Sindarov rising at Candidates
Young grandmaster Nodirbek Sindarov is posting strong results at the ongoing Candidates tournament, showing up as one of the weekend’s noteworthy performers. (Social briefings singled out Sindarov’s form among the live chess stories.) (x.com)
Javokhir Sindarov has turned the 2026 Candidates into his tournament, building a clear lead with three rounds left in Cyprus. (chess.com) After 11 rounds, Sindarov led the open field on 8.5 points, two points ahead of Fabiano Caruana on 6.5. All four games in Round 11 ended in draws, including Sindarov’s draw with Caruana on April 12. (chess.com) The surge came fast. FIDE said Sindarov had five wins in his first six games by April 4, then beat Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in Round 10 on April 10 to reach 8 points from 10 rounds with no losses. (fide.com) (chessbase.com) The Candidates is the event that picks the challenger for the world title. This year’s eight-player tournament is a double round robin in Pegeia, Cyprus, running from March 28 to April 16, and the winner earns a match against reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju later in 2026. (candidates2026.fide.com) (wikipedia.org) That is why Sindarov’s run has drawn so much attention: he is 20 years old and entered as the 2025 Chess World Cup winner, not as the pre-tournament favorite by rating. He became a grandmaster at 12 years, 10 months and 8 days, and he was part of Uzbekistan’s gold-medal team at the 2022 Chess Olympiad. (wikipedia.org) His results have come against the deepest part of the field. FIDE’s official pairings show wins over Andrey Esipenko, Praggnanandhaa, Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Wei Yi in the first half of the event, plus a second win over Praggnanandhaa in Round 10. (candidates2026.fide.com) The chasing pack has not disappeared. Anish Giri moved within 1.5 points after Round 9 when Sindarov let a winning chance slip against Matthias Bluebaum, before the leader widened the gap again with his Round 10 victory. (fide.com) (chessbase.in) Live standings published by Chess.com listed Sindarov first, Caruana second, Giri and Praggnanandhaa on 3.5 after 11 rounds, with Wei Yi, Bluebaum, Nakamura and Esipenko further back. The margin means Sindarov entered the final stretch needing solid results more than a late sprint. (chess.com) Three rounds remained after Sunday’s draw with Caruana, and Sindarov was still the player everyone else had to catch. In a tournament built to find one challenger, he had given himself the only clear path to Gukesh. (chess.com)
