GM Javokhir Sindarov’s dream run continued after GM Hikaru Nakamura thought for 67 minutes on move 13, chose badly, and sank without a trace in round five of the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament. Sindarov, now world number-five, is on 4.5/5, with only GM Fabiano Caruana within a point after delivering checkmate to end the unbeaten run of GM Matthias Bluebaum. GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu vs. GM Andrey Esipenko and GM Anish Giri vs. GM Wei Yi were drawn.
GM Kateryna Lagno bounced back to defeat co-leader GM Bibisara Assaubayeva in the 2026 FIDE Women’s Candidates, which was enough to catch GM Anna Muzychuk, who made a quick draw with GM Aleksandra Goryachkina. We now have three leaders, after top seed GM Zhu Jiner scored a second win in a row, taking down GM Vaishali Rameshbabu.
Round six is on Saturday, April 4, starting at 8:45 a.m. ET / 14:45 CEST / 6:15 p.m. IST.
FIDE Candidates: Sindarov Unstoppable, But Caruana Keeps Up Pressure
Sindarov’s incredible form continues, but Caruana kept up the pressure by denying Bluebaum a #GreatBluebaumStreak of all draws.
Candidates Round 5 Results
Sindarov is on a near-perfect 4.5/5, now three points ahead of Nakamura, but Caruana is still within touching distance.
Candidates Standings After Round 5
The most anticipated match-up of round five was Nakamura playing the white pieces against Sindarov in what he’d said is almost a must-win game. It would be every bit as dramatic as we could hope for.
Nakamura 0-1 Sindarov
The opening was a surprise to Sindarov, who commented, “I was expecting he will choose something for a long game, some Italian or Ruy Lopez, or in 1.d4 something for a long game.”
Instead Nakamura went for the Marshall Gambit in the Queen’s Gambit Declined and a rare line where he had given up two pawns by move nine. Everything was going according to plan until Sindarov went not for 12…e5, but for a move he revealed he’d prepared for the 2025 FIDE World Cup, 12…0-0. That’s when Nakamura came to a crunching halt.
In this position he thought for an astonishing 67 minutes and 44 seconds, contemplating just two moves. The good move was 13.Ne4!, but the one he picked was 13.h4?!, and then there was no good way to justify being two pawns down.
“He just thought one hour and played the wrong move, and after this I take this advantage and played very well, in my opinion,” is how Sindarov summed up the game to FM Mike Klein.
He just thought one hour and played the wrong move, and after this I take this advantage and played very well, in my opinion!
—Javokhir Sindarov
Sindarov’s latest triumph is our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao has analyzed below.
Another dream day at the office for Javokhir Sindarov, who scores a crushing win over Hikaru Nakamura to move to 4.5/5! https://t.co/XAdyKCQCRY#FIDECandidates pic.twitter.com/lxo3n9z0tH
— chess24 (@chess24com) April 3, 2026
When Nakamura came on his stream afterward, he put the blame squarely on his team:
This was 100 percent on the people who were working for me. I had a file, it didn’t have the move 12…0-0, and honestly castles. I guess it’s technically a novelty, but it’s such a human move, and as soon as Javokhir played it, I was like thinking to myself, what is this? Actually kind of insane! Maybe you can say that over the board I should have some way figured it out, but I think it’s impossible without knowing what the correct line is.
This was 100 percent on the people who were working for me.
—Hikaru Nakamura
Nakamura clarified he wasn’t referring to his regular second Kris Littlejohn, but mentioned that one of his seconds for the Candidates is ranked around world number-20. The incident recalls game eight of the 2004 World Championship match between GMs Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Leko, when Kramnik blitzed out a prepared queen sacrifice only to see Leko brilliantly refute it at the board. GM Peter Svidler, who had worked on the line, later revealed that Kramnik didn’t talk to him again during the match.
In this case the key move had even been discussed in a Chessable course.
$34.99 on sale pic.twitter.com/coDrvYB5T3
— Kamil Plichta (@Kaldas90) April 3, 2026
Nakamura had already calmed down by the time of his recap, where he included himself among the players who had failed to consider a move that had “slipped through the cracks.”
That win left Sindarov three points clear of Nakamura, and with a phenomenal +4 score that would likely be enough to win the tournament.
Incredible result so far! Do not underestimate the boost that confidence plays after a strong start. You trust your instincts more, a positive cycle of intuition and performance. Meanwhile, your opponents doubt themselves against you. https://t.co/XyRIZd2TUS
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) April 3, 2026
Sindarov may now need “only” draws for the rest of the event, so will he have to change his approach? He told Klein, “No, I’m always playing solid—with White I’m playing for two results, with Black I was always trying to be solid and I don’t want to push, so let’s see!”
