Uzbek Prodigy Sindarov Dominates Early Rounds of Candidates Tournament
Javokhir Sindarov, the 21-year-old Uzbek grandmaster, has seized a commanding early lead in the 2026 Candidates chess tournament in Cyprus, scoring 3.5 points out of 4 after four rounds. His impressive performance includes a notable victory over the pre-tournament favourite and world No. 3, Fabiano Caruana, marking the fastest start ever by a player under the double-round Candidates format. This positions Sindarov as the clear frontrunner to challenge India's Gukesh Dommaraju for the world crown.
Strategic Mastery Against Caruana
Sindarov's seconds accurately predicted that Caruana, playing with the black pieces, would open with the solid Queen's Gambit Accepted, allowing for meticulous preparation. "I got kind of caught in the opening," admitted a subdued Caruana during the post-game press conference. The US champion faced severe time pressure, dwindling to just 10 minutes to reach move 40 after 20 moves, with no per-move increment available.
Sindarov credited his success to exceptional preparation, stating, "Of course I never imagined that I would go into the rest day with plus three, but today I played a really good game and the prep was also fantastic, thanks to my seconds." He expressed particular pride in outmanoeuvring the highly experienced Caruana, noting luck in revising the specific Queen's Gambit Accepted line just before the game. Key innovations for White included moves 13 dxc5! and 14 c6!, while Caruana's critical errors at moves 17 and 18, where 17...Qxd4! and 18...Qxd4! could have enabled survival, proved decisive.
Tournament Standings and Key Matchups
After a rest day on Thursday, the pivotal round five will feature a clash between Sindarov and world No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura, who has had a sluggish start with 1.5/4 and no wins. Nakamura, a popular streamer with millions of followers, has been recapping his games nightly but has yet to showcase a victory. He missed opportunities in a double rook ending against China's Wei Yi, whom Caruana had previously defeated in a swift 19-move game.
Current Candidates scores after four of 14 rounds are:
- Javokhir Sindarov: 3.5
- Fabiano Caruana: 2.5
- Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (India), Matthias Blübaum (Germany), Anish Giri (Netherlands): 2
- Wei Yi (China), Hikaru Nakamura (US): 1.5
- Andrey Esipenko (Russia): 1
Women's Candidates and Other Chess Highlights
In the women's Candidates, the tournament remains tightly contested, with all eight competitors scoring between plus one and minus one. Aleksandra Goryachkina, tipped by this column, has drawn all her games despite missed chances that could have yielded 4/4. A standout moment was the game between Tan Zhongyi and Kateryna Lagno, where Lagno's imaginative sacrifices from moves 42 to 45 secured mate or a decisive advantage.
Women's Candidates scores after four rounds include:
- Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kazakhstan), Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine): 2.5
- Aleksandra Goryachkina, Kateryna Lagno (both Russia), Zhu Jiner (China), Vaishali Rameshbabu (India): 2
- Tan Zhongyi (China), Divya Deshmukh (India): 1.5
Reykjavik Open and English Chess Developments
The Reykjavik Open concluded with a clear victory for top-seeded Iranian Amin Tabatabaei, who scored 8/9, half a point ahead of Chinese-American GM Zhou Jianchao. Zhou recently broke a record with 158 unbeaten games over nine months. England's Matthew Wadsworth, after a strong performance, finished out of prize money following a final-round defeat to Zhou.
Next week, Wadsworth will lead a small English contingent at the European Individual Championship in Katowice, Poland, supported by grants from Chancellor Rachel Reeves' £250,000 annual fund for young talents. He will be joined by Shreyas Royal, 17, England's youngest grandmaster, and IM Jonah Willow, who aims to complete GM title requirements.
Rising Star: Bodhana Sivanandan
In a remarkable development, 11-year-old English prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan has surged to No. 1 in Britain in Fide's April ratings, breaking into the world's top 100 women for the first time at No. 72 with a rating of 2366. She replaces four-time British women's champion Yao Lan as the English Chess Federation's top player, following strong performances in Graz and Cannes.
Sivanandan holds records as the youngest woman to defeat a male grandmaster and achieve a WGM norm. However, her future progress faces challenges: a narrow and passive opening repertoire, reliance on general judgment over specific calculation, and an upcoming transition to secondary school. While unlikely to match the early teen leaps of Judit Polgar or Hou Yifan, her career remains promising.
Chess Puzzle Solution: From the 1981 Warsaw tournament, White wins with 1 Qc3! Qb7 (guarding against 2 Qg7 mate and 2 Qc8+), then 2 Qa1! forcing zugzwang. Black resigns as the queen cannot defend against both 3 Qg7 mate and 3 Qa8+.
