3 min readUpdated: May 15, 2026 11:55 PM IST
Javokhir Sindarov’s starting to look human again. Barely a month after he rampaged his way through the Candidates tournament, winning the cut-throat 14-round event without a single defeat, the 20-year-old Uzbek prodigy was handed a brutal loss by Indian grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa in a second round game of the Super Chess Classic 2026 tournament in Romania.
This is Sindarov’s first classical loss in the last eight months, with his last defeat in this format coming in September 2025 against Bulgaria’s Ivan Cheparinov in the 3rd round of the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 at home in Samarkand.
“Beating Sindarov is suddenly a good thing. He’s lost a classical game after I don’t know how many games! He’s been in terrifying form. But I thought I played quite decently today,” Pragg told Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube channel after the result.
Playing with white pieces, Sindarov resigned in 42 moves in a game where he was trailing on the clock for large portions, had less material from as early as the eighth move before having a knight less on the board from the 22nd move. The eval bar also indicated that Pragg had the edge from as early as the 17th move before Sindarov managed to defend resolutely. But the world championship challenger made an uncharacteristic error on move 36 when he pushed his rook to e3, which was the beginning of the end for him.
“This is the first calculation mistake I have seen Sindarov commit in quite some time frankly,” gasped Peter Svidler in live commentary on the Saint Louis Chess Club YouTube channel.
At the Candidates in Cyprus, where Sindarov had seemed bulletproof, he had defeated Praggnanandhaa twice in their two clashes before securing a world chess championship battle against India’s D Gukesh.
But since that result in Cyprus, the Uzbek has not been able to replicate his imperious form. Only last week, at the Super Rapid & Blitz Poland 2026, world champion Gukesh was able to defeat him in a rapid game, before losing twice in blitz clashes. And now comes another defeat to Pragg, who has developed a rivalry with Sindarov since their age group world championship days.
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