FIDE Candidates tournament in Cyprus starts with three decisive games - 1
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The FIDE Candidates tournament in Cyprus started promisingly with wins for
Javokhir Sindarov over Andrey Esipenko, Praggnanandhaa over Anish Giri and
finally Fabiano Caruana over Hikaru Nakamura. Matthias Bluebaum against Wei Yi was
a correct draw. In the women's event Aleksandra Goryachkina missed
a simple combination that should have ended the game pretty much
immediately against Kateryna Lagno. There were other chances
but Divya Deshmukh drew with Anna Muzychuk
Vaishali Rameshbabu drew with Bibisara Assaubayeva
and Zhu Jiner with Tan Zhongyi so everyone is tied on 0.5 points.
Round 1 Standings: 1st= Caruana, Praggnanandhaa, Sindarov 1pt; 4th= Bluebaum, Wei Yi 0.5pts; 6th= Nakamura, Giri, Esipenko 0pts.
Pairings Round 2 30th March 2026: FIDE Candidates: Andrey Esipenko vs Hikaru Nakamura, Anish Giri vs Fabiano Caruana, Wei Yi vs Praggnanandhaa R, Javokhir Sindarov vs Matthias Bluebaum,
FIDE Women’s Candidates Round 2: Anna Muzychuk vs Tan Zhongyi, Kateryna Lagno vs Zhu Jiner, Bibisara Assaubayeva vs Aleksandra Goryachkina, Divya Deshmukh vs Vaishali Rameshbabu.