5 min learnNew DelhiApr 4, 2026 12:08 AM IST
Within the historical past of the Candidates Event in its present format, no participant had ever scored 3.5 factors from the primary 4 rounds. Uzbek sensation Javokhir Sindarov not solely matched that mark however has gone one step forward, surging to 4.5 factors in 5 rounds whereas casually tearing down Hikaru Nakamura’s defences as if for enjoyable in Cyprus on Friday.
The 20-year-old, the youngest within the 8-player lineup, is toying with the world’s elite in what’s broadly thought of essentially the most brutal gauntlet in chess, the ultimate step earlier than a shot on the World Championship title.
If his win in opposition to Fabiano Caruana within the earlier spherical was a lesson in calculated domination, his recreation in opposition to Nakamura was an outright dismantling. Enjoying on the picturesque Cap St Georges Resort and Resort in Pegeia, perched above the deep blue Mediterranean, Sindarov made the extraordinary look routine to safe his fourth win.
The colors don’t matter to Sindarov anymore. With all the celebrities aligning, he caught Nakamura in his opening prep with black items, his signature weapon on this occasion. Weird because it sounds, the American spent 67 of his 120 allotted minutes on a single transfer – a h4 pawn push on transfer No 13 – solely to make the fallacious name in a pointy line of the Marshall Gambit (Queen’s Gambit Declined). The error handed Sindarov three pawns for nothing in return.
Javokhir Sindarov takes on Hikaru Nakamura within the Candidates match. (FIDE/Michal Walusza)
A rattled Nakamura bled clock whereas Sindarov watched his crushing win unfold transfer by transfer. Three pawns down with no compensation, Nakamura resigned to his second lack of the match.
Sindarov summed it up with attribute brevity: “He thinks for one hour and performs the fallacious transfer. I take a bonus and performed very properly,” he informed Chess24.
Nakamura had no actual rationalization. “It’s fairly simple: both I fully forgot what was within the file, or it’s on my staff. I seemed… castling was not the transfer. I think it’s the latter, and I didn’t overlook, so it’s very unlucky. I thought of knight e4 in the course of the recreation, however with out prep, it’s unattainable to play that place. In order that’s life.”
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After a much-needed relaxation day, India’s R Praggnanandhaa’s hopes of pushing for a win with the white items in opposition to laggard Andrey Esipenko have been crushed by the Russian’s top-tier defence. Pragg by no means made any actual progress and finally settled for a threefold repetition. India’s solitary hope within the Open is now full two factors behind Sindarov and shedding floor worryingly for his probabilities.
In the meantime, following a stunning loss to Sindarov within the earlier spherical, Caruana made a powerful comeback. His win over Matthias Bluebaum ensured his hole with the Uzbek didn’t widen because the American stays a degree behind.
Sindarov continues to carry a one-point lead over Caruana, whereas his benefit has grown over Praggnanandhaa and Anish Giri, who’re tied for third with 2.5 factors every.
Praggnanandhaa in motion on the 2026 Candidates on Friday. (FIDE/Yoav Nis)
Slipping away
With three factors now separating the sphere, the risk-averse strategy have to be thrown out the window by the collective group in the event that they hope to even decelerate the Uzbek’s mad whirlwind. In an occasion of the Candidates’ stature, the place taking part in secure is normally the order of the home, the likes of Wei Yi or Giri now face a tricky alternative of both keep on with the safety-first strategy and let Sindarov cruise along with his huge lead, or undertake fearless chess in a determined bid to take him down earlier than the whole discipline faces him once more with reversed colours.
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And funnily sufficient, that is exactly what Sindarov would need. As soon as desperation takes maintain, as a result of nothing lower than first place issues on the Candidates, taking dangers in opposition to him will solely hand the Uzbek extra alternatives to hammer the ultimate nail.
Within the Ladies’s Candidates, Zhu Jiner and Kateryna Lagno joined Anna Muzychuk in a three-way tie for the lead. Zhu handed R. Vaishali her first lack of the occasion, administering a gradual, grinding demise. It marked Zhu’s second consecutive win over an Indian after she had crushed Divya Deshmukh within the earlier spherical. On Friday, Vaishali was cornered by an aggressive Zhu, who grabbed a pawn within the middlegame and by no means let up the strain. Vaishali lastly cracked after 62 strikes.
Divya’s recreation in opposition to Tan Zhongyi was calmer however no much less irritating; very like Pragg, she merely couldn’t discover any gaps. Enjoying with black, Divya registered over 98% accuracy and earned a half-point.
Joint chief till the fourth spherical, Bibisara Assaubayeva stumbled in opposition to Lagno for her first loss, whereas Muzychuk drew in opposition to Aleksandra Goryachkina, that means the ladies’s discipline nonetheless stays tight, with only one level separating the whole pack. The Indian duo of Divya and Vaishali, alongside Tan, are tied for final place with two factors from 5 rounds.