New Delhi: India’s Divya Deshmukh secured a hard-fought victory with the black pieces against Anna Muzychuk on Tuesday to move into a joint lead at the FIDE Women’s Candidates tournament being held at Cap St Georges Hotel and Resort.
Divya recovered from a difficult position and kept up the pressure for over five hours. A late blunder by Ukrainian Muzychuk in the endgame turned the contest in the Indian’s favour and sealed a crucial win, according to fide.com.
Speaking after the match, Divya said she believed she should have won one of her earlier games as well. The Indian chess grandmaster described both encounters as topsy-turvy and added that results tend to balance out in the end.
After eight rounds, the Women’s Candidates standings remain tightly contested. Zhu Jiner, Muzychuk, Kateryna Lagno, Divya, and R Vaishali share the lead with 4.5 points each. Six rounds are still to be played.
Vaishali continued her steady run in the event. She held Bibisara Assaubayeva to a draw with the black pieces.
In the Open section, R Praggnanandhaa saw his chances take a hit after losing his Round 8 game to Anish Giri while playing black. He now trails tournament leader Javokhir Sindarov by three points.
Sindarov played out a draw with the black pieces against Andrey Esipenko to take his tally to 6.5 points. He has won five of his eight games so far and leads the standings.
Fabiano Caruana, who was placed second, suffered a setback after losing to Hikaru Nakamura, who won with the white pieces. In the other match, Wei Yi drew his game with Matthias Bluebaum.
