India’s Divya Deshmukh suffers first loss in FIDE Candidates Chess Tournament

GM Divya Deshmukh suffered her first loss of the FIDE Candidates Chess Tournament in the fourth round in Cyprus on Wednesday.

Zhu Jiner of China was in great form with black pieces, putting the Indian under pressure in the middle game. Divya also came under time pressure, meaning she was at times down to 10 seconds on the clock before an additional 30-minute increment was added by move 40.

Divya was forced to resign before the time control was reached after Jiner opened a multi-pronged attack with a rook and a passed pawn on d3.

Divya has yet to win a game in the tournament as her first three rounds ended in draws. She is on 1.5 points, with 10 rounds to go. R Vaishali, the other Indian in the women's category, has 2 points after settling for a fourth straight draw, the latest against Aleksandra Goryachkina.

In the open section, R Praggnanandhaa, the only Indian in the fray, drew with Matthias Bluebaum to take his tally to 2 points. Praggnanandhaa lost to Javokhir Sindarov in the third round on Tuesday.

The tournament will resume on Friday after a day's rest. The Indian trio is aiming to win the event and emerge as the challengers to the reigning classical world champions Ju Wenjun (women) and G Gukesh (men).