 "R Praggnanandhaa played out a draw in his second game of the Candidates 2026, but still remains in top 3. Image: FIDE")
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa held Chinese star Wei Yi to a hard-fought draw in Round 2 of the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 in Cyprus. Playing with Black, Praggnanandhaa showed strong defensive skills, absorbing pressure for long periods before taking the game to a draw.
After this result, the 20-year-old now has 1.5 points from two rounds, keeping himself in the running to challenge world champion D Gukesh later this year. Praggnanandhaa had defeated Anish Giri of the Netherlands in the first match on Sunday, March 29.
After the game, Praggnanandhaa opened up about his strategy and a critical moment he regrets missing in the game. Talking about his ‘French defence’, the Indian player said it shouldn’t be a surprise, given that he had played it recently. He further added that he gained a good time advantage out of the opening.
“I don’t think the French itself was a surprise. I mean, I’ve played the French recently, so I don’t think it will come as a big surprise. But yeah, it’s not clear what I actually played after that, because I have played a lot of lines, many different lines even though I have only a few games,” he said while speaking to FIDE.
“So I thought what I played would come as a little surprise. And I think I got a good position out of the opening and a good time advantage. I can’t really complain about the opening today,” he added.
Praggnanandhaa on the critical moment he missed
When asked about a critical moment in the game, Praggnanandhaa said, “I think castle f6. Black should be okay. Yeah, I was quite happy with my position, like knight e5. I thought queen c7 is good. And then this plan of rook f7. I mean what happened in the game later… but I think I should have just played c4 here instead of rook f7.”
Praggnanandhaa vs Wei Yi game:
He explained why c4 would have been a better choice. “It stops f5 and I can play rook f7 next and then just start rolling the pawns. I don’t see White’s plan clearly and Black’s moves are just flowing freely. I don’t know what the computer says here, but I think c4 should be practically good for Black,” he said.
Reflecting on the game overall, Praggnanandhaa said, “Maybe we could have played a bit better but I think it was just fine for both of us. I don’t think I’m sure there were many other options which were also equal but I think what we played looks logical and looks like decent moves.”
When asked about his recent poor form by a reporter at the FIDE press conference, Praggnanandhaa said, “I think I still need to learn from it because I played like five tournaments in the last six months, and all five of them went poorly. I think it’s something I should learn to recover from a bad tournament. But here, it’s just a start. A good start is great, but I still have to play my best. There are 12 more games, so I have to keep focusing and keep giving my best.”
Meanwhile, Javokhir Sindarov and Fabiano Caruana are occupying the first and second place, respectively, in the FIDE Candidates 2026 standings despite having the same 1.5 points as Pragg due to tie-break regulations.