Anish Giri won two games in a row to advance into second place, but has little chance of overhauling the leader
Javokhir Sindarov extended his lead at the world championship Candidates in Cyprus on Thursday when the 20-year-old Uzbek grandmaster won for the sixth time at the event to take his overall total to an unbeaten eight points out of 10, two ahead of his closest challenger, the Netherlands No 1, Anish Giri.
India’s Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu had prepared a sharp and complex defence to the Queen’s Gambit with an early push of his g and h pawns, but he blundered at move 22 and Sindarov was able to acquire a queen and several pawns for two ineffective rooks.
In the previous round, Giri, 31, had established himself as Sindarov’s main rival when he defeated the pre-tournament favourite and US champion, Fabiano Caruana, in a game with a brilliant finish, where the exquisite sequence 42…f5+! 43 exf5 Kh6!! led to unavoidable checkmate or win of the queen.
In the same round, Sindarov, after creating a winning attack against Matthias Blübaum’s king, miscalculated and allowed a queen exchange instead of converting by 24…Qb7!
