chess tournament, in Paphos, Cyprus.
At the half way stage, Pragg remains on a fifty percent score and will need a miracle in the final seven games in order to come into contention. Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan was poised to make a draw with Anish Giri of Holland. The Uzbek youngster had scored four victories in a row and what could be another draw-marred day, not much changed in terms of standings.
Sindarov, on six points, is firmly ahead of Caruana on 4.5, a full point ahead of Praggnanandhaa and likely Anish Giri. Matthias Bluebaum of Germany and Wei Yi of China are now on 3 points each, a half point ahead of Hikaru Nakamura of United States.
Andrey Esipenko of Russia is languishing at the bottom with two points in his kitty.
Anna Muzychuk Leads Women’s Section
In the women’s section, Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine continued to lead the tables on 4.5 points following a draw with Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan. R Vaishali stands on 4 points and is in second spot, while Bibisara is now in third spot. Divya Deshmukh enjoyed a handy advantage against Kateryna Lagno of Russia and will join Vaishali if she wins.
In another game Alexandra Goryachkina of Russia was also fighting it out against Jiner Zhu of China.
Round 7 Results:
R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 3.5) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 4.5); Andrey Esipenko (Rus, 2) lost to Wei Yi (Chn, 3); Matthias Bluebaum (Ger, 3) drew with Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 2.5); Javokhir SIndarov (Uzb, 5.5) playing Anish Giri (Ned, 3).
Women: Divya Deshmukh (3) playing Kateryna Lagno (Rus, 3); Bibisara Assuabayeva (Kaz, 3) drew with Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 4.5); R Vaishali (Ind, 4) beat Zhongyi Tan (Chn, 2.5) Jiner Zhu (Chn, 3) playing Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus, 3).
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