4 min readApr 15, 2026 05:11 PM IST
With a draw in the penultimate round against Javokhir Sindarov, Anish Giri’s chances of winning the Candidates tournament ended on Tuesday night. Sindarov, a 20-year-old grandmaster from Uzbekistan, has managed to remain undefeated in one of the most cut-throat tournaments on the chess calendar to secure a battle for the world championship crown against India’s D Gukesh.
When Giri was asked who he thought would prevail in the World Chess Championship battle between Gukesh and Sindarov at the end of this year, the Dutch grandmaster said that on current form, Sindarov looked “faster and better prepped than Gukesh”. However, he cautioned against making hasty conclusions.
“To be fair, the poor guy (Sindarov) was in a situation facing me where both times he was just fine with the draw, so I didn’t get to witness him in his full glory. But the way he plays right now, he’s faster than Gukesh and he’s better prepped than Gukesh. Both calculate really well, but he just appears to be better,” Giri told FIDE in an interview before adding: “But again, when Gukesh was winning the Olympiad, we were talking about Gukesh being the most amazing player in the world. He was so good; he crushed the Olympiad, he crushed the Candidates. I think there are many great players and afterwards you try to explain certain things, but I wouldn’t draw any big conclusions yet.”
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Giri explained that since both Sindarov and Gukesh are young (both players will be 20 during the World Championship), there is a tendency to be unstable with results, so form will play a big role in deciding who wins the world championship.
Uzbek chess prodigy Javokhir Sindarov makes his opening move in the Candidates chess tournament in Cyprus. (Photo: FIDE/Niki Riga)
“I think a lot of these young players are playing really ambitious chess. To be fair, probably no matter how good a form I’m in, I probably will never really score six wins. I mean, even in my best results — I’ve done it maybe 10 times at Wijk aan Zee, a tournament which is a little weaker than the Candidates — my best result has been plus five. I never won six games (like Sindarov at the Candidates). So, if you’re younger, maybe they are more ambitious, so maybe their peak results are higher than some of the older players. But as you see with them, they are also unstable. So I think when it comes to Gukesh playing Sindarov, it will be about form, but of course right now, he looks like he’s in better form,” Giri said.
Talking about Sindarov’s play at the Candidates, Giri said: “He has a certain skill set that shows very well here. Obviously, he’s very fast; he calculates really well, and that means that he also calculates in terms of attacking positions but also in terms of defensive endgames. So, like against Fabiano or myself—but more so against Fabiano—of course, when he is in good form, it looks like he’s the ultimate best player in the world, but it’s always like that. I think he’s just in good form, and if Fabiano would have won, you would say Fabi’s the best.”
