Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa kicked off his campaign at the prestigious Candidates Tournament by breaking through the defenses of Dutchman Anish Giri to secure a full point and now shares the lead after the first round with American GM Fabiano Caruana and Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov in Paphos. In an eventful first round, World Cup champion Sindarov showcased his excellent tactical skill to turn the tables on Russia’s Andrey Esipenko, while pre-event favourite Caruana stunned fellow American Hikaru Nakamura. The other game of the eight-player double round-robin tournament between Germany’s Matthias Bluebaum and China’s Wei Yi ended in a stalemate with both players sharing a point.

In the women’s section being held simultaneously, Indian Grandmaster and Women’s World Cup champion Divya Deshmukh drew with Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk, a last-minute replacement for Koneru Humpy, while R. Vaishali survived some anxious moments before sharing the point with Kazakhstan’s Bibisara Assaubayeva.

It was, in fact, a day of stalemates in the womens’ section as Russia’s Aleksandra Goryachkina drew with compatriot Kateryna Lagno and the all-Chinese clash between Zhu Jiner and Tan Zhongyi also ended in a shared point.

Praggnanandhaa had been struggling in recent months leading up to the Candidates but has now bounced back in style, and Giri, one of the most consistent and solid players on the circuit, was simply no match for him on Saturday.

It was a battle of nerves as the Indian began with the Grand Prix Aatack to challenge Giri’s Sicilian Defense with the black pieces, and whether the opening achieved its intended effect is debatable, but it certainly gave Praggnanandhaa a valuable lead on the clock.

Giri is not used to surprises and while he was resourceful enough in the early middle game and equalised, Praggnanandhaa won a pawn in the ensuing rook-and-minor-pieces endgame.

Giri, running low on time, blundered in a lost rook-and-pawns endgame with a pawn less. The rest was easy for Praggnanandhaa.

But perhaps the most impressive game was played by Caruana who used his white pieces to perfection.

Nakamura was close to levelling the game as the middle game arrived, but the American, who is currently more active as a streamer than as a player, found himself in an opposite-coloured bishops middle game where his bishop was restricted to a passive role.

Caruana sealed the game with precise calculation in the endgame.

The Candidates is being contested in both the Open and Women’s sections to determine the challengers for the next World Championship matches against reigning champions D Gukesh and Ju Wenjun of China.

Results (round 1) Open: R Praggnanandhaa (Ind) beat Anish Giri (Ned); Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb) beat Andrey Esipenko (Rus); Matthias Bluebaum (Ger) drew with Wei Yi (Chn); Fabiano Caruana (USA) beat Hikaru Nakamura (USA).

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

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