Javokhir Sindarov is winning the candidates
Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan leads by two points with four rounds left — and he's already broken every record that matters.
Nobody expected this. Javokhir Sindarov arrived in Cyprus as the fourth-highest-rated player in the field, a young Uzbek grandmaster with a World Cup title to his name but little else in the way of résumé. Ten rounds later, he has turned the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament into a one-man highlight reel — and chess fans have coined a nickname for it: #Windarov.
When Sindarov reached 6/7 at the halfway mark, the chess world blinked. That score —
six wins and a single draw — matched the total number of wins each of the last four Candidates champions managed across the full 14 rounds. Gukesh Dommaraju, Ian Nepomniachtchi (twice), and Fabiano Caruana all won the event with exactly that many victories. Sindarov had equalled them in half the games.
By Round 10, he had surpassed them all. A piece sacrifice against Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu — a chaotic, double-edged position that his team reportedly hated — brought his win tally to six in ten rounds, the most in the modern Candidates format dating back to 2013.
"My team will really hate me after this move, but okay, it works very well, so it's fine!"
— Javokhir Sindarov, after his piece sacrifice in Round 10
Sindarov's wins haven't come through sheer attrition or opponent blunders — they've been surgical. He arrived in Cyprus loaded with deep preparation across multiple opening systems. Caruana described getting "caught in the opening." Nakamura found himself "out-prepared and on his own by move 12." Wei Yi fell to Sindarov's confident handling with the black pieces. Even the pre-tournament favourite Hikaru Nakamura was dispatched with Sindarov playing from the slightly inferior side of the board.
What's remarkable is the blend of aggression and calm. In Round 9, playing with black against Bluebaum, Sindarov built up a significant advantage before allowing simplification and a draw — a controlled decision, not a failure. A day later, against Pragg, the engine showed he entered a position that was functionally a gamble, yet he navigated it better than anyone else at the table could have.
"Don't think about the result, just play your chess."
— Sindarov's coach's advice, as relayed by Sindarov at the Round 10 press conference
Mathematically, Matthias Bluebaum is the only player who retains a path to the title — and realistically, even that would require a dramatic collapse by Sindarov across the final four rounds. With a two-point cushion and an already tournament-historic record, the 20-year-old can essentially draw his remaining games and still win. Anish Giri, his closest rival, summed it up bluntly: "Most of us have minimal chances at this point."
In Round 11, Sindarov faces Caruana with the black pieces — the toughest remaining task on his schedule. But if the first ten rounds have taught us anything, Sindarov does some of his best work from the supposedly weaker side.
Victory at the 2026 Candidates would hand Sindarov the right to challenge world champion Gukesh Dommaraju — the reigning titleholder who himself became champion as a teenager. A Gukesh vs. Sindarov World Champion
In Round 11, Sindarov faces Caruana with the black pieces — the toughest remaining task on his schedule. But if the first ten rounds have taught us anything, Sindarov does some of his best work from the supposedly weaker side.
Victory at the 2026 Candidates would hand Sindarov the right to challenge world champion Gukesh Dommaraju — the reigning titleholder who himself became champion as a teenager. A Gukesh vs. Sindarov World Championship match would be a generational clash unlike anything the chess world has seen: two players under 25, both from rapidly ascending chess nations, fighting for the game's ultimate prize.
For Uzbekistan, it would be a monumental moment. The country has been producing elite talent at a remarkable rate, and Sindarov — calm, sharp, and apparently untroubled by the weight of the occasion — looks every bit the standard-bearer that chess's next era deserves.
