FIDE Candidates: Indian performance satisfactory so far, say GMs Barua and Thipsay

Toronto: Indian Grandmasters Dibyendu Barua and Pravin Thipsay are quite impressed with how the country's five-strong contingent, led by the prodigal R Praggnanandhaa, has performed so far at the prestigious Candidates Chess Tournament here.

The Candidates tournament has a rest day after four rounds of intensive chess with Ian Nepomniachtchit from Russia leading the standings. India's D Gukesh is a joint second on the table with Praggnanandhaa at fourth along with Vidit Gujrathi.

With 10 rounds still to go, Barua feels that Koneru Humpy can still strike back in the women's competition after succumbing to her first defeat at the hands of lowest seed and youngest participant Nurgyul Salimova of Bulgaria, "Vidit can bounce back and Gukesh can score well. I would not rate Humpy out of equations as yet, she has the acumen and a great will to won, we will know in a few days," Barua, a three-time national champion who was second Indian chess player after Viswanathan Anand to become a GM, told PTI.

In women's section, R Vaishali holds the joint third position. Humpy slipped to joint sixth on 1.5 points.

Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay said the Indians are in with a good chance.

"Nakamura is not motivated so that leaves the Indian trio plus Nepo and Fabio Caruana," Thipsay said.

Praggnanandhaa's long-time trainer R B Ramesh said that it's a good beginning for teh 18-year-old.

"I think Pragg did exceptionally well coming out with that loss and I also feel bad that he could have done better against Gukesh," he said.

When asked about his absence from Praggnanandhaa's corner, Ramesh said that it was a conscious decision.

In the Women's event Tan Zhongyi of China has taken the early lead with. A full point behind is R Vaishali, Praggnanandhaa's sister.

Aleksandra Goryachikina might feel threatened as of now as the rating favourite in the section as she the one trying to compete desperately with Tan.

The women's section may see a lot of turnaround as the matches progress but on everyone's mind is Tan who has steely nerves and the will to win.

Pairings women round 5: R Vaishali (2) vs Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 1.5); Koneru Humpy (1.5) vs Aleksandra Goryachkina (Fid, 2.5); Tingjie Lei (Chn, 1.5) vs Kateryna Lagno (Fid, 2); Zhongyi Tan (Chn, 3) vs Nurgyul Salimova (Bul 2).