Candidates 2026 Rounds 9-10: Sindarov Sacrifices a Piece, Extends Lead to Two Points

Four rounds to play. A two-point lead. And a piece sacrifice for the highlight reel.

Javokhir Sindarov spent today's rest day in Pegeia, Cyprus, watching the scoreboard instead of fighting on it. Which is exactly what you do when you are two points clear of the field at the 2026 Candidates Tournament.

After reaching 6.5/8 at the start of the second half, the 20-year-old Uzbek grandmaster survived a shaky Round 9 and then crushed Praggnanandhaa with a stunning piece sacrifice in Round 10. He now sits on 8/10. His only realistic challenger is Anish Giri, two full points behind at 6/10.

Let's walk through how we got here.

Round 9: Giri Catches Fire, Sindarov Wobbles

Round 9 was the round where it looked, briefly, like somebody might actually catch the leader.

Matthias Bluebaum - winless through eight rounds - played the game of his life against Sindarov. The German grandmaster held a promising position for much of the middlegame and, at one point, had real chances to score the upset of the tournament. Sindarov eventually escaped into a draw, but his post-game reaction said it all: "I need to forget this round and focus on my next games."

Meanwhile, Anish Giri was doing what Anish Giri does when nobody is looking - quietly winning chess games.

Fabiano Caruana arrived at the board needing a win with White to stay in the race. He got a miserable position out of the opening instead. Giri summed it up with characteristic bluntness: "He has to play for a win today, and it's depressing."

Down to three minutes for his last few moves before the time control, Caruana cracked. He missed the only saving idea, and Giri's pieces poured through to a brutal mating net a few moves later. Giri 1, Caruana 0. The American has now suffered his second consecutive loss after Nakamura's revenge win in Round 8.

Asked about his form, Giri dismissed the idea of a two-horse race: "I think it's a one-horse race and there's a bunch of losers in the back."

The other two games were drawn. Praggnanandhaa failed to convert a clear advantage against Wei Yi, and Nakamura-Esipenko petered out to a quiet half point.

Round 9 results:

| White | Black | Result | |-------|-------|--------| | Nakamura | Esipenko | ½-½ | | Caruana | Giri | 0-1 | | Praggnanandhaa | Wei Yi | ½-½ | | Bluebaum | Sindarov | ½-½ |

Standings after Round 9:

| # | Player | Points | |---|--------|--------| | 1 | Sindarov | 7/9 | | 2 | Giri | 5.5/9 | | 3 | Caruana | 4.5/9 | | 4-8 | Praggnanandhaa / Wei Yi / Nakamura / Bluebaum / Esipenko | 4/9 or below |

Sindarov's lead was down to 1.5 points. For about 24 hours, the tournament had a pulse.

Round 10: The Piece Sacrifice That Decided Everything

Then came Round 10. And with it, the game that will be on highlight reels for years.

Sindarov had White against Praggnanandhaa in a Queen's Gambit Declined. Out of a topical line, he deviated with 9.Bg3 - a move Praggnanandhaa later said had caught him off guard. The Indian star made practical decisions and, for a while, actually had the better of it.

Then Sindarov sacrificed a piece.

Praggnanandhaa accepted, picking up the piece for two pawns. On the surface, he was winning. But Sindarov had correctly judged that the initiative and his attack on the Black king were worth far more than the material. "My team will really hate me after this move, but okay, it works very well," Sindarov said with a grin afterwards.

Pragg defended for as long as he could, but Sindarov's attack ripped apart the Black king's cover and led to a winning endgame. He converted with the clinical precision that has defined his entire tournament.

It is Sindarov's sixth win in 10 rounds - a number that now stands as the most wins by a player through 10 rounds in modern Candidates history. The previous benchmark was held by Ian Nepomniachtchi, who managed five through 10 rounds on his way to winning the 2022 Candidates in Madrid.

Giri, meanwhile, was held to a draw by Nakamura in a sharp game, which means the Dutchman gained nothing on the leader. Wei Yi and Caruana drew. Esipenko and Bluebaum also shared the point. Three draws and a Sindarov win - the story of most rounds in this tournament.

