3 min readApr 6, 2026 01:50 PM IST
Five time world champion Viswanathan Anand, seems to have picked the right names ahead of the chess Candidates, if the standings at the halfway stage are anything to go by.
While picking Fabiano Caruana was predictable and near unanimous, it was Anand’s early picking of Javokhir Sindarov that was on the ball. The Uzbek leads with an incredible 6/7 (5 wins, 2 draws), before the back turn of rematches begins. His 4-win streak was halted by Anish Giri with whom he drew. And while things can go terribly wrong still, with experienced Caruana, a point and half behind, Sindarov looks like cruising down the home stretch.
Anand, on his part, while speaking to FIDE had been quite prophetic picking his favourites from two ends of the age spectrum. “At the other end of spectrum (from Caruana, the second oldest after Nakamura), who stood out for me was Sindarov. He is extremely aggressive and extremely resourceful,” Anand had said. “At the same time I don’t see the usual defects – (where), if someone is aggressive, he’ll be weak in positional play. He plays some endgames nicely. He gets into good positional play. Even then he gets into chaos. But he gets out of it. I like his resourcefulness. I think we can put him as winner as well,” he added.
It’s how Sindarov manages the downs that impressed Anand. “He has the ability to score when he’s down. He doesn’t get too hammered by defeats,” Anand had told FIDE.
The Indian great’s reasons for Caruana, were ticking broader skill sets. “He’s still playing creatively. Comes up with new ideas. As a chess player, he’s someone you would put out there for people to study and learn from,” Anand would praise. Caruana remains the lead on the chasing pack, with R Praggnanandhaa at joint third, needing a bunch of wins to stir up things to make up 2.5 points deficit.
When Chess.com had asked how it would be to have a Pragg-Gukesh World Championships match in India, Vishy said, “Uh…It’ll be very good for India. It’s a great match obviously. We’ll have two 20-year-olds, future of chess, blah blah blah. It’ll be nice. But we’ll see.” The we-will-see seemed to factor in the other 20-year-old, Sindarov, who he correctly predicted posed a threat.
Anand did not completely discount the abilities of Hikaru Nakamura, who despite his part-time ways, remained sharp. He hasn’t quite taken off at Cyprus. Anand would tell FIDE of Nakamura’s famous dilemma, using the “You can’t eat at two buffets” metaphor.
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It essentially meant the American often faced pressure of either focussing on winning a game (eating at one buffet), or holding onto a draw to stay in the tournament (eating at second buffet). The loss to Sindarov and Nakamura’s 66 minutes taken for one move overexerting, showcased the “two buffet” syndrome.
Chess.com India put out a reel, where Anand was told Nakamura has not “played any OTB games atleast.”
Anand would dryly quip, “Ya, I’m still fascinated there’s something called over-the-board. It used to be called chess.”
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
