Chess: Sindarov extends Candidates lead and heads for world title challenge

Javokhir Sindarov extended his lead at the world championship Candidates in Cyprus on Thursday when the 20-year-old Uzbek grandmaster won for the sixth time at the event to take his overall total to an unbeaten eight points out of 10, two ahead of his closest challenger, the Netherlands No 1, Anish Giri.

India’s Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu had prepared a sharp and complex defence to the Queen’s Gambit with an early push of his g and h pawns, but he blundered at move 22 and Sindarov was able to acquire a queen and several pawns for two ineffective rooks.

In the previous round, Giri, 31, had established himself as Sindarov’s main rival when he defeated the pre-tournament favourite and US champion, Fabiano Caruana, in a game with a brilliant finish, where the exquisite sequence 42…f5+! 43 exf5 Kh6!! led to unavoidable checkmate or win of the queen.

4019: Ivan Stankovic v Danilo Djordjevic. Serbian Championship 2018. White to move and win.

In the same round, Sindarov, after creating a winning attack against Matthias Blübaum’s king, miscalculated and allowed a queen exchange instead of converting by 24…Qb7!

The last remaining obstacle for Sindarov may be in round 13, when he has Black against Giri. If he overcomes that, then it will be on to the best of 14 games world championship match later in 2026 against Gukesh Dommaraju. Both players will be under 21, with Gukesh around six months younger than Sindarov.

Candidates scores after 10 of the 14 rounds: Sindarov 8, Giri 6, Caruana 5, Blübaum (Germany), Wei Yi (China), and Hikaru Nakamura (US) 4.5, Praggnanandhaa 4, Andrey Esipenko (Russia) 3.5.

Results in the women’s Candidates have been chaotic, with five leaders on 4.5 after eight rounds. India’s Vaishali Rameshbabu, the sister of Praggnanandhaa, leads outright after being on a minus score three rounds earlier.

Women’s Candidates scores after 10 of the 14 rounds: Vaishali 6, Zhu Jiner (China) and Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine) 5.5, Kateryna Lagno and Aleksandra Goryachkina (both Russia) and Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kazakhstan) 5, Divya Deshmukh (India) 4.5, Tan Zhongyi (China) 3.5.

The Candidates coincided with Germany’s Grenke Freestyle Open, a festival with a mammoth entry of over 3,500 competitors in several sections. At stake was a large prize fund and a place in the next Freestyle World Championship, which went to Germany’s world No 5, Vincent Keymer, on tie-break from France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Both totalled 7.5/9. Magnus Carlsen, Caruana and Nodirbek Abdusattorov are already qualified

Carlsen, the world No 1, was third on 7/9, also on tie-break, after agreeing his final round game against India’s Aryan Chopra, a much lower ranked player, drawn by repetition. Carlsen had won with 9/9 the previous year, but this time was reportedly unwell due to excessive heat in the playing hall.

England’s IM Marcus Harvey scored his first GM norm at the weekend at the 4NCL Easter congress at Daventry, one of a series backed by the ECF and chancellor Rachel Reeves’s £250,000 a year fund to support the best English talents.

Can Harvey now proceed to the full GM title? At 29, the Wood Green IM has reached the landmark rather late in his career, but he already has a strong 2446 rating, well above the mandatory 2400 minimum. With one norm now under his belt, he can expect further support for his next few attempts. He currently ranks No 23 in England, but only three of those ranked ahead of him are not yet GMs, while two of these, IM Harry Grieve and IM Jonah Willow, already have two GM norms.

4019**:** 1 g4+! hxg4 2 Rxc5! Rd1+ (if 2…Qxc5 3 Qxd7+ and White is a piece ahead with a mating attack) 3 Kg2 Qxc5 (if 3…bxc5 4 Qxf7+ and mates) 4 Qxf7+ Ke5 5 Bf4 mate.