The justice, clarity, and brilliance of Yavojir Sindárov’s victory, at 20 years old, are beyond doubt. But one might wonder whether his military march through the Candidates Tournament held in Peyia (Cyprus) is more due to his peak form or the disappointing performance of several of his seven rivals in a double round-robin league. The 10 points (out of 14 possible) by the undefeated Uzbek are the highest score achieved by the winner of the seven editions of the Candidates since this format was applied in 2013. The winner of the women’s tournament is the Indian Rameshbabu Vaishali, 24 years old; she will challenge the reigning champion, the Chinese Wenjun Ju.
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Sindárov – who will face the Indian Dommaraju Gukesh, the current champion, 19 years old, in November or December – completed the first half strongly, with five wins and two draws (against the super-solid Anish Giri and Matthias Bluebaum, Dutch and German, respectively). Of those five victories, two are essential: the opening round win against the Russian Andréi Yesipenko, who made a miscalculation in a very advantageous position; and especially the 4th round win against the American Fabiano Caruana, whom he caught with homemade preparation in the opening. The second half was quite comfortable for the Uzbek: six draws and one win, against the Indian Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa. With these results, he rises 30.8 points in the world ranking – something very extraordinary in a top-tier tournament – and settles in 5th place, just below his compatriot Nodirbek Abdusattórov, 21 years old.
Precisely the absence of Abdusattórov, as well as the Indian Arjun Erigaisi and the French Alireza Firouzja, put the spotlight of most experts on Caruana as the main initial favorite. Among other reasons, because he was already the world runner-up in 2018 (surpassed by the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen in the rapid tiebreak after twelve draws) and because he has remained among the top five almost always since then.
The facts indicate that the weight of that favorite status has taken a toll on Caruana, especially in the second half of the Candidates. After a good start (2.5 points out of three), his first mistake was accepting a theoretical duel in a very sharp position against Sindárov in the 4th round. But he recovered from the defeat in the next round, beating Bluebaum, although he has not won any game since, despite trying – “Since I lost to Giri in the 9th, I already threw in the towel regarding first place,” he said this Wednesday – until his victory in the last round against Yesipenko. He remains 3rd in the world at 33 years old, but the big question is whether he can continue to beat the young stars.
Half of the participants arrived in Cyprus out of form, for very different reasons. Yi Wei, whose results and quality of play in adolescence are among the most impressive in history, saw his career halted when he gave in to his parents’ pressure to go to university instead of focusing on his sports career; he is now graduated and complains that he is not assigned the necessary resources to have a group of elite coaches, but he has not shone the same way since.
Praggnanandhaa seemed to be the most talented of the three most astonishing Indian prodigy children (the other two are Gukesh and Erigaisi), according to the testimony (among others) of former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, who worked intensively with the three before the pandemic. But his results in recent years show a stagnation for which no consistent explanation is known. This is not the case for Yesipenko, the product of the Russian school in this century: it seems evident that the international boycott his country suffers greatly harms his progression because he cannot choose the tournaments he plays.
The American Hikaru Nakamura requires a separate paragraph. His way of securing a spot in the Candidates (playing third-tier tournaments to climb the rankings by beating much weaker opponents) already questions the International Federation’s (FIDE) rules. But one might have thought there was an acceptable explanation: at 38 years old, he was seeking one last chance to be world champion, a title for which he undoubtedly has enormous talent. However, the facts show that the real goal of his stay at the luxury hotel where the tournament was held was to boost the appeal of his podcast or streaming broadcasts, intervening live from Cyprus. He, accompanied by his wife and their baby, has also said that the hotel conditions “are ideal for a vacation, which is hardly compatible with playing good chess.”
Two other participants, Giri and Bluebaum, were in good form, but suffer from the same flaw: they are almost incapable of taking risks, even when circumstances require it, as happened to Giri in the second half of the tournament. Curiously, Bluebaum sought his only victory – choosing an aggressive variation with the white pieces – precisely against the Dutchman this Wednesday in the last round, with almost everything already decided. And he lost.
Candidates Tournament results (14th and final round): Yesipenko — Caruana, 0-1; Praggnanandhaa — Nakamura, draw; Bluebaum — Giri, 0-1; Sindárov — Wei, draw.
Final standings: 1st Sindárov 10 points; 2nd Giri 8.5; 3rd Caruana 7.5; Yi Wei 7; 5th Nakamura 6.5; 6th-7th Praggnanandhaa and Bluebaum 6; 8th Yesipenko 4.5.
Women’s Candidates Tournament results (14th round): Anna Muzychuk — Zhu, draw; Goriáchkina — Tan, 1-0; Vaishali — Lagno, 1-0; Deshmuj — Assaubáyeva, draw.
Final standings: 1st Vaishali 8.5; 2nd Assaubáyeva 8; 3rd-4th Zhu and Goriáchkina 7.5; 5th Anna Muzychuk 7; 6th Lagno 6.5; 7th-8th Tan and Desmuj 5.5.
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