Javokhir Sindarov defies the very idea of a conventional chess player. He lacks the stoic composure of a Fabiano Caruana, doesn’t possess the sharp wit of a Hikaru Nakamura, and is far from the introverted nature of a Wei Yi. He exists as a complete anomaly. He’s the kind of player who will happily lean into someone else’s analysis, buzzing with energy, always smiling but invariably ready to fight over the board. He is the quintessential new-age chess star.
After taking down India’s lone hope, R Praggnanandhaa, in the third round while doing so with the black pieces, the newly minted World Cup winner delivered another statement performance on Wednesday, dismantling one of the event’s most experienced favourites, Caruana, in the fourth round.
A few months ago at the FIDE World Cup in Goa, Sindarov captured the hearts of chess fans with his dynamic style, sparkling quality of play, and irrepressible charm. Now, he is hogging the spotlight in Cyprus, tearing through a formidable field and storming to such a dominant start at the Candidates that the rest of the pack is already fighting just to keep him in sight.
Javokhir Sindarov takes on Fabiano Caruana in round 4 of the Candidates tournament. (FIDE/Yoav Nis)
In a standard Queen’s Gambit Accepted, Sindarov was all set to surprise Caruana, a player contesting his sixth Candidates Tournament and considered among the pre-event favourites. He brought out an opening line so complex that it made the American uncomfortable from the very first move.
Caruana, who had used barely over two minutes for his first eight moves and held a slight edge on the clock, soon went completely out of sorts. He went on to spend one hour and fifty-one minutes — out of the two hours allotted for the first forty moves — on the next twelve moves alone. By the time he reached the 20th move, he had less than seven minutes remaining, with 20 more moves still to go before time control.
This is where Hungarian IM Anna Rudolf summed it up perfectly during the Chess24 broadcast that if anyone could withstand the pressure Sindarov was applying, it was Caruana.
“Sindarov went for Fabi’s throat from the opening with his preparation, the risks he’s taking, the sacrifices he’s been producing. In this game, it’s all on Sindarov’s side… the material advantage, the positional pressure from a very early stage, the psychological edge, the time pressure. How do you stay in the game? If anyone can somehow miraculously stay alive, that’s Fabiano Caruana. So that’s good news for Fabi, that he is Fabi, but it’s not good news that he has six minutes for eighteen moves in a really difficult position.”
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Little did Rudolf know that with a tight grip on the American, Sindarov was never going to let it slip. For a player of Caruana’s stature, this was shockingly uncharacteristic; he simply had no answers to the Uzbek’s relentless pressure and ultimately crumbled. Averaging only thirty seconds per move, there was no way he could hold on. Sindarov turned the screws with every move, eventually forcing Caruana to resign on the thirty-sixth.
Indians winless
For the Indians in the fray, it was a third straight winless day. Following a painful loss to Sindarov, Praggnanandhaa adopted a safety-first approach against Germany’s Matthias Blübaum, who has been a solid performer in the event so far.
In a Slav Defense with the black pieces, Pragg registered 99.7 percent accuracy, while his German counterpart matched him with 99.3 percent. The duo played out a calm draw in 37 moves and were the first to finish their game in this round.
R Praggnanandhaa in action at the 4th round of the Candidates. (FIDE/Yoav Nis)
R Vaishali, meanwhile, grabbed her fourth draw in as many rounds. After coming under pressure against the dangerous Aleksandra Goryachkina, Vaishali had the white pieces in an Italian Game and she somehow managed to secure a threefold repetition, forcing a draw and keeping the Russian at bay. This marked the second consecutive round that Goryachkina failed to convert a winning position against an Indian as in the previous round, she had let Divya Deshmukh escape with a draw from an inferior position.
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What Goryachkina could not do against Divya on Tuesday, China’s Zhu Jiner accomplished on Wednesday. Zhu pushed Divya to the wall after coming out with a better position from the opening. The Chinese player managed her clock well to pile on the pressure, and Divya finally cracked, losing her first game of the event. Zhu, meanwhile, made a resounding comeback after her loss to Bibisara Assaubayeva in the previous round.
Anish Giri and Anna Muzychuk also won their respective rounds, defeating Andrey Esipenko and Kateryna Lagno, respectively.
