4/13/2026 – Javokhir Sindarov maintained his two-point lead at the Candidates Tournament in Cyprus after a quick draw with Hikaru Nakamura in round twelve. Anish Giri missed a major chance to close the gap, drawing a long and complex game against Wei Yi. The remaining two games were also drawn, leaving Sindarov firmly in control with two rounds to play. | Photo: FIDE / Niki Riga
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A second round of four draws leaves Sindarov inches away from historic triumph
Round twelve of the Candidates Tournament in Cyprus left the standings unchanged, with Javokhir Sindarov maintaining his two-point lead after a quick draw with Hikaru Nakamura.
The game, which was the shortest of the event, followed a rapid simplification, with queens off the board by move 15. A repetition was reached on move 33 after only around 35 minutes of play. The result reflected a Sindarov's strategy, who had prepared forcing drawing lines in advance and chose to neutralise risk in order to consolidate his lead, a practical approach often seen in previous Candidates events.
Magnus Carlsen's long-time coach Peter Heine Nielsen, who has often favoured a shift to chess960 in elite competitions (now marketed as Freestyle Chess), shared on X:
[Four minutes] played, already an opposite colored bishop ending. This is not what sport should be.
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This result meant that Sindarov is now guaranteed at least a playoff place and needs only a half point in the final two rounds to secure outright victory. The 20-year-old remains unbeaten on a plus-six score and, barring a significant reversal, is likely to become Gukesh Dommaraju's challenger for the world title.
It was a quick day at the office for tournament leader Javokhir Sindarov and top seed Hikaru Nakamura | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
The man of the hour! | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
The one player still with mathematical chances of catching Sindarov is Anish Giri. In his game against Wei Yi, Giri obtained a favourable position early and later reached an endgame with clear winning chances. The game developed into a complex struggle, with Wei taking considerable risks, including an exchange sacrifice at a critical moment to maintain activity.
Wei reached the time control with merely one second on his clock, as the position remained double-edged. Wei continued to alternate between strong defensive resources and inaccuracies that allowed Giri further chances.
Despite this, Giri was unable to find a clear path to victory. A potential breakthrough involving a well-timed pawn advance was missed, and the game eventually ended when Wei called the arbiter to point out that a triple repetition was about to appear on the board.
With this draw, Giri remains two points behind Sindarov with only two rounds to play. The Dutchman is set to face the long-time leader with the white pieces in Tuesday's penultimate round. Even if Giri wins, Sindarov will only need a draw against Matthias Bluebaum on Wednesday to secure outright victory.
Video analysis by Daniel King
Wei Yi dealing with a tough position | Photo: FIDE / Niki Riga
This video course includes GM Anish Giri's deep insights and IM Sagar Shah's pertinent questions to the super GM. In Vol.1 all the openings after 1.e4 are covered.
Still looking for the win - Anish Giri | Photo: FIDE / Niki Riga
The remaining two games also ended in draws. Matthias Bluebaum continued his remarkable run of solid results by holding Fabiano Caruana to a draw with the black pieces. The game followed the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined, leading to a sequence of simplifications and a queen endgame with broken pawn structures on both sides.
The evaluation remained stable throughout, and neither player managed to create meaningful winning chances. Bluebaum thus recorded his eleventh draw in twelve rounds, maintaining his consistent performance against top opposition.
In Andrey Esipenko v. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, the players battled from a sharp opening, but the game ultimately ended in a draw as well. The result kept Pragg half a point ahead of Esipenko in the standings, with both players remaining in the two last places of the standings.
Glorious sacrifices, unexpected tactics and checkmating attacks. The King's Gambit is one of the oldest and most romantic openings in the game of chess. This DVD contains all you need to know to tackle your opponent.
Andrey Esipenko versus Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
In this video course, experts including Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Karsten Müller and Oliver Reeh, examine the games of Boris Spassky. Let them show you which openings Spassky chose to play, where his strength in middlegames were and much more.
Carlos Alberto ColodroCarlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
4/12/2026 – Four draws in round eleven of the Candidates Open chiefly benefitted Javokhir Sindarov, who thus continues to lead the field, two points ahead of Anish Giri. With only three rounds remaining, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Giri to catch the Uzbek grandmaster. There was drama on the board in Matthias Bluebaum's game against Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, but in the end the encounter concluded in a draw. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
4/10/2026 – Javokhir Sindarov extended his lead at the Candidates Tournament in Cyprus by defeating Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in a sharp game to reach six wins in ten rounds (with no losses). Anish Giri, who remains in sole second place, was held to a draw by Hikaru Nakamura, while Fabiano Caruana also drew. With four rounds remaining, Sindarov now leads by two points. | Photo: FIDE / Niki Riga
For a long time the Scotch opening was considered harmless and rarely played. This changed in 1990 when Garry Kasparov successfully employed the Scotch opening in his World Championship match against Anatoly Karpov. But that was 25 years ago. Now, there is no need to panic if you want to play 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 and need a line against the Scotch. On this 60 Minutes renowned and successful coach Adrian Mikhalchishin gives simple practical tips how to neutralize and counter the Scotch.
You will learn how Black's dynamic piece activity and structural counterplay more than compensate for White's extra tempo in the colour-reversed setups.
In this course, you’ll learn how to take the initiative against the London and prevent White from comfortably playing their usual system by playing 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 Nh5.
London System Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains in all 11 285 games from Mega 2026 and the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 282 are annotated.
The London System Powerbook 2026 is based on more than 410 000 games or game fragments from different opening moves and ECO codes; what they all have in common is that White plays d4 and Bf4 but does not play c4.
In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions.
Opening videos: Open Spanish (Sipke Ernst) and Classical Sicilian (Nico Zwirs). Endgame Special by Igor Stohl: ‘Short or long side’ – where should the defending king be placed in rook endgames? ‘Lucky bag’ with 35 master analyses.
YOUR EASY ACCESS TO OPENING THEORY: Whether you want to build up a reliable and powerful opening repertoire or find new opening ideas for your existing repertoire, the Opening Encyclopaedia covers the entire opening theory on one product.
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