In the chess Candidates tournament held in Cyprus, 20-year-old Uzbek grandmaster Javokhir Sindarov widened his advantage on Thursday by securing his sixth win. This brought his score to an unbeaten eight points from 10 games, placing him two points ahead of his nearest competitor, Dutch top player Anish Giri.
India’s Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu employed a bold and intricate defense against the Queen’s Gambit, advancing his g and h pawns early. However, a mistake on his 22nd move allowed Sindarov to gain a queen and multiple pawns in exchange for two unproductive rooks.
In the prior round, 31-year-old Giri positioned himself as Sindarov’s primary opponent by overcoming the event’s top seed and U.S. champion Fabiano Caruana. The game concluded with a striking sequence: 42…f5+! followed by 43 exf5 Kh6!!, forcing either checkmate or the capture of the queen.
During that same round, Sindarov built a strong assault on Matthias Blübaum’s king but erred in his calculations, leading to a queen trade rather than a decisive move like 24…Qb7! to secure the win.
Sindarov’s final major test could come in round 13, where he plays Black against Giri. A successful outcome there would pave the way for a 14-game world championship match in late 2026 against Gukesh Dommaraju. Both competitors will be younger than 21, with Gukesh being about six months junior to Sindarov.
After 10 of 14 rounds in the men’s Candidates, the standings are: Sindarov with 8 points, Giri with 6, Caruana with 5, and a tie at 4.5 among Blübaum (Germany), Wei Yi (China), and Hikaru Nakamura (U.S.). Praggnanandhaa has 4, and Andrey Esipenko (Russia) has 3.5.
The women’s Candidates has seen unpredictable results, with five players tied at 4.5 after eight rounds. India’s Vaishali Rameshbabu, sister of Praggnanandhaa, now holds the sole lead after recovering from a negative score just three rounds prior.
After 10 rounds in the women’s event, the scores are: Vaishali with 6, Zhu Jiner (China) and Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine) with 5.5 each, Kateryna Lagno and Aleksandra Goryachkina (both Russia) and Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kazakhstan) with 5 each, Divya Deshmukh (India) with 4.5, and Tan Zhongyi (China) with 3.5.
Running alongside the Candidates was Germany’s Grenke Freestyle Open, a large-scale event with more than 3,500 participants across various divisions. It offered substantial prizes and a qualification spot for the upcoming Freestyle World Championship, which was claimed by Germany’s world No. 5 Vincent Keymer via tiebreaker over France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Both finished with 7.5 out of 9.
Magnus Carlsen, the world’s top-ranked player, along with Caruana and Nodirbek Abdusattorov, had already secured their spots. Carlsen placed third with 7 out of 9, determined by tiebreaker, after drawing his last game by repetition against lower-rated Indian player Aryan Chopra. Carlsen, who scored a perfect 9 out of 9 the previous year, was said to have been affected by high temperatures in the venue.
In England, international master Marcus Harvey achieved his initial grandmaster norm over the weekend at the 4NCL Easter congress in Daventry. This is part of a program supported by the English Chess Federation and funded annually with £250,000 by Chancellor Rachel Reeves to nurture top English players.
At age 29, the Wood Green player has reached this milestone later than typical, but his 2446 rating exceeds the required 2400 threshold. With one norm secured, he is likely to receive additional assistance for future efforts. He currently stands as England’s No. 23, with only three higher-ranked players lacking the grandmaster title, two of whom—IM Harry Grieve and IM Jonah Willow—already possess two norms.
Puzzle 4019: 1 g4+! hxg4 2 Rxc5! Rd1+ (if 2…Qxc5 3 Qxd7+ leaves White with an extra piece and a mating threat) 3 Kg2 Qxc5 (if 3…bxc5 4 Qxf7+ leads to mate) 4 Qxf7+ Ke5 5 Bf4 mate.