Round 10 results:

| White | Black | Result | |-------|-------|--------| | Sindarov | Praggnanandhaa | 1-0 | | Giri | Nakamura | ½-½ | | Wei Yi | Caruana | ½-½ | | Esipenko | Bluebaum | ½-½ |

Standings after Round 10:

| # | Player | Points | W-D-L | |---|--------|--------|-------| | 1 | Sindarov | 8/10 | 6-4-0 | | 2 | Giri | 6/10 | 3-6-1 | | 3 | Caruana | 5/10 | 3-4-3 | | 4-6 | Nakamura | 4.5/10 | 1-7-2 | | 4-6 | Bluebaum | 4.5/10 | 0-9-1 | | 4-6 | Wei Yi | 4.5/10 | 1-7-2 | | 7 | Praggnanandhaa | 4/10 | 1-6-3 | | 8 | Esipenko | 3.5/10 | 0-7-3 |

With four rounds to go, Giri needs to win at least two of his four remaining games AND hope Sindarov collapses completely. The tournament is effectively over as a competitive race. Sindarov's coach reportedly told him before the event: "If you deserve this title you will get it; if you don't, we will work a lot." At this point, the coach is going to be doing a lot less work than planned.

Want to play through every move of Sindarov's sacrifice yourself? You can find the full game with engine analysis on Chess.com.

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Women's Candidates: Vaishali Breaks Clear

The Women's section has been the opposite of the Open - wildly unpredictable, with leads changing hands almost every round. Five players were tied at 4.5/8 after Round 8. Two rounds later, one of them has finally pulled away.

Vaishali Rameshbabu now leads alone with 6/10.

In Round 9, Vaishali beat Divya Deshmukh with the white pieces, while Zhu Jiner defeated Kateryna Lagno to keep pace. At that point the two were tied at 5.5/9 with Muzychuk half a point behind.

Round 10 is where the separation happened. Vaishali drew Anna Muzychuk in a quiet game, banking the half point. Zhu Jiner, needing to keep up, refused a draw by repetition against Bibisara Assaubayeva - and went down in flames. "I'm just happy that I finally won a game!" said a visibly relieved Assaubayeva afterwards.

Aleksandra Goryachkina scored her first win of the event by beating Divya Deshmukh, who has now lost two in a row after her Round 8 upset of Muzychuk. The former Women's World Championship challenger had been the story of the tournament for 24 hours. Now she is out of the lead group entirely.

Round 10 Women's results:

| White | Black | Result | |-------|-------|--------| | Vaishali | Muzychuk | ½-½ | | Assaubayeva | Zhu Jiner | 1-0 | | Goryachkina | Deshmukh | 1-0 | | Lagno | Tan Zhongyi | ½-½ |

Women's standings after Round 10:

| # | Player | Points | |---|--------|--------| | 1 | Vaishali | 6/10 | | 2-3 | Zhu Jiner | 5.5/10 | | 2-3 | Muzychuk | 5.5/10 | | 4-6 | Lagno | 5/10 | | 4-6 | Assaubayeva | 5/10 | | 4-6 | Goryachkina | 5/10 | | 7 | Deshmukh | 4.5/10 | | 8 | Tan Zhongyi | 3.5/10 |

For India, this is a huge moment. If Vaishali holds on over the final four rounds, she will become the first Indian to win the Women's Candidates and challenge reigning Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun. Her brother Praggnanandhaa is having a much harder time of it on the other side of the playing hall - but the Rameshbabu family is still very much in contention for at least one World Championship match.

Asked about any national rivalry with Deshmukh in the earlier rounds, Vaishali had kept it simple: "Not really. This is an individual tournament."

What's Next

Today, April 10, is the third rest day. Round 11 tips off tomorrow, April 11.

The key Open pairing for Round 11: Caruana vs Sindarov - the rematch of their Round 4 game where Sindarov beat Caruana with the white pieces. This time Caruana has White and absolutely needs a win to keep his slim hopes alive. Sindarov, at 8/10, can effectively coast home with draws from here. Giri-Esipenko, Nakamura-Wei Yi, and Praggnanandhaa-Bluebaum round out the day.

In the Women's section, Aleksandra Goryachkina has White against new sole leader Vaishali, who plays Black trying to protect her half-point cushion. Zhu Jiner gets White against Divya Deshmukh in a clash between two players coming off losses. Tan Zhongyi-Assaubayeva and Lagno-Muzychuk round out the women's pairings. If Vaishali holds Goryachkina and Zhu Jiner stumbles again, Round 11 could be the day she effectively locks down a Women's World Championship match against Ju Wenjun.

For those just tuning in and wondering where a 2740-rated Uzbek came from: we wrote about Sindarov in our Candidates underdogs preview before the tournament started. Turns out the "underdog" framing was a slight misread. He's just an actual contender who nobody had quite calibrated yet.

If you want to see how these ratings translate across different scales, our ELO converter tool lets you compare FIDE classical ratings with Chess.com and Lichess equivalents. And if you're trying to figure out whether a 2747 rating like Sindarov's is world-class (spoiler: it is), our percentile calculator shows exactly where any rating sits among the global chess population.

For the full schedule, streaming links, and tournament format, check our Candidates 2026 guide.