Candidates chess | Vaishali punishes Tan; Anish splits the point with Sindarov

A terrible blunder by former World champion Tan Zhongyi cost her dear against R. Vaishali in the Women’s Candidates at Pegeia, Cyprus, on Sunday. The Chinese lost a piece and Vaishali made sure she converted her advantage into a full point.

That was her second straight victory. Fellow Indian Divya Deshmukh, however, failed to take advantage of her better position against Russia’s Kateryna Lagno and had to settle for a draw after a marathon 135 moves.

Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine maintained her sole lead after drawing with Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan. She has 4.5 points at the end of the seventh round, half-a-point ahead of the second-placed Vaishali. Seven rounds remain.

In the open Candidates, Anish Giri of the Netherlands finally ended the dream run of Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov, who had won his last four games. The 20-year-old, despite being an exchange up, was forced to split the point by the rock-solid Dutchman. Sindarov, however, maintained his 1.5-point lead. He has six points, one more than the second-seeded American Fabiano Caruana, who was held to a draw by R. Praggnanandhaa.

Monday is a rest day.

The results (seventh round): Andrey Esipenko (Rus) 2 lost to Wei Yi (Chn) 3; Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb) 6 drew with Anish Giri (Ned) 3.5; Matthias Bluebaum (Ger) 3 drew with Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2.5; R. Praggnanandhaa 3.5 drew with Fabiano Caruana (USA) 4.5.

Women: Anna Muzychuk (Ukr) 4.5 drew with Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kaz) 3; R. Vaishali 4 bt Tan Zhongyi (Chn) 2.5; Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus) 3.5 drew with Zhu Jiner (Chn) 3.5; Divya Deshmukh 3.5 drew with Kateryna Lagno (Rus) 3.5.