R Praggnanandhaa Holds Fabiano Caruana, R Vaishali Triumphs Over Tan Zhongyi

Last Updated:April 06, 2026, 07:14 IST

R Praggnanandhaa holds Fabiano Caruana as Javokhir Sindarov leads Candidates, R Vaishali closes in on women's leader Anna Muzychuk after key round 7 results.

R Praggnanandhaa remained in search of his second victory after drawing with pre-event favourite Fabiano Caruana, while his sister R Vaishali scored a fortunate win against China’s Tan Zhongyi in the seventh round of the Candidates tournaments in Paphos.

At the halfway stage, Pragg remains on a 50% per cent score and will need a miracle in the final seven matches to come into contention. Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan drew with Anish Giri of the Netherlands.

The Uzbek youngster had scored four wins in a row and, on what could be another draw-marred day, not much changed in terms of standings.

Sindarov, on six points, is ahead of Caruana on 4.5, a full point ahead of Praggnanandhaa and Giri. Matthias Bluebaum of Germany and Wei Yi of China are now on three points each, half a point ahead of Hikaru Nakamura of the United States.

Andrey Esipenko of Russia is languishing at the bottom with two points in his kitty.

In the women’s section, Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine continued to lead the table on 4.5 points after a draw with Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan. Vaishali stands on four points and is in second spot, while Bibisara is now in third.

Divya Deshmukh enjoyed a handy advantage against Kateryna Lagno of Russia and would have joined Vaishali if she won, but she ultimately drew with Lagno.

In another match, Alexandra Goryachkina drew with Jiner Zhu of China.

Results round 7: 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) drew with Anish Giri (Ned, 3).

Women: Divya Deshmukh (3) drew with Kateryna Lagno (Rus, 3); Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kaz, 3) drew with Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 4.5); R Vaishali (Ind, 4) beat Tan Zhongyi (Chn, 2.5); Jiner Zhu (Chn, 3) drew with Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus, 3)

(With PTI Inputs)

News sports chess R Praggnanandhaa Holds Fabiano Caruana, R Vaishali Triumphs Over Tan Zhongyi

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