Vaishali, Divya post victories – The Hindu

On a day Javokhir Sindarov scored another victory to continue his total domination of the Candidates chess tournament, R. Vaishali and Divya Deshmukh posted badly needed wins to give India something to cheer about in the women’s event.

Both Divya and Vaishali humbled their higher rated rivals, Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan and Kateryna Lagno of Russia respectively, in the sixth round at Pegeia, Cyprus, on Saturday. Both the Indians are now on three points.

Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk has moved into the sole lead, beating Zhu Jiner of China. She has four points.

Divya, Vaishali, Zhu, Lagno and Aleksandra Gorychkina of Russia are sharing the second spot on three points. Eight rounds remain.

Sindarov extended his sole lead to 1.5 points after his win with black pieces against China’s Wei Yi, who had no escape after a blunder. It was the 20-year-old Uzbek’s fourth win in a row, and fifth overall.

Sindarov has 5.5 points from six rounds, while the second-placed American Fabiano Caruana has four. R. Praggnanandhaa, who held top-seeded American Hikaru Nakamura, has three points.

The results (sixth round): Fabiano Caruana (USA) 4 drew with Andrey Esipenko (Rus) 2; Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2 drew with R. Praggnanandhaa 3; Anish Giri (Ned) 3 drew with Matthias Bluebaum (Ger) 2.5; Wei Yi (Chn) 2 lost to Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb) 5.5.

Women: Zhu Jiner (Chn) 3 lost to Anna Muzychuk (Ukr) 4; Tan Zhongyi (Chn) 2.5 drew with Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus) 3; Kateryna Lagno (Rus) 3 lost to R. Vaishali 3; Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kaz) 2.5 lost to Divya Deshmukh 3.