Indian Grandmasters Shine in First Round of Candidates Chess Competition

In the first round of the Candidates chess competition, Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa prevailed over tight times to settle for a draw against world No. 6 Alireza Firouza of France, while D Gukesh was unable to muster much against fellow countryman Vidit Gujrathi and ended up splitting the points.

In the men's division, all four games concluded in draws, while in the women's division, Zhongyi Tan defeated her countrymate Tingjie Lei in the opening round, with the following three games finishing in draws.

R Vaishali of India and fellow countryman Koneru Humpy played to a tie. While Bulgaria's Nurgyul Salimova, the lowest-ranked player and sole non-Grandmaster, had a solid start by tying Anna Muzychuk, the Russians Aleksandra Goryachkina and Kateryna Lagno formed a peace treaty.

In the men's division, Nijat Abasov of Azerbaijan began with an easy draw as white against Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia, while the all-American match between Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura also finished in a tie.

Everyone's preparation for a competition such as the Candidates revolves on the opening shocks, and this one did not disappoint. The first one was Praggnanandhaa vs Alireza, aiming for the open Ruy Lopez as black.

Right from the start of the middle game, the Frenchman went for the difficulties for which he is renowned. Praggnanandhaa broke through White's pawn structure and decided to take his chances with a king side assault.

But as it happened, the wide center allowed for plenty of counterplay, and Alireza's move to sacrifice a pawn on move 29 and then a knight the next round marked a decisive change in the game. Praggnanandhaa had to quickly ascertain the sole viable defense, which the Indian accomplished. On move 39, the game was tied by repetition.

Another game that ended with Gukesh and Gujrathi repeating moves was that one.

At the greatest level, Gukesh faced the Tarrasch defense, which is seldom overcome. Gujrathi made the proper decision since Gukesh chose to avoid testing his opponent in the major lines and his cautious strategy only produced a steady position.

Gujrathi persisted in searching for his opportunities in a position of balance and, on the seventeenth move, produced a brilliant sacrifice of the bishop. Gukesh proceeded with a forced repeat after seeing right away that accepting the Bishop would be lethal. "I didn't anticipate the Bishop sacrifice," Gukesh said after the match.

The Indian was happy with the result as he had seen a good solution for a black person in the similar situation. Gujrathi was all smiles in the post-match conversation.