Bengaluru: Fabiano Caruana stared at the carnage on the board and knew he had no choice but to resign and call it a night. Sitting across from him in a black business suit, was the 20-year-old who’d made his Wednesday evening hellish. Javokhir Sindarov – the firebrand Uzbek who has won three out of four games, rocketed into the sole lead and taken the Candidates tournament in Cyprus by storm – will be on the minds of the chasing pack of players. Behind him by a point, is world No 3 Caruana (2.5). India’s R Praggnanandhaa is placed half a point below (2)
From four rounds, Praggnanandhaa has had a win, a loss and two draws. His only defeat came against Sindarov – a player he has been crossing paths with since his boyhood, back when he sported a fringe and rode his kid-sized bicycle down the street in front of his Chennai suburb home. In junior events, Praggnanandhaa often defeated Sindarov. Now in the biggest tournament so far of his life, Sindarov delivered cold revenge. The 20-year-olds will be facing each other once more in the tournament – in Round 10.
In Round 1, Praggnanandhaa surprised Anish Giri in the opening (not the easiest of jobs against a theoretician like the Dutchman) and showed great technique to outplay him and score a full point. Then came the blow in Round 3. Sindarov’s gutsy call to sacrifice a piece for two pawns and Praggnanandhaa’s struggle with time while his King was stuck in the centre, ended in a bruising defeat for the Indian with White.
“We knew Sindarov is a good player,” Praggnanandhaa’s long-time coach and mentor RB Ramesh told HT. “Perhaps we didn’t expect him to be this good. I expected the tournament to be a three-way fight between Fabi, Sindarov and Pragg. I suppose that still holds.”
Former world No 2 Levon Aronian, a Candidates veteran, believes getting positions with Black could be key for the Indian.
“Praggnanandhaa managed to do it in the last Candidates,” he told HT. “I think the general level of the tournament this year is lower than before. It’s probably because there aren’t enough classical events and a tournament with a time control like the Candidates (no increment till 40 moves) is so rare that it stresses players out. So far, we’ve had two non-games (that were decided early) – Fabi-Wei Yi and Javokhir-Fabi,” he said.
Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay suggests that in his remaining games, Praggnanandhaa should try to play for a Kingside attack, especially with White and opt for sharp, active moves if he sees no refutation.
“A move like 13. Nxb4 which Sindarov played is objectively not the best move. It’s perhaps even speculative. But it is a human move – sacrificing a piece for initiative. It eventually turned out to be decisive. It helps when play is based on general strategic plans rather than perfect moves. A slight advantage in a simplified position may not be any good. But a sound strategic plan can lead to a win even from a perfectly balanced position.”
In the women’s Candidates, neither of the two Indian players – Divya Deshmukh and R Vaishali, have scored a win in the first four rounds. Anna Muzychuk (a last-minute replacement for India’s Koneru Humpy, who pulled out) and Bibisara Assaubayeva currently lead the standings with 2.5 points.
Anna and Andrey Esipenko (who finds himself at the bottom of the open standings and plays Praggnanandhaa on Friday) were seen spending their rest day on Thursday at a Halloumi (Cypriot cheese) masterclass. Praggnanandhaa will be looking for a full point in Round 5 to stay in the race for first place.
A lot can happen over 10 rounds – collapses, comebacks and everything in between. On Friday, Caruana plays Matthias Bluebaum, who’s on a draw sweep, while Nakamura will face Sindarov. The world No 2 American (winless so far) has declared that should he not win against the rampaging Uzbek, his chances of first place will be over. He’s probably on the money.
