Bengaluru, March 30 -- Two twenty-year olds - R Praggnanandhaa and Javokhir Sindarov brought the fireworks and spectacle that lit up the first day of the three-week Candidates tournament with sparkling wins. The competition that will pick 19-year-old reigning world champion Gukesh's opponent for the match, fittingly saw his peers step up and show intent as early as day 1. India's lone torchbearer in the Open field, Praggnanandhaa (playing with white pieces), whose form had been shaky heading in, was swivelling in his chair with contentment within the first five moves. His opponent, Dutchman Anish Giri, wore a smirk and then sat hunched over the board, falling behind on the clock by half an hour, presumably surprised by his opponent's opening choice. The Indian, who spent the moments before his Round 1 game in a meditative state - eyes closed, elbows resting on the table, had trotted out the Grand Prix Attack - an aggressive choice with the idea of mounting a kingside attack. The Indian advanced his f-pawn (3.f4) early, seizing space and considering the amount of time Giri spent weighing his options, he presumably was navigating through uncomfortable terrain. In an interesting choice of moves, the Indian sacrificed a pawn and improved his Queen. (10.f5 11.Qe1) Playing his third Candidates, Giri tried to steady matters somewhat in the middlegame, managing to take the sting out of the attack on his King. Deciding not to exchange his rooks didn't do Giri any favours, and soon he found himself in a position where he was forced to spot a series Only Moves while Praggnanandhaa stayed precise and slowly turned the screws. The Indian succeeded in getting Giri to burn through his clock - he was down to roughly 13 minutes with nine moves to go until time control, a pawn down and in a minefield position. In the Open section, there are no time increments per move until move 40. The engines seemed happy with the Indian's position in a sharp endgame, offering him a no-brainer plus. Calculating complicated lines in the endgame is up the Indian's alley and he made no mistake spotting the blows, like 34.h4, tightening the noose around his opponent. They made time control with Praggnanandhaa in a close to winning position and Giri hoping for a miracle. The latter wasn't to be. On the eve of his Round 1 game, Praggnanandhaa seemed tired of the references to him being among the 'youngest' players in the competition. "I feel old for chess, honestly. I've been playing for a long time already. So I don't think this 'young' term is for me anymore," he laughed. "There were a lot of learnings from last year and I feel good coming into this tournament. I've trained for this tournament and I feel confident." It's huge props to Praggnanandhaa's preparation and mental resilience, coming off a tough couple of months to be able to outplay Giri and start with a win rightaway. At no point was he in any danger through the game. The other 20-year old, 2025 World Cup winner Uzbeki in red-hot form - Sindarov, was worse through most part of his game against Andrey Esipenko. After a crazy time scramble, Sindarov came off with a winning position and could scarcely believe the turnaround of his fortunes in the game....