Sindarov emerges as the clear leader at the Candidates Tournament

On April 1, the fourth round of the 2026 Candidates Tournament in chess, being held in Paphos, Cyprus, took place. In this round, Uzbek grandmaster Javokhir Sindarov defeated American grandmaster Fabiano Caruana.

Caruana resigned with 48 seconds remaining on his clock. With this victory, Sindarov increased his tally to 3.5 points and became the clear leader of the tournament. Before the round, Caruana had also been on 2.5 points. The win also lifted Sindarov’s live FIDE rating to 2759.2, moving him up to sixth place in the live rankings.

For reference, the fifth round of the tournament will begin tomorrow, on April 3. The event consists of 14 rounds in total and will continue until April 15.

Earlier, Sindarov defeated Russia’s Andrey Esipenko in the opening round of the tournament. He then drew with Germany’s Matthias Bluebaum in the second round before beating one of the tournament favorites, India’s Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, in the third.

Ramazon Usanov