4/6/2026 – Javokhir Sindarov reached the halfway point of the Candidates Tournament in Cyprus with a 1½-point lead after drawing Anish Giri from a position of strength in round seven. Meanwhile, Wei Yi scored his first win of the event with a sharp attacking performance against Andrey Esipenko. The remaining two games were drawn, leaving Fabiano Caruana as Sindarov's closest pursuer going into the second half. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
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Sindarov leads comfortably at halftime
Javokhir Sindarov went into the second rest day of the Candidates Tournament in Cyprus with a sizeable 1½-point lead over Fabiano Caruana, consolidating his position at the top of the standings at the halfway mark.
After seven rounds, the Uzbek grandmaster has already collected as many wins as each of the last four Candidates winners managed across the full 14-round events - matching the totals of Gukesh Dommaraju (2024), Ian Nepomniachtchi (2022 and 2020/21) and Fabiano Caruana himself (2018). This means that even if Sindarov were to draw all his remaining games, he would still finish with the same number of wins as those champions.
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Despite this remarkable start, the outcome is far from decided: a 1½-point gap is not insurmountable in a typical tournament, although the depth of preparation at the Candidates often allows players to secure draws when needed. Sindarov is now the clear favourite, but the second half of the event may yet bring surprises, whether through a loss of momentum by the leader or a strong run by his closest rival.
Javokhir Sindarov, the youngest participant in the open section of the Candidates Tournament | Photo: FIDE / Yoav Nis
Round seven featured three draws and one decisive result. Wei Yi scored his first win of the event by defeating Andrey Esipenko with the black pieces. Meanwhile, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu v. Fabiano Caruana and Matthias Bluebaum v. Hikaru Nakamura were well-played encounters in which neither side obtained realistic chances to fight for a win. These games concluded after 38 and 40 moves, respectively.
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.
Matthias Bluebaum versus Hikaru Nakamura | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
The longest game of the round was the encounter between tournament leader Javokhir Sindarov and Anish Giri. Once again, Sindarov managed to build up a significant time advantage, and after the position simplified into a queenless middlegame, he gradually increased the pressure against Black's isolated pawn.
Giri, however, proved to be ready up to the (defensive) task despite being more than an hour down on the clock during the technical phase of the game. By simplifying into an ending with rook and two pawns against bishop and two pawns, he reached a position that functioned as an impenetrable fortress.
After 85 moves, the Dutch grandmaster secured the draw.
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.
Anish Giri had to work hard for the half point - he is only the second player to get a draw against the tournament leader, though | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
The only decisive game of the day showed that even the Petroff Defence can lead to sharp and dynamic play. Esipenko chose an early sideline as soon as move four, relying on his preparation, but later missed a critical moment when he could have castled long safely with 14…0-0-0. Instead, he played 14…Bd2?!, after which Wei Yi immediately seized the initiative.
The Chinese grandmaster built up a powerful queenside attack, finding a series of energetic moves. Among them, 26…Bb5!! stood out, as it left his rook on c4 en prise while maintaining the momentum of his attack.
Wei continued to press with accuracy and eventually claimed what turned out to be his first win of the tournament. The Chinese grandmaster stands on 3/7, a full three points behind the runaway leader.
The Petroff (or Russian) Defence which is characterised by the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 has been popular at the highest levels for many years and enjoys the reputation of being an extremely solid defence.
Andrey Esipenko facing the very talented Wei Yi | 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.
4/5/2026 – Head-to-head records between the participants of the Candidates Tournaments provide useful context for each pairing. Drawing on data compiled via Mega Database 2026, the key statistics from past encounters highlight imbalances and trends. While such figures are not decisive, they offer an additional perspective on how rivalries have developed before a tournament that will determine the next challenger for the world title.
4/4/2026 – Head-to-head records between the participants of the Candidates Tournaments provide useful context for each pairing. Drawing on data compiled via Mega Database 2026, the key statistics from past encounters highlight imbalances and trends. While such figures are not decisive, they offer an additional perspective on how rivalries have developed before a tournament that will determine the next challenger for the world title.
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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