‘Mini Sindarov… my own 50% version’: Anish Giri’s witty self-praise after beating Fabiano Caruana in Candidates

Anish won his second game in a row after beating India's R Praggnanandhaa in the eighth round.

Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri never fails to charm his way with his usual quick wit and humour. After beating American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana in the ninth round of the Candidates Tournament, Anish moved into second place and within striking distance of the top spot, where Uzbek phenom Javokhir Sindarov has almost cemented his place with an extraordinary start to the event.

Anish won his second game in a row after beating India’s R Praggnanandhaa in the eighth round. He now has 5.5 points from 9 rounds, 1.5 points behind Sindarov, who has seven points.

When asked about his two back-to-back wins in the post-match press conference, Anish, with his usual quick wit, called himself “mini Sindarov.”

“Two wins in a row! Mini Sindarov, yeah! It’s my own 50 percent version of Sindarov, I guess,” he said, referring to Sindarov’s four consecutive wins in the tournament.

While analysing the game he won against Caruana, Anish repeatedly called himself lucky. When Grandmaster Maurice Ashley pointed this out, he said: “I think I’m just being nice. I’m really happy and thrilled to win the game. I don’t have any regrets. I’m just really happy to have won.”

“I think I was a little bit unfortunate that the position after C5 is a draw. Because then it would have been a clean win. After the game, you are already happy that you won, but then you are hoping that maybe it was also a clean win. It was a little annoying that I didn’t clinch it here. But I had to win because of his mistake. It’s not like I’m going to cry over that for too long,” he added.

Anish said his victory is good news for both him and Sindarov.

Giving the reasoning behind his thought, he said: “I think it’s good news for both me and Javokhir. Well, he was probably more worried about Fabiano because he had more points earlier on, and he was also the pre-tournament favourite. But okay, we will see. I was at some point thinking that he would win today. I don’t know. Did you see if he was ever better today?”

“So you see, he can make mistakes, but everything is possible. At this point, as long as mathematically you can still win a tournament, you have to go and do your job, as they say. But Javokhir is still in a good situation. He will probably be quite pissed not to have won today because this was… but it was also such a strange game, to be honest. I didn’t understand anything. Yeah, it was very strange,” said Anish.

The Dutchman said as long as the tournament remains competitive, it is good for the viewers and the players who still have a mathematical chance. With five rounds remaining and a head-to-head clash against Sindarov still to come, Anish could mount a comeback and win his first Candidates tournament in his fourth appearance.

He said, “At this point, it gives me too much credit to call it a two-horse race. I think it is like a one-horse race. There is a bunch of losers in the back, and I am slightly ahead of the losers now. Let me win a few more games, and then we can speak of a two-horse race. I would love to take that, but it would give me too much credit. Honestly, I just won a couple of games, and suddenly I am a little ahead of the others. It is early to speak of that. It would be fun if this turned into a two-horse race at some point, but right now it is not yet the case.”

He continued: “The whole point of the tournament is that as long as you have a mathematical chance, there is still excitement. I remember some championship matches. I was so excited when Vishy was playing against Carlsen. It was already a very bad match for him, and he was losing, but he still had a mathematical chance to come back. I remember with how much excitement I watched the last round. Also, the Kramnik vs. Anand match. It was all hopeless for Vladimir, but then he won one game. In the end, I was watching with lots of excitement. As long as there is a mathematical chance, people really enjoy the tournaments.”

Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri never fails to charm his way with his usual quick wit and humour. After beating American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana in the ninth round of the Candidates Tournament, Anish moved into second place and within striking distance of the top spot, where Uzbek phenom Javokhir Sindarov has almost cemented his place with an extraordinary start to the event.

Anish won his second game in a row after beating India’s R Praggnanandhaa in the eighth round. He now has 5.5 points from 9 rounds, 1.5 points behind Sindarov, who has seven points.

When asked about his two back-to-back wins in the post-match press conference, Anish, with his usual quick wit, called himself “mini Sindarov.”

“Two wins in a row! Mini Sindarov, yeah! It’s my own 50 percent version of Sindarov, I guess,” he said, referring to Sindarov’s four consecutive wins in the tournament.

While analysing the game he won against Caruana, Anish repeatedly called himself lucky. When Grandmaster Maurice Ashley pointed this out, he said: “I think I’m just being nice. I’m really happy and thrilled to win the game. I don’t have any regrets. I’m just really happy to have won.”

“I think I was a little bit unfortunate that the position after C5 is a draw. Because then it would have been a clean win. After the game, you are already happy that you won, but then you are hoping that maybe it was also a clean win. It was a little annoying that I didn’t clinch it here. But I had to win because of his mistake. It’s not like I’m going to cry over that for too long,” he added.

Anish said his victory is good news for both him and Sindarov.

Giving the reasoning behind his thought, he said: “I think it’s good news for both me and Javokhir. Well, he was probably more worried about Fabiano because he had more points earlier on, and he was also the pre-tournament favourite. But okay, we will see. I was at some point thinking that he would win today. I don’t know. Did you see if he was ever better today?”

“So you see, he can make mistakes, but everything is possible. At this point, as long as mathematically you can still win a tournament, you have to go and do your job, as they say. But Javokhir is still in a good situation. He will probably be quite pissed not to have won today because this was… but it was also such a strange game, to be honest. I didn’t understand anything. Yeah, it was very strange,” said Anish.

The Dutchman said as long as the tournament remains competitive, it is good for the viewers and the players who still have a mathematical chance. With five rounds remaining and a head-to-head clash against Sindarov still to come, Anish could mount a comeback and win his first Candidates tournament in his fourth appearance.

He said, “At this point, it gives me too much credit to call it a two-horse race. I think it is like a one-horse race. There is a bunch of losers in the back, and I am slightly ahead of the losers now. Let me win a few more games, and then we can speak of a two-horse race. I would love to take that, but it would give me too much credit. Honestly, I just won a couple of games, and suddenly I am a little ahead of the others. It is early to speak of that. It would be fun if this turned into a two-horse race at some point, but right now it is not yet the case.”

He continued: “The whole point of the tournament is that as long as you have a mathematical chance, there is still excitement. I remember some championship matches. I was so excited when Vishy was playing against Carlsen. It was already a very bad match for him, and he was losing, but he still had a mathematical chance to come back. I remember with how much excitement I watched the last round. Also, the Kramnik vs. Anand match. It was all hopeless for Vladimir, but then he won one game. In the end, I was watching with lots of excitement. As long as there is a mathematical chance, people really enjoy the tournaments.”