Javokhir Sindarov continues to shake up the chess world. After four rounds of the World Cup candidate tournament, Matthias Blübaum from Lemgo’s interim results are also impressive.
After four rounds, all eight participants submitted an initial assessment of their position. The Candidates Tournament of the World Chess Federation FIDE will take place from March 29th to April 15th in Pegia, Cyprus. The winner will get the chance to challenge world champion Gukesh Dommaraju in the match for the classical chess title later in the year.
Javokhir Sindarov in particular has so far impressively proven that he is more than just an insider tip. The 20-year-old Uzbek made history with his spectacular win against favorite Fabiano Caruana on Wednesday: three wins and a draw – 3.5 points from the first four games – have never been achieved by any player in a Candidates tournament before, not even Magnus Carlsen.
Caruana “caught cold” by daring opening
“I was lucky enough to have repeated the variation again before the round. When it came on the board, I had a big time advantage. It was still a difficult position.”commented Sindarov, who qualified for the Candidates Tournament with his triumph at the 2025 FIDE World Cup.
Caruana admitted from the opening “caught cold“. After ten moves, a position of the Queen’s Gambit Declined emerged that had never before existed on the board at Grandmaster level. Thrown out of the preparation early, Caruana was forced to calculate a highly complex position with tactical complications and favorable sacrifices on the board. Despite precise variation calculations, he found no antidote to Sindarov’s active piece play under increasing time pressure – also because his king had to remain in the middle.
Only Blübaum and Sindarov are still unbeaten
The success against Caruana was a big point: with 3.5 out of 4 points, Sindarov goes into the first day of rest one point ahead of Caruana (2.5 points). Behind them is a field of pursuers with two points each, which also includes Matthias Blübaum. Blübaum, the first German candidate since Robert Hübner in 1991, got off to an extremely stable start with four draws in four games – and, alongside Sindarov, is the only so far undefeated player in the field.
With the white pieces, Blübaum relied on his proven queen pawn game in his games against Wei Yi, Andrey Esipenko and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. He defended calmly with black and secured the draw early on by repeating the position. Remarkable: Of all people, Blübaum, who started the tournament with the lowest Elo rating (2698) in the field, inflicted the only half-point loss on leader Sindarov so far.
Favorites under pressure – chance for Blübaum
The Candidates Tournament is a 14-round marathon. While some favorites have already had complicated and exhausting games, Blübaum has so far acted in a controlled and economical manner – an approach that could pay off as the tournament progresses.
In contrast to the European champion from Germany, who qualified second at the FIDE Grand Swiss, many of his competitors are already under greater pressure to act. For example, Hikaru Nakamura missed several promising opportunities and is still without a win after four rounds with just 1.5 points.
On Friday (April 3rd), Caruana, a heavyweight, is waiting for Blübaum – but one who will probably have to take a little more risk after the defeat against Sindarov in order not to lose touch. Especially against supposed outsiders, top players tend to tighten their strategy as the tournament progresses. That could give Blübaum a chance for his first win.
