Praggnanandhaa Stuns Anish Giri in FIDE Candidates Opener

• Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa defeated Dutch GM Anish Giri in the first round of the Candidates chess tournament in Paphos, Cyprus.
• Praggnanandhaa, who had been struggling recently, made a strong comeback with this victory.
• World Cup champion Javokhir Sindarov also won against Andrey Esipenko, while Fabiano Caruana was close to beating Hikaru Nakamura.
• In the women's section, Indian GMs Divya Deshmukh and R Vaishali both secured draws in their respective matches.
• Praggnanandhaa's strategic Grand Prix attack against Giri's Sicilian defense led to a time advantage and ultimately a win in the endgame.