This Time No Draws! || Praggnanandhaa vs Anish Giri || FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026

Welcome to the second game summary from the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026, a crucial event where the winner qualifies to challenge World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju. This particular game features Pragnanandhaa and Anish Giri. Pragnanandhaa secured his spot by winning the 2025 FIDE Circuit, similar to Fabiano Caruana's 2024 win. Anish Giri qualified through the FIDE Grand Swiss, as did Matthias Bluebaum. The World Cup produced three qualifiers: Jawokristi Nadar, who won, Wei, who placed second, and Andrey Esipenko, who took third. Hikaru Nakamura also qualified due to his highest average rating. These are the eight candidates, and a previous video provided an introduction and a photo of them. This game, highly requested by viewers, begins with Pragnanandhaa, playing white, opening with pawn to e4, met by black's pawn to c5. White plays knight to c3, and the game proceeds. A photo of the two players is displayed briefly before resuming the game analysis. White continues with pawn to d6 and then pawn to f4, initiating the Grand Prix attack against the Sicilian Defense. The commentator recalls that in the 2016 Candidates Tournament, Anish Giri famously drew all 14 of his games, leading to jokes about him being an "artist" who likes to "draw," or "Drawish Giri." This history prompted Giri to adopt more aggressive openings, including the Sicilian Defense, which he is now known for. He consistently proves his mastery of the Sicilian. In this game, Giri plays pawn to g6, a less common choice than knight to c6. White develops with knight f3, black plays bishop to g7, and white checks with bishop to b5. This is a standard Grand Prix setup. Black responds with bishop to d7. Instead of the usual capture or bishop c4, Prag plays pawn to a4. Black plays knight to c6, white castles kingside, and black challenges the bishop with pawn to a6. White retreats the bishop to c4, and black plays pawn to e6, burning some time. White plays pawn to d3, black knight g7, and Prag plays pawn to f5 without hesitation. Anish accurately calculates and responds with e captures on f5. White plays queen to e1. While not a new position, it is a known one. A previous game saw f captures on e4, which was not strong due to knight g5. Here, black plays bishop to e6. The commentator notes that pawn to h6, which stops knight g5, is also a viable engine-recommended move, but Anish opts for bishop to e6 immediately. At move 11, the game enters completely new territory. Prag captures on f5, and black responds with g captures on f5, as knight g5 would cause significant problems for black otherwise. White plays bishop captures on e6, black f captures, and white queen captures on e6. Black plays queen to d7, maintaining a fine position. White plays queen to c4, avoiding a queen trade, and castles queenside. Black plays bishop to g5, posing questions for Anish's development. Black then plays rook d to e8, and white plays rook a to e1. Anish plays knight to g6, spending almost 20 minutes. This move aims to advance the f-pawn and controls e5, though the knight lacks better squares. Black's main goal is to secure the king and push d5 without losing the c5 pawn. If d5 and d4 can be achieved, black's position would be excellent. Black plays knight d5, then king to b8. White plays knight to f6, winning the dark square bishop. After the exchanges, black plays rook h to f8. White brings the bishop back to c3, followed by pawn to f4. This move signifies Anish's transition from defense to attack, having solved his opening problems. Prag plays rook captures on e8, black rook captures, and white rook to e1, offering a rook trade. Anish declines, choosing to defend the f4 pawn with queen to e6. After a trade of queens, black plays king to c7, seemingly without much to worry about. However, Prag plays knight g5. Black responds with king to d7, and white plays rook to e4. Anish sacrifices a pawn with rook to f5 to achieve d5 and d4. White captures the pawn, black plays pawn to d5 attacking the rook. White retreats rook to e2, black plays pawn to d4, and white plays bishop to e1. Black plays knight c d5. Despite being down a pawn, Anish's position is incredibly active. The white knight on g5 appears trapped, but Prag plays rook to e4, preventing its capture. If black attempts king e7, white plays h4, allowing the knight to g5. If black plays rook to h5, white plays knight g5, leading to complications where white maintains an advantage. Anish plays knight to g4, white plays h3 attacking the knight. Black plays knight e3, an excellent square. White plays pawn to c3, undermining the knight and protecting c2. Black plays knight to d5, and white plays pawn to h4. The bishop on e1, though on a seemingly poor square, is proving effective. Black plays d captures on c3, white b captures, and black plays rook to h5, pressuring the h4 pawn. White plays knight to g5. The commentator explains that capturing on h4 with the knight leads to a lost position for black after knight e6, as pawns are hanging, and white's attack is crushing. Anish plays knight to f6, which is not sufficient. With four moves left until time control, white finds the winning sequence. Rook d6, followed by rook captures on g5, removing the defender of the rook on e6. Black must play rook captures on f6. White plays rook g4, followed by the key move pawn to h5. Black plays knight to e5, white plays pawn to h6, another critical winning move. Black plays knight f3 check, white king to f1, black knight captures on e1, white king captures on e1, black rook captures on g2, and white rook captures on f4. Praggnanandhaa is now up a pawn. The position is described as zugzwang for black, with no effective moves. Black cannot advance the king or play b5. After rook captures, h7, black cannot capture due to rook a7 check. Black plays rook to h3 (or pawn to h3). Prag brings his king into the game: king d2, rook h2 check, king e3, rook h3, king e4. Black plays pawn to c4 to create weaknesses, but Prag focuses on the h-pawn. After d captures, rook captures, white plays king to f5. Black plays king to e7, white rook to b6. Black plays rook captures on c4, and white plays pawn to h7. At this point, move 51, Anish Giri resigns. The commentator explains that after rook h4, white's winning plan is king g5, attacking the rook. If the rook moves, white promotes the pawn to a queen. If black tries checks, white's king simply marches down the board, leading to a queen promotion and a win. Praggnanandhaa delivers a brilliant performance, outplaying Anish Giri, the master of the Sicilian Defense, with the Grand Prix attack. The commentator notes that even an opening that has fallen out of fashion can be revived with strong, unpleasant moves, which Praggnanandhaa consistently employed. Anish Giri, despite the loss, played fighting chess, and the commentator hopes to see more Sicilians and positive results from him. The commentator also addresses viewer feedback regarding the time format, with some preferring increment from move one rather than move 40. While acknowledging that a tournament of this caliber should have proper time controls to prevent losses due to time trouble, the current format is seen as a concession to make games more exciting for viewers, given past Candidates tournaments with many draws. The players themselves reportedly voted for this format. The commentator concludes by thanking channel contributors and encouraging viewers to check out previous videos.