R Praggnanandhaa's hopes of winning the Candidates tournament took another blow in Round 5 on Friday, as the Indian only managed a draw with the white pieces against Andrey Esipenko, on a day when leader Javokhir Sindarov went further away from Praggnanandhaa with a win over Hikaru Nakamura.
Praggnanandhaa now has 2.5 points in five rounds, two points behind Sindarov, who's on 4.5 points already. Fabiano Caruana beat Matthias Blübaum with the white pieces to stay within touching distance of Sindarov, but even he's a point behind the Uzbek at the moment.
Considering Esipenko's standing in the tournament, with just one point in four games, this was a game that presented an opportunity for Praggnanandhaa to keep pace with the leaders. However, throughout the game, he never really had a massive opportunity to push for a win. Esipenko played a solid game with the English defence, and eventually, the two players agreed to a draw in 41 moves.
FIDE Candidates 2026 Open Round 5 results
R Praggnanandhaa 0.5-0.5 Andrey Esipenko
Fabiano Caruana 1-0 Matthias Blübaum
Hikaru Nakamura 0-1 Javokhir Sindarov
Wei Yi 0.5-0.5 Anish Giri
FIDE Candidates 2026 Open Standings after Round 5
Javokhir Sindarov - 4.5
Fabiano Caruana - 3.5
R Praggnanandhaa - 2.5
Anish Giri - 2
Matthias Blübaum- 2
Wei Yi - 2
Hikaru Nakamura - 1.5
Andrey Esipenko - 1.5
Divya loses ground, as Vaishali draws again
In the women's Candidates too, it was a less than productive day for the Indians, as R Vaishali lost to Zhu Jiner, and Divya Deshmukh only managed a draw against Tan Zhongyi. Both the Indians played with the black pieces, but couldn't create any openings.
For Divya against Zhongyi, it was a fairly eventless game. Vaishali, on the other hand, got constricted by Jiner, and eventually after a long slog, was made to resign.
Anna Muzychuk, Jiner and Kateryna Lagno are all in the lead with three points each, with Divya and Vaishali at 2 points each.
FIDE Candidates 2026 Women's Round 5 results
Zhu Jiner - R Vaishali
Tan Zhongyi 0.5-0.5 Divya Deshmukh
Aleksandra Goryachkina 0.5-0.5 Anna Muzychuk
Kateryna Lagno 1-0 Bibisara Assaubayeva
FIDE Candidates 2026 Open Standings after Round 5
Anna Muzychuk - 3
Kateryna Lagno - 3
Zhu Jiner - 3
Bibisara Assaubayeva - 2.5
Aleksandra Goryachkina - 2
R Vaishali - 2
Tan Zhongyi - 2
Divya Deshmukh - 2