Chess
FIDE Candidates 2026: R Praggnanandhaa in lead after round 1
Dominates higher-ranked Anish Giri; Divya, Vaishali settle for draws in women section.
R Praggnanandhaa (left) and Anish Giri in action on Sunday. (Photo credit: FIDE)
Indian grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa opened his Candidates campaign in style on the opening day of the FIDE Candidates 2026 in Cyprus on Sunday.
R Praggnanandhaa stunned the higher-ranked Anish Giri to share the lead with Fabiano Caruana and Javokhir Sindarov as three of four games ended with decisive results.
Javokhir Sindarov beat Andrey Esipenko and Fabiano Caruana overcame Hikaru Nakamura to register early wins. The game between Matthias Bluebaum and Wei Yi ended in a draw.
The tournament will determine the challenger for the World Championship.
R Praggnanandhaa opted for a rare choice of the Grand Prix Attack to catch Anish Giri by surprise. The Indian grandmaster went on to convert his advantage with excellent technique in the rook ending.
“I think this line is playable and takes my opponent out of theory,” Praggnanandhaa explained to FIDE after the game.
Vaishali, Divya draw
In the Women's FIDE Candidates Tournament, all four games ended in draws.
Divya Deshmukh and Vaishali Rameshbabu drew their respective games and collected half points each.
The Vaishali vs Assaubayeva game was a tense battle as both struggled to create openings to go for a win.
Meanwhile, Divya Deshmukh used a relatively new idea in the Scotch Opening and caught her opponent by surprise.
The all-Chinese encounter between Zhu Jiner and Tan Zhongyi also ended in a draw.
In the fourth game, Aleksandra Goryachkina drew with Kateryna Lagno.
Round 1 Result
Javokhir Sindarov beat Andrey Esipenko
Matthias Bluebaum draw Wei Yi
Praggnanandhaa R beat Anish Giri
Fabiano Caruana beat Hikaru Nakamura
FIDE Women’s Candidates
Divya Deshmukh draw Anna Muzychuk
Vaishali Rameshbabu draw Bibisara Assaubayeva
Aleksandra Goryachkina draw Kateryna Lagno
Zhu Jiner draw Tan Zhongyi
Round 2 pairings
Men: Andrey Esipenko vs Hikaru Nakamura
Anish Giri vs Fabiano Caruana
Wei Yi vs Praggnanandhaa R
Javokhir Sindarov vs Matthias Bluebaum
Women: Anna Muzychuk vs Tan Zhongyi
Kateryna Lagno vs Zhu Jiner
Bibisara Assaubayeva vs Aleksandra Goryachkina
Divya Deshmukh vs Vaishali Rameshbabu