3 min readUpdated: Apr 7, 2026 10:51 AM IST
At the halfway stage of the Candidates tournament in Cyprus, Uzbek phenom Javokhir Sindarov has coursed into the lead in the open section with a score of 6/7, holding a clear 1 and a ½ point advantage over Fabiano Caruana. His dominance at the event has impressed even former world champion Magnus Carlsen. And while the world no 1 has pointed out that it is “more than likely that Sindarov will win” the Candidates, it is also “hard to be in the position in which he is.”
When Carlsen was asked on the sidelines of the Grenke Chess Festival if he thought Sindarov will win the Candidates, he replied: “I think it’s more than likely that he will win, but it is hard to be in the position in which he is, especially if you are in it for the first time. Because when you get to this point, thoughts start creeping into your head and anything but first place is probably going to be a disappointment. It’s been a lot of fun to follow, that’s for sure. Can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next.”
Praising Sindarov’s performance, Carlsen said: “I think it was possible to predict that he was one of the main candidates to do well. I think the fact that Fabiano has performed well didn’t surprise anybody. Then of course Hikaru performing this badly was probably a surprise. But yeah, I think Sindarov had a very shaky game in game one, but after that he’s been more or less flawless and he is very, very fundamentally sound. I think he can play any type of position and he’s just very, very talented.”
Carlsen also said that Sindarov’s performance in the first half of the Candidates had gotten his wife to ask him whether he had himself managed to do something similar at the tournament. For the record, Carlsen has played only one Candidates tournament, which he won on the final day after edging ahead of Vladimir Kramnik on tiebreaks. After winning that, Carlsen fought for the World Chess Championship title in 2013 against Vishy Anand and fought four more World Championships before walking away from the throne.
“My wife asked me the other day what’s going on with Sindarov’s performance. She asked ‘Have you ever done anything like that?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, thanks for asking, but not really.’ Which just goes to show that his performance so far is very, very special,” Carlsen said.