The win took Sindarov two points clear of Giri and Praggnanandhaa, who both made draws in round five. Giri played the Catalan and was confronted by a new move 9…c5!? from Wei. Our commentators, GM David Howell and IM Tania Sachdev, weren’t sure that it hadn’t been an accidental novelty, but it’s the computer’s second choice and worked out just fine.
The clash between Praggnanandhaa and Esipenko never caught fire, with the players choosing to make a draw by repetition in a position with many pieces still on the board but no clear plans for either side.
The one player who did keep up the pressure on Sindarov was Caruana, who managed to topple the one player Sindarov had failed to roll over—Bluebaum.
Caruana 1-0 Bluebaum
Caruana had his own hard-luck story about facing Sindarov’s preparation but commented, “At least I didn’t play atrociously,” before adding, “It’s still my fault that I wasn’t well-prepared.”
The loss to Sindarov meant he approached round five, when he had White against Bluebaum, as a game he had to try and win, and he prepared an idea against the Petroff, since he guessed the German number-two would repeat the opening that had given him a draw against the leader: “I didn’t see why he’d change his approach as it’s a kind of unbreakable opening!”
The idea with 9.f4! ultimately worked to perfection, with Bluebaum admitting he’d been caught off-guard… and castigating his play: “I didn’t really know the line for today, but I think every move I made was terrible, so it didn’t really matter what I do.”
I think every move I made was terrible!
—Matthias Bluebaum
Bluebaum still had the grace to allow one of the few checkmates we’ve ever seen in a Candidates tournament, with Caruana dealing the final blow with a pawn.
Fabiano Caruana checkmates Matthias Bluebaum to stay within a point of Sindarov! https://t.co/B8wiZOuN7D#FIDECandidates pic.twitter.com/1V1ZP9oTHS
— chess24 (@chess24com) April 3, 2026
It was a great bounce-back win!
It turns out playing padel on the rest day may be the secret to winning games of chess!
Caruana and Sindarov played padel on the rest day, but not on the same court: “None of us are very good—I can estimate that we’re all beginners!” #FIDECandidates pic.twitter.com/ep4VTFJDoQ
— chess24 (@chess24com) April 3, 2026
Caruana is back at exactly 2800.0 and has overtaken Nakamura as world number-two, while Sindarov is at a lifetime-best world number-five.
Sindarov has a dominant lead over the field in Cyprus, but that could all change fast. He has Black vs. Wei in round six, while Caruana is White against Esipenko.
FIDE Candidates: Round 6 Pairings
FIDE Women’s Candidates: Lagno, Zhu Join Anna Muzychuk In Lead
There were also two wins in the Women’s section, with Lagno and Zhu catching Muzychuk in the lead.
Women’s Candidates Round 5 Results
It’s all to play for here, however, with only a single point separating first place from last.
Women’s Candidates Standings After Round 5
The fastest finish anywhere in round five was a draw between Goryachkina and Muzychuk, which perhaps shouldn’t have surprised us, since the players are the only two to remain unbeaten in the Women’s Candidates.
Muzychuk’s draw meant that co-leader Assaubayeva had a chance to take the sole lead, but instead she fell to a bounce-back win for Lagno.
Lagno 1-0 Assaubayeva
“I calculated a lot of variations but at some moment just blundered and lost,” was Assaubayeva’s description of how her sharp Accelerated Dragon backfired. Perhaps the key moment came after 13.h4!?, when Black could capture on a4 and we would have had a very different game.
Lagno and Muzychuk were joined in the lead by top seed Zhu, who has now hit back with two wins in a row after her loss in round three.
Zhu 1-0 Vaishali
Vaishali admitted she’d misevaluated the position after 22…Qb5. Instead of having an edge she was borderline lost, and Howell described what followed as a “positional masterpiece”—what felt at times close to a fortress was methodical progress for the Chinese star.
“I just enjoy playing,” said Zhu of her approach, and it’s served her well as she’s climbed the rating list in the last couple of years.
The final game of the day was a quiet draw between GMs Tan Zhongyi and Divya Deshmukh. They’re both “languishing in last place,” but in the Women’s FIDE Candidates that means they’re within a win of first!
In round six we have a clash of the leaders, Zhu vs. Muzychuk, while the remaining leader Lagno has White against Vaishali.
FIDE Women’s Candidates: Round 6 Pairings
The FIDE Candidates Tournament is the most important FIDE tournament of the year. In the Open and Women’s events, eight players play each other twice for the right to challenge the FIDE World Champions Gukesh Dommaraju and Ju Wenjun to a match for the title.
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