Candidate Chess: How a miracle saved Divya Deshmukh and India from Round 3 disaster | Chess news.

Playing with the white pieces for the second time in three days, Praganandha was expected to put early pressure on 2025 FIDE World Cup winner Javakhir Sundarov. Instead, a surprising selection of openings and an extraordinary lack of bite handed the Chennai-born grandmaster his first loss of the tournament.A surprising choice to begin withThe surprise started at one step. Known for his deadly King’s Pawn (1. e4) attacks, Praganandha opted for a Queen’s Pawn (1. d4) opening, a move that raised the eyebrows of even veteran grandmaster Praveen Theapse.“Pragnanandaa got off to a great start by winning the first round with the King’s Pawn opening. Today, playing White against Sindarov, he surprisingly chose the Queen’s Pawn, which doesn’t really suit his style,” Thipsay told TimesofIndia.com in his post-game analysis.

“Pragnandha is a very strong attacking player, and the king’s pawn is better for him. He played the queen’s gambit, which leads to strategic play, but Sundaroff played quickly and opened the game with 6…c5. By the 12th move, Sundaroff chose 12…Qf5. Which is a novelty.”In the battle of the 20-year-old boys, the Uzbek youth dictated the terms, defending with the black pieces with great skill. Praganandha’s attempt to advance towards the queen was met with a barbaric strategy.“I think with 13.Bd3, Pragnananandha could have kept his chances of making a dangerous attack by sacrificing a pawn (13…dxe3). The sacrifice could have been very dangerous with 14.OO…Nd4,” Thepse explained.“Instead, he chose to go with 13.axb4, allowing his Uzbek opponent to sacrifice a knight (13…Nxb4,14.axb4…Bxb4+) to keep Praganananda’s king in the center.”The sacrifice created a complex, ambiguous position where the initiative shifted to Sandroof. While a defensive specialist might have weathered the storm, Praganandha’s distress was palpable.“Correct defense is something that Gokesh would have liked to have played with White and probably defended,” Thapse added. “But on move 19, Praganandha played 19.Qc3, which turned out to be a decisive mistake. It was a very one-sided game where Praganandha, despite the white pieces, was unable to offer a single threat.”

With a move of 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, taking advantage of a disastrous error by China’s Wei Yi, who resigned on move 19 after trapping his bishop.FIDE Candidate Round 3 Results – 31 March 2026Open the section.

Women’s section

A miracle saved from Divya DeshmukhAfter eight consecutive draws in the first two rounds, the women’s section finally saw blood. Three-time women’s blitz champion Bibi Sara Isaobaifa of Kazakhstan stunned China’s Zhu Jin with black pieces. Along with this, Russia’s Katerina Ligno defeated China’s Tan Zhongyi to join B Bessara at the top.Amidst these woes, Divya Deshmukh found herself facing off against Alexandra Goryachkina, who was one of the favorites to win the tournament. For most of the game, Divya was on the ropes, countering Gorichkina’s early preparation and heavy positional advantage.“After two very slow days on the women’s side, the third day looked a lot more hectic,” Thipse noted. “The top seeds went down. Vaishali played safe and drew against Anna Mozychak. In the match between Alexandra Gorichkina and Divya Deshmukh, Gorichkina was on top, and the draw is miraculously good.”That miracle came under the pressure of time.Coming from the Russian school of chess, Gurichkina, usually a clinical finisher, committed a surprising blunder on 64 with 64.Ra6.

Although Divya briefly returned the favor with 64…Kh7, Gorichkina’s subsequent blunder, 65.Kf7, ended the Russian grandmaster’s advantage, the longest game of the day ending in a draw after 81 moves.“Gorichkina made a decisive mistake in moving the rook from a7 to a6, and the game went to a draw,” Thepse explained. “Divya managed to avoid defeat. She keeps her chances alive with all three draws.”As the dust settles on the third round of Chaos, the leaderboard begins to break down leaders and followers. In the open section, the favourites, Caruana and Sindarov, have emerged early.For India, attention turns to Round 4, where Pragnandha must reset against Matthias Blobaum, while Divya and Vaishali look to turn their stalemate into a full point.Round 4 Pairing – 1 April 2026Open the section:

Women’s section