For a nation that started the tournament with the sensible solidity in the opening rounds, Round 4 felt like a whimper, a desperate rush toward the sanctuary of Thursday’s break.Praggnanandhaa’s dry drawR Praggnanandhaa, who has been India’s only hope in the Open section, looked uncharacteristically subdued against Germany’s Matthias Blübaum. Playing with the black pieces, the Chennai prodigy seemed content to steer the game toward neutral territory, as his German opponent would’ve wanted, rather than testing his resolve.Veteran GM Pravin Thipsay was critical of the approach. “Blübaum has been playing very solidly, and he chose a simple opening, and with white pieces, he just simplified into a drawish ending,” Thipsay told TimesofIndia.com while analysing the game. “Praggnanandhaa did try to open up the game with a centre break, but he had wasted a couple of pawn moves in 4…c6 and 5…c6, so by the time he played 6…c5, there was hardly any chance of winning.”The game ended in a 37-move threefold repetition, a dry affair that lacked the aggressive Pragg-style, even when defending with black pieces, the chess world has come to expect.Sindarov sets the toneWhile the Indians struggled for rhythm, Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov continued to set the pace, dismantling the world-class Fabiano Caruana. The result has sent shockwaves through the chess fraternity, firmly establishing the Uzbek as the man to beat.

Javokhir Sindarov (Photo by Michal Walusza)

“The match between two players who were leading this tournament with 2.5/3 was interesting,” Thipsay noted. “Sindarov scored a crushing victory over Fabiano Caruana to take lead 3.5/4. Looks like a fantastic score. At this stage, one can say that his quality and play or the consistency is much better than the others. If things go on in the same manner, then one can say that Sindarov is going to win this tournament.”Vaishali’s escapeIn the women’s section, R Vaishali faced Aleksandra Goryachkina in what turned into a 27-move survival act. Opting for a King’s Pawn opening that evolved into an Italian Game (Modern Bishop’s Opening), Vaishali found herself in murky waters early on. “Vaishali survived a bad position. She played the opening badly,” Thipsay remarked bluntly. “At one stage, there was a central exchange, and if her opponent had played exd4 (instead of 18…Nxd4), it would have been a great positional advantage for her opponent. But after the opponent took Knight into d4, Vaishali immediately recovered, and the game ended in a draw with some exciting moments, but nothing really serious.“FIDE Candidates Round 4 Results – April 1, 2026Open Section

Women’s Section

Divya Deshmukh’s positional meltdownThe most harrowing result for India came on Divya Deshmukh’s board. Facing China’s Zhu Jiner with the white pieces, Divya’s Slav Defense fell apart not because of an opponent’s brilliance, but due to self-inflicted wounds.“The most disappointing game of the day was by Divya Deshmukh,” Thipsay said. Divya Deshmukh played the English Opening. Early in the middlegame, she had already established a two-pawn structure on d4 and d5 with 8. cxd5… exd4 and 9. exd4… Bb6.“She played a position which is probably not easy to understand, but she took doubled pawns in the centre so that she would have the cramping effect. Apparently, she did not know the follow-up, because as soon as she got a slight advantage… she tried to push the pawns on the king’s side unnecessarily for no reason, instead of concentrating on the development.”

Divya plays 12.h4

Her first major misstep came with the premature kingside pawn push, 12. h4, which weakened her position. Capitalising on this, Zhu Jiner struck decisively by capturing the d5 pawn with 17… Nxd5.“Divya also castled on the same side which she had weakened, and in the process, she lost a pawn on the 17th move,” Thipsay explained. “The time lost and the pawn lost were sort of irreparable. Thereafter also, the play was very inaccurate. She lost another pawn… In the final position, she was threatened with a loss of queen, threatened with mate, threatened with a pawn fork. A very one-sided game between the two.”By the time Divya resigned after 36 moves, she was multiple pawns down in a hopeless position. It was a clear-cut case of a player losing the thread of the game while perhaps already thinking about the rest day.The Indian contingent needs more than just rest. They need a total recalibration.The playing-for-safety mindset witnessed in Round 4 has done little but allow the competition to pull ahead.Praggnanandhaa, Vaishali, and Divya will need to return on Friday. What they would need is the killer instinct that seems to have evaporated in the Mediterranean heat.Round 5 Pairings – April 3, 2026

