Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa almost went out of contention for a top place finish after a loss against Anish Giri of the Netherlands in the eighth round of the Candidates chess tournament here on Tuesday.

On a day when Uzbek Javokhir Sindarov just decided to consolidate his lead and drew with tailender Andrey Esipenko of Russia, Praggnanandhaa, who had scored his sole victory over Giri in the first round, fell prey to some simple tactics from a seemingly equal position and lost his second game in the tournament.