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Two results in round nine had a major impact on the fight for first place at the Candidates Tournament in Cyprus. Anish Giri defeated Fabiano Caruana with the black pieces in the duel of chasers, climbing to sole second place. Meanwhile, runaway leader Javokhir Sindarov failed to make the most of a clear advantage in his game with Matthias Bluebaum. These results left Sindarov with a 1½-point lead over Giri with five rounds still to go.
In round ten, the last one before the tournament's third rest day, both Sindarov and Giri will have the white pieces, facing Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Hikaru Nakamura respectively. Sindarov and Giri are yet to play their second game of the event, as they are scheduled to meet in the penultimate round, when Giri will have white.
The remaining two games of the round finished drawn. Pragg failed to convert a clear advantage against Wei Yi, while Nakamura pressed in a slightly favourable technical endgame but could not secure a full point against Andrey Esipenko.
Round 9 results
Two-time Candidates' winner Ian Nepomniachtchi visited the playing hall, and revealed that he only did it "as a tourist" - naturally, he joined Jan Gustafsson and Peter Svidler in the commentary booth | Photo: FIDE / Niki Riga
A selfie with Nepo! | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
The marquee matchup between Caruana and Giri reflected contrasting emotional states. Caruana entered the game after suffering a frustrating defeat against Nakamura, while Giri came in with momentum following his win over Pragg.
From a Giuoco Piano, Giri achieved exactly what Black typically seeks in such setups: a playable position with balanced chances. Caruana, on his part, failed to generate an advantage with white and later made the uncharacteristic decision to play 16.d5?!, closing the structure and reducing the scope for dynamic play - an approach that limited his ability to create complications where his calculation abilities might have been decisive.
With the central structure closed, Giri gradually took over the initiative. He first gained control of the a-file and steadily restricted White's activity, leaving Caruana without meaningful counterplay. Breaking through was not immediate, but the critical moment came in time trouble. On move 37, with both players down to under 5 minutes, Caruana failed to find the correct reply to 37…c5
The best continuation was 38.dxc6, capturing en passant to get drawing chances, whereas 38.Kg3? left White in an extremely difficult position.
Giri quickly transferred his queen to the kingside and launched a decisive attack. With White's knight stranded on a1 and unable to contribute, Black's attack proved overwhelming, as Giri converted his advantage efficiently.
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Fabiano Caruana v. Anish Giri | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
The other crucial encounter of the day saw Sindarov once again demonstrating the depth of his preparation. Facing Bluebaum with the black pieces, he obtained an edge by move 17 and also built up a time advantage of around 30 minutes.
He began to make steady progress on the queenside, where White's king was castled, while Bluebaum struggled to generate any counterplay. Just when commentators were praising Sindarov's near-flawless handling of the position, the youngster faltered with 24…Bxa4?
This capture allowed 25.Qxb6, trading queens to enter a slightly inferior endgame for White, albeit one with good drawing chances. To prevent this simplification, Black needed to play 24...Qb7!, with excellent chances of getting a victory going forward.
The game continued until move 60, with Bluebaum defending accurately throughout the technical phase to secure the draw.
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Javokhir Sindarov offers a draw and Matthias Bluebaum happily agrees - this was the first big missed chance by the runaway leader | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
Although players other than Sindarov and Giri now stand three or more points behind the leader - effectively leaving them with close to zero chances of winning the tournament - this has not resulted in cautious or uneventful play across the board.
The encounter between Pragg and Wei was a case in point. After Wei's inaccurate 22…Qf4?! (diagram), White gained a clear advantage following 23.Rf3 Qxe5 24.Qxf7+, getting to put pressure against the exposed black king.
Praggnanandhaa continued to push but failed to convert his advantage, missing several chances to make his edge decisive. A key moment came when he played 38.Qc7?! instead of the more concrete 38.Nxc8, which would have gained material.
Wei defended tenaciously and was eventually rewarded with a draw, leaving both players on a minus-one score of 4/9 as the tournament enters its final five rounds.
The tension-packed battle between Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Wei Yi | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
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