Lead unchanged @ Candidates 2026 Cyprus
Peace reigned at the Mediterranean as all the eight games ended in draws at the FIDE Candidates 2026 in the 2nd round at the Cap St Georges Hotel and Resort in Pegeia, Cyprus. GMs Fabiano Caruana, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Javokhir Sindarov led the pack with 1.5 points after two rounds. The women’s section saw all draws happening for a second successive day. There was, of course, no dearth of fighting among the contenders as all the games were fought before ending on an even scale.
Players with white pieces viz., GMs Wei Yi, Javokhir Sindarov, Anish Giri, Andrey Esipenko pushed for advantage but steady play by their respective opponents – GMs Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Matthias Bluebaum, Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura – saw the games ending in draws. Playing behind the black pieces, Indian Grandmaster Praggnanandhaa exerted pressure on the Chinese GM Wei Yi who managed to eke out a draw in a pawn down opposite color bishop ending.
Earlier, the second round was inaugurated by FIDE Deputy President and five times world champion Viswanathan Anand who made the symbolic first move in the game between Divya Deshmukh and Vaishali Rameshbabu.
Inspired by the presence of the Indian legend the Grandmaster duo – Divya Deshmukh & Vaishali Rameshbabu – played out an exciting game which concluded with an electrifying queen sacrifice from Vaishali. The English opening game moving into a Carlsbad structure saw the younger of the two gain a slow but steady upper hand. The cursed 40th move destination did one more GM in & it was Divya Deshmukh today. When the Nagpur lass looked like landing her first win, Vaishali came up with a stunning 40…Qxh3+ after which Divya could take no more than a draw. Hats off to Divya & Vaishali for providing chess entertainment full of adrenaline.
Elsewhere, a moment of lowering the guard in a French game cost Chinese GM Zhu Jiner a valuable half a point. With defeat staring in her face former world rapid & blitz champion GM Kateryna Lagno pounced on the opportunity with a rook sacrifice resulting in perpertual check. It turned out to be a day where players on the distaff side took greater risks & entertained the paying public. Ultimately, Candidates is one tournament where it’s first or nothing. And, it’s one chess adage every chess lover knows.
Like every Candidates Tournament since 2013, this event will be a 8 player double round-robin tournament. The winner of the Candidates 2026 tournament will earn the right to play the next FIDE World Chess Championship against the reigning World Chess Champion Gukesh Dommaraju.
Round three starts by Tuesday, 31st March at 8:45 AM ET / 2:45 PM CEST / 6:15 PM IST.
Round 2 Results (Open): Andrey Esipenko (0.5) drew with Hikaru Nakamura (0.5), Anish Giri (0.5) drew with Fabiano Caruana (1.5), Wei Yi (1.0) drew with Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (1.5), Javokhir Sindarov (1.5) drew with Matthias Bluebaum (1.0).
Round 2 Results (Women): Anna Muzychuk (1.0) drew with Tan Zhongyi (1.0), Kateryna Lagno (1.0) drew with Zhu Jiner (1.0), Bibisara Assaubayeva (1.0) drew with Aleksandra Goryachkina (1.0), Divya Deshmukh (1.0) drew with Vaishali Rameshbabu (1.0).
Kateryna Lagno (2509) – Zhu Jiner (2578) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 cxd4 5. exd5 Qxd5 6. Bc4 Qd6 7. Ne4 Qb4+ 8. Nfd2 Nf6 9. Nxf6+ gxf6 10. O-O Nc6 11. Re1 Bd7 12. c3 Qb6 13. cxd4 Qxd4 14. Ne4 Be7 15. Qe2 f5 16. Nc3 Qg4 17. f3 Qg7 18. Bf4 Nd4 19. Qf2 Nxf3+ 20. Qxf3 Qd4+ 21. Kh1 Qxc4 22. Qg3 Bc6 23. Rad1 Bf6 24. h3 h5 25. h4 Rd8 26. Bg5 Bxg5 27. Qxg5 Rc8 28. Rd2
28…Qb4?? 29. Rxe6+ fxe6 30. Qg6+ Kf8 31. Qf6+ Kg8 32. Qg6+ Kf8 33. Qf6+ Kg8 34. Qg6+ Kf8 1/2-1/2
Divya Deshmukh (2497) – Vaishali Rameshbabu (2470) 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 h6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bf4 c6 6. e3 Bd6 7. Bxd6 Qxd6 8. Bd3 Ne7 9. Qc2 O-O 10. Nf3 Nd7 11. O-O Nf6 12. h3 g6 13. Rab1 a5 14. Na4 Bf5 15. Nc5 Qc7 16. Rfc1 Nd7 17. Na4 Rfe8 18. Nc3 Qd6 19. Ne2 Qf6 20. Nf4 Bxd3 21. Nxd3 Nf5 22. b4 Nd6 23. a4 Qe7 24. bxa5 Rxa5 25. Rb4 Rea8 26. Rcb1 R8a7 27. Qb3 Qd8 28. Nfe5 Kg7 29. Qd1 Qe7 30. Qb3 Qd8 31. Qd1 Qe7 32. Nxd7 Qxd7 33. Nc5 Qc8 34. Qf3 Ne4 35. Rxb7 Rxb7 36. Rxb7 Ng5 37. Qg3 Rxc5 38. Qe5+ Kh7 39. Rb8 Rc1+ 40. Kh2
40…Qxh3+ 41. gxh3 Nf3+ 42. Kg2 Nxe5 43. dxe5 Ra1 44. Ra8 1/2-1/2
Picture courtesy: Michal Walusza / Yoav Nis / FIDE
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Official Site: https://candidates2026.fide.com/
