Sindarov, Two Points Clear
In the eleventh round of the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament in Pegeia, Cyprus, Javokhir Sindarov did not need to win. He needed only to hold. Across fifty-eight moves of a Reti Opening, the Uzbek grandmaster kept Fabiano Caruana at bay and signed a draw that left him alone at the summit. One of the best defensive games of my life, he called it afterwards. With that half point, Sindarov reached 8.5 out of 11 and preserved a two-point lead with three rounds still to play.
The game itself was the sternest test he had faced. Sindarov was put under serious pressure for the first time in the event, making a number of inaccuracies, and thought he was close to losing. Caruana, chasing form in the closing stretch, found inspiration over the board rather than in preparation. But the American let the initiative slip. After one inaccuracy from Caruana, Sindarov held comfortably , steering the position back to calm with the composure of a player who has learned to trust his own judgement.
Around him, the round offered no relief to the chasers. All games of round 11 ended in draws, leaving Sindarov two points ahead. Praggnanandhaa came close to the only decisive result against Matthias Bluebaum, Anish Giri did not make the most of an isolated-pawn position against Andrey Esipenko, and Hikaru Nakamura made the quickest draw against Wei Yi. Giri, in second place, sat on 6.5. The arithmetic had begun to close around the leader.
