Javokhir Sindarov is already the clear favourite to win the 2026 Candidates in Cyprus and to challenge India’s Gukesh Dommaraju for the world crown after the Uzbek grandmaster, 20, began the tournament with a commanding 6/7, including an impressive victory over his main rival, the pre-tournament favourite and world No 3 Fabiano Caruana.
It was the fastest ever start by a player under the format of a double-round Candidates, and surpassed this century only by Veselin Topalov’s 6.5/7 first half at San Luis, Argentina. That event was a world championship tournament, where the Bulgarian cemented his victory by drawing all seven games in the second half.
Sindarov’s seconds correctly anticipated that Caruana, with the Black pieces, might open with the solid Queen’s Gambit Accepted, and prepared accordingly. “I kind of got caught in the opening,” admitted a subdued Caruana at the post-game press conference.
Sindarov revised this specific line of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted immediately before the game. The key White innovations were 13 dxc5! and 14 c6!, while Caruana’s critical errors came at moves 17 and 18, when 17 . . . Qxd4! and 18 . . . Qxd4! should enable Black to survive.
It was a strong feat of preparation, made truly remarkable by what occurred next round, when Sindarov performed exactly the same feat against Caruana’s compatriot and world No 2 Hikaru Nakamura.