Praggnanandhaa, playing with the white pieces for the second time in three days, was expected to apply early pressure on 2025 FIDE World Cup winner Javokhir Sindarov. Instead, a surprising choice of opening and an uncharacteristic lack of bite left the Chennai-born Grandmaster suffering his first defeat of the tournament.A surprising choice in the openingThe surprise began at move one. Known for his lethal King’s Pawn (1. e4) attacks, Praggnanandhaa opted for the Queen’s Pawn (1. d4) opening, a move that also raised the eyebrows of veteran Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay.“Praggnanandhaa started brilliantly by winning the first round with the King’s Pawn opening. Today, playing White against Sindarov, he surprisingly chose the Queen’s Pawn, which does not really suit his style,” Thipsay told TimesofIndia.com in his post-game analysis.

“Praggnanandhaa is a very strong attacking player, and the King’s Pawn suits him better. He played the Queen’s Gambit, which leads to strategic play, but Sindarov played sharply and opened up the game with 6…c5. By the 12th move, Sindarov chose 12…Qf5, which is a novelty.”In the battle of 20-year-olds, the Uzbek youngster dictated terms while defending with black pieces astutely. Praggnanandhaa’s attempt to advance on the queenside met a brutal tactical response.“I think with 13.Bd3, Praggnanandhaa could have kept dangerous attacking possibilities by sacrificing a pawn (13…dxe3). The sacrifice could have proved very dangerous with 14.O-O…Nd4 ,” Thipsay explained.“Instead, he chose to go with 13.axb4, allowing his Uzbek opponent to sacrifice a knight (13…Nxb4,14.axb4…Bxb4+) to keep Praggnanandhaa’s king in the centre.”The sacrifice created a complex, unclear position where the initiative shifted to Sindarov. While a defensive specialist might have weathered the storm, Praggnanandhaa’s discomfort was evident.“Accurate defence is something Gukesh would have loved to play with White and probably would have defended,” Thipsay added. “But on move 19, Praggnanandhaa played 19.Qc3, which turned out to be a decisive mistake. It was a very one-sided game where Praggnanandhaa, despite the white pieces, was not able to give a single threat.”

By move 40, the Indian resigned, leaving Sindarov to join Fabiano Caruana at the top of the leaderboard with 2.5/3 points.Caruana himself enjoyed the shortest game of the tournament so far, capitalising on a catastrophic error by China’s Wei Yi, who resigned on move 19 after getting his bishop trapped.FIDE Candidates Round 3 Results – March 31, 2026Open Section

Women’s Section

A miracle save from Divya DeshmukhAfter eight consecutive draws across the first two rounds, the Women’s section finally saw blood. Kazakhstan’s Bibisara Assaubayeva, the three-time Women’s Blitz Champion, stunned China’s Zhu Jiner with the black pieces. Simultaneously, Russia’s Kateryna Lagno defeated China’s Tan Zhongyi to join Bibisara at the top.Amid these upsets, Divya Deshmukh found herself staring into the abyss against Aleksandra Goryachkina, one of the favourites to win the tournament. For a majority of the game, Divya was on the ropes, battling Goryachkina’s deep opening preparation and hefty positional lead.“After two very dull days in the women’s section, the third day saw a lot of upsets,” Thipsay noted. “The top seeds went down. Vaishali played a safe game and drew against Anna Muzychuk. Goryachkina was in an extreme lead in the game between Alexandra Goryachkina and Divya Deshmukh, and the draw is as good as a miracle.”That miracle arrived under time pressure.Coming from the Russian school of chess, Goryachkina, usually a clinical finisher, committed a shocking blunder on move 64 with 64.Ra6.

Although Divya briefly returned the favour with 64…Kh7, Goryachkina’s subsequent error, 65.Kf7, evaporated the Russian Grandmaster’s advantage, with the longest game of the day ending in a draw after 81 moves.“Goryachkina made a decisive error moving the rook from a7 to a6, and the game headed toward a draw,” Thipsay explained. “Divya succeeded in averting defeat. She keeps her chances alive with all three games drawn.”As the dust settles on a chaotic third round, the leaderboard has started breaking into the leaders and the followers. In the Open section, the favourites, Caruana and Sindarov, have emerged early.For India, the focus turns to Round 4, where Praggnanandhaa must recalibrate against Matthias Blübaum, while Divya and Vaishali look to turn their stalemates into a full point.Round 4 Pairings – April 1, 2026Open Section:

Women’s Section