Paphos , Indian Grandmaster R Vaishali stayed in contention for the top prize by drawing with China’s Zhongyi Tan, even as Bibisara Assaubayeva blew the title race wide open with a splendid victory over Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk in the penultimate round of women’s Candidates Chess here Tuesday.
Uzbekistan’s 20-year-old Javokhir Sindarov won the open section with a round to spare as Anish Giri of Holland could not dent his confidence in what has perhaps been the greatest performance in the history of Candidates.
Sindarov, on 9.5 points, is already crowned the champion, earning the right to challenge India’s D Gukesh for the World Chess Championship title later this year.
Sindarov still enjoys a healthy two-point lead over nearest rival Giri.
On a day that featured four draws, R Praggnandhaa also made a truce with Fabiano Caruana of the United States and the Indian remained on the seventh spot in the eight-player tournament.
Caruana is a distant third on 6.5 points and he is trailed by Matthias Bluebaum of Germany, compatriot Hikaru Nakamura and Wei Yi of china who all have six points apiece. Praggnanandhaa comes next on 5.5 followed by Esipenko in the team that is waiting to see the tournament get over.
The women’s section is hugely crowded at the top with Vaishali leading on 7.5 points with Assaubayeva. The Kazakh girl has been in great form in the last couple of games and it remains to be seen if she can replicate in the last remaining round.
Meanwhile Aleksandra Goryachkina came up with a splendid effort to beat Jiner Zhu of China.
Vaishali will take on Kateryna Lagno in her 14th and final round game on Wednesday while Bibisara has to tackle Divya Deshmukh.
Results round 13: Wei Yi drew with Andrey Esipenko ; Anish Giri drew with Javokhir Sindarov ; Hikaru Nakamura drew with Matthias Bluebaum ; Fabiano Caruana drew with R Praggnanandhaa .
Women: Bibisara Assaubayeva beat Anna Muzychuk ; Kateryna Lagno beat Divya Deshmukh ; Tan Zhongyi drew with R Vaishali ; Zhu Jiner lost to Aleksandra Goryachkina .
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