Candidates Chess: Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh save Indian blushes; Praggnanandhaa must act now | Chess News
NEW DELHI: As the FIDE Candidates Tournament crosses the near-midway mark of its 14-round marathon, a kind of intensity has started filling the Mediterranean air. However, for the Indian contingent, the narrative is split between a desperate scramble for relevance in the Open section and a gritty, if somewhat erratic, resurgence in the Women’s category.While Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov is currently playing a version of chess that seems light-years ahead of his peers, leading the Open section with a staggering 5.5/6, the Indian challenge, single-handedly led by R Praggnanandhaa in the respective category, appears to be stuck in second gear.
In the Women’s section, Vaishali Rameshbabu and Divya Deshmukh managed to secure crucial wins with the black pieces in Round 6 at the Cap St Georges Hotel & Resort in Cyprus on Saturday, even though these victories owed as much to the collapse of their opponents as to their own clinical play.The Sindarov Storm continuesIn the Open category, the gap between the leader and the chasing pack is widening into a chasm. Sindarov’s dominance is so absolute that a World Championship match against D Gukesh later this year is looking like an inevitability.Fabiano Caruana sits at a distant second with 4 points, 1.5 points behind the leader, while India’s lone hope, Praggnanandhaa, languishes with 3 points.Analysing the round, veteran Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay noted that while Praggnanandhaa showed intent against Hikaru Nakamura, the execution fell short of a decisive blow.“Praggnanandhaa did play quite ambitiously against Nakamura. He was black, but he kept on complicating the positions. However, Nakamura was able to find the correct moves and the game ended by a repetition of moves as both players were compelled to repeat, otherwise they would be in an inferior position. It was a well-fought draw, but equality nonetheless,” Thipsay told TimesofIndia.com after the day’s play. The real story, however, remains Sindarov, who dismantled Wei Yi with surgical precision. Thipsay was effusive in his praise, marking a clear distinction between the Uzbek and the rest of the field.“The best game of the round was between Wei Yi and Sindarov. Sindarov simply outplayed him in a very strange positional battle. Wei Yi seemed to be better, but in fact, Sindarov was better for quite a long time. The quality of play is completely above others, a different class altogether,” Thipsay explained.
Javokhir Sindarov (Photo by Michal Walusza)
If Sindarov continues like this, he is bound to win the tournament with one or two rounds to spare. Though Caruana has been playing consistently and solidly, Sindarov is just a different class in this tournament.”FIDE Candidates Round 6 Results – April 4, 2026Open Section
- Fabiano Caruana 0.5–0.5 Andrey Esipenko
- Hikaru Nakamura 0.5–0.5 R Praggnanandhaa
- Anish Giri 0.5–0.5 Matthias Blübaum
- Wei Yi 0–1 Javokhir Sindarov
Fortune favours the erratic in Women’s sectionIn the Women’s section, India finally found some momentum, though the critical lens remains fixed on how these points were earned.Vaishali and Divya have now joined the chasing pack behind leader Anna Muzychuk (4/6 points). Vaishali’s encounter with Kateryna Lagno was a rollercoaster where the Indian opted for aggression at the expense of structural integrity.“Vaishali tried to complicate matters at the cost of positional concessions,” Thipsay observed. “It wasn’t clear if she was better by move 20. When she offered the h5 pawn (on 22nd move), it was a risky decision. Lagno could have taken it with 24.Qxh5 instead of 24.Rc1, which turned out to be a bad choice.” According to Thipsay, Vaishali’s persistence paid off only because Lagno retreated into a shell.“Vaishali kept playing aggressively, and Lagno kept playing passively. By move 29, Vaishali offered a bishop sacrifice (…Bxh3) which couldn’t be taken,” he noted. “By move 32, she sacrificed the same bishop at a different place (32…gxf3) to open the king’s position completely. Lagno eventually had to give up on move 47, but the game was on a knife-edge for a long time.”Divya’s great escapeDivya Deshmukh’s win over Bibisara Assaubayeva followed a similar script of drifting followed by a late-game rescue. Utilising her favourite Cambridge Springs Defense, Divya found herself in a rare variation previously seen between Magnus Carlsen and Vincent Keymer.“The position was equal early on, but Bibisara correctly varied on move 15, giving her a slight advantage. At this stage, Divya started drifting. She was facing serious difficulties by move 24 when Bibisara broke open the kingside,” Thipsay remarked. However, the Indian was handed a lifeline by a series of unforced errors from the Kazakh player.“Bibisara chose to attack with the queen instead of the knight on move 26. 26.Ng4 would have given her a big advantage, but she played 26.Qe3. Then came a sequence of inaccurate, unforced errors: 27.c5,28.c6. These moves were inferior compared to her earlier play. Eventually, Divya got the opportunity to strategically and tactically outplay her for a win after 46 moves.”Despite Saturday’s favourable results, the Indian camp will be wary. If Praggnanandhaa is to stop the Sindarov juggernaut, and if the women are to overtake Muzychuk, the reliance on opponent blunders must be replaced by the clinical dominance currently being displayed by the tournament leader.FIDE Candidates Round 6 Results – April 4, 2026Women’s Section
Zhu Jiner 0–1 Anna Muzychuk- Tan Zhongyi 0.5–0.5 Aleksandra Goryachkina
- Kateryna Lagno 0–1 Vaishali Rameshbabu
- Bibisara Assaubayeva 0–1 Divya Deshmukh
Round 7 Pairings – April 5, 2026
- Open Section: Esipenko vs. Wei Yi; Sindarov vs. Anish Giri; Blübaum vs. Nakamura; Praggnanandhaa vs. Caruana.
- Women’s Section: Muzychuk vs. Assaubayeva; Divya vs. Kateryna Lagno; Vaishali vs. Tan Zhongyi; Goryachkina vs. Zhu Jiner.
