4/9/2026 – Anish Giri moved into sole second place at the Candidates Tournament in Cyprus after defeating Fabiano Caruana with the black pieces in Wednesday's ninth round. Leader Javokhir Sindarov was held to a draw by Matthias Bluebaum after missing winning chances, leaving him 1½ points ahead of Giri. The remaining two games were drawn, including a tense encounter in which Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu failed to convert a clear advantage against Wei Yi. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
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Caruana's second loss in a row, Giri's second win in a row
Two results in round nine had a major impact on the fight for first place at the Candidates Tournament in Cyprus. Anish Giri defeated Fabiano Caruana with the black pieces in the duel of chasers, climbing to sole second place. Meanwhile, runaway leader Javokhir Sindarov failed to make the most of a clear advantage in his game with Matthias Bluebaum. These results left Sindarov with a 1½-point lead over Giri with five rounds still to go.
In round ten, the last one before the tournament's third rest day, both Sindarov and Giri will have the white pieces, facing Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Hikaru Nakamura respectively. Sindarov and Giri are yet to play their second game of the event, as they are scheduled to meet in the penultimate round, when Giri will have white.
The remaining two games of the round finished drawn. Pragg failed to convert a clear advantage against Wei Yi, while Nakamura pressed in a slightly favourable technical endgame but could not secure a full point against Andrey Esipenko.
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Two-time Candidates' winner Ian Nepomniachtchi visited the playing hall, and revealed that he only did it "as a tourist" - naturally, he joined Jan Gustafsson and Peter Svidler in the commentary booth | Photo: FIDE / Niki Riga
A selfie with Nepo! | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
The marquee matchup between Caruana and Giri reflected contrasting emotional states. Caruana entered the game after suffering a frustrating defeat against Nakamura, while Giri came in with momentum following his win over Pragg.
From a Giuoco Piano, Giri achieved exactly what Black typically seeks in such setups: a playable position with balanced chances. Caruana, on his part, failed to generate an advantage with white and later made the uncharacteristic decision to play 16.d5?!, closing the structure and reducing the scope for dynamic play - an approach that limited his ability to create complications where his calculation abilities might have been decisive.
With the central structure closed, Giri gradually took over the initiative. He first gained control of the a-file and steadily restricted White's activity, leaving Caruana without meaningful counterplay. Breaking through was not immediate, but the critical moment came in time trouble. On move 37, with both players down to under 5 minutes, Caruana failed to find the correct reply to 37…c5
The best continuation was 38.dxc6, capturing en passant to get drawing chances, whereas 38.Kg3? left White in an extremely difficult position.
Giri quickly transferred his queen to the kingside and launched a decisive attack. With White's knight stranded on a1 and unable to contribute, Black's attack proved overwhelming, as Giri converted his advantage efficiently.
Fabiano Caruana v. Anish Giri | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
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.
The other crucial encounter of the day saw Sindarov once again demonstrating the depth of his preparation. Facing Bluebaum with the black pieces, he obtained an edge by move 17 and also built up a time advantage of around 30 minutes.
He began to make steady progress on the queenside, where White's king was castled, while Bluebaum struggled to generate any counterplay. Just when commentators were praising Sindarov's near-flawless handling of the position, the youngster faltered with 24…Bxa4?
This capture allowed 25.Qxb6, trading queens to enter a slightly inferior endgame for White, albeit one with good drawing chances. To prevent this simplification, Black needed to play 24...Qb7!, with excellent chances of getting a victory going forward.
The game continued until move 60, with Bluebaum defending accurately throughout the technical phase to secure the draw.
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.
Javokhir Sindarov offers a draw and Matthias Bluebaum happily agrees - this was the first big missed chance by the runaway leader | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
Although players other than Sindarov and Giri now stand three or more points behind the leader - effectively leaving them with close to zero chances of winning the tournament - this has not resulted in cautious or uneventful play across the board.
The encounter between Pragg and Wei was a case in point. After Wei's inaccurate 22…Qf4?! (diagram), White gained a clear advantage following 23.Rf3 Qxe5 24.Qxf7+, getting to put pressure against the exposed black king.
Praggnanandhaa continued to push but failed to convert his advantage, missing several chances to make his edge decisive. A key moment came when he played 38.Qc7?! instead of the more concrete 38.Nxc8, which would have gained material.
Wei defended tenaciously and was eventually rewarded with a draw, leaving both players on a minus-one score of 4/9 as the tournament enters its final five rounds.
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. The London System is one of the most popular openings at every level of chess but not all Londons are the same. 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.
Free sample video: Introduction
Free sample video: 5...cxd4 6.exd4 Qb6 sidelines
The tension-packed battle between Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and 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.
4/8/2026 – 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.
4/8/2026 – Javokhir Sindarov extended his lead at the Candidates Tournament in Cyprus despite only scoring a draw against Andrey Esipenko in round eight, as Fabiano Caruana, his long-time closest chaser, lost to Hikaru Nakamura. Meanwhile, Anish Giri beat Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu to join Caruana in second place. With six rounds remaining, Sindarov now leads by two points over his closest rivals. | Photo: FIDE / Yoav Nis
The Elephant Gambit (1.e4.e5 2.Nf3 d5!?) has never really been given the attention it deserves. It is a very useful surprise weapon. Let us list the advantages of playing this particular opening: 1) Shock value 2) It is very aggressive. Black can take over the initiative early. 3) Many tricky lines 4) Unorthodox. Black is basically taking the game to the opponent as early as move two. Not many openings do that! It's a perfect opening for young players and club players to adopt. Let Andrew Martin select a repertoire for you on this 60 mins, which, if used with discretion, will rack up the points. I am sure that you will enjoy this unusual tour of the Elephant Gambit.
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.
The Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation with 5.Bf4 has a great balance between positional play and sharp pawn pushes; and will be a surprise for your opponents while being easy to learn for you, as the key patterns are familiar.
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