The Candidates chess tournament in Cyprus has reached its halfway mark. Seven rounds have been played and the action will resume on Tuesday, after a day of rest.

Javokhir Sindarov has easily been the star performer. The 20-year-old Uzbek has won five of his seven games and drawn the remaining two. And he is the runaway leader: he has 6 points, while the second-placed Fabiano Caruana of the United States is on 4.5.

That is a very handy lead, indeed. All Sindarov needs to do is play solid chess in the seven remaining rounds and he will earn the right to challenge the World champion D. Gukesh in the title match later this year.

As for his rivals, they will be hoping the law of averages would catch up with him at some point. The second-seeded Caruana indeed looks the best-placed to pose a challenge to Sindarov, who had only a few months ago emerged as the surprise champion at the World Cup in Goa.

Holland’s Anish Giri, the man who ended the Uzbek’s four-game winning strike by holding him to a draw in the seventh round, and R. Praggnanandhaa, the lone Indian in the fray, are on 3.5 points. Unless Sindarov falters in the tournament’s second half, players like them may not stand much of a chance.

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There is a sole leader in the Women’s Candidates, too. But Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk has not exactly been as dominant as Sindarov. She has four points, just half a point more than the second-placed contender.

And that participant is R. Vaishali, who had begun with four draws. Then she lost in the fifth round before posting two wins back-to-back. Praggnanandhaa’s elder sister is indeed well placed to have a crack at the first place and become only the second challenger from India to the women’s World championship. The first, Koneru Humpy, was supposed to play the Candidates, but pulled out due to safety concers surrounding the war in West Asia.

Muzychuk is, in fact, her last-minute replacement. There is still another Indian woman competing in Cyprus. Divya Deshmukh, like Sindarov, a surprise World Cup winner, hasn’t done too badly either. Despite drawing a game she should have won against Russia’s Kateryn Lagno, she is on 3.5 points and is sharing the third place with three others.

Published on Apr 06, 2026