Uzbek Grandmaster Javokhir Sindarov is leading the Candidates Tournament in Cyprus after scoring 3.5 points in the first four rounds. With this result, he has become the first participant in the tournament's history to achieve 3.5 points in the initial four rounds and has risen to 6th place in the world rankings. The 20-year-old chess player notably defeated one of the main favorites, American Fabiano Caruana, playing with the white pieces and securing a decisive advantage in less than 20 moves, marking it as one of the most memorable victories in his career.

Sindarov emphasized that the key factor behind his win was deep preparation with his team before the round. He stated that he almost precisely predicted his opponent's choice, saying, "I think I played a very good game today. I got lucky. Before the round, I was just rehearsing this exact variation, and indeed, I got lucky." He explained that he and his seconds had analyzed all of Caruana's possible directions and had a feeling the opponent would choose that line, so he reviewed it once more before taking the board.

The defeated Fabiano Caruana briefly commented, acknowledging the superiority of his rival's preparation, and said, "Essentially, I got caught in the opening. I think the move Rg8 was a big mistake." Sindarov confirmed this assessment, calling the Rg8 move a serious error because, according to his analysis, Black should have taken the pawn on d4. He described the sharp combination involving the c6 move and the knight's jump to d4 as "home preparation" and noted that if he had calculated it over the board, it would have taken at least 20 minutes, but he made the move almost instantly.

Responding to a question about changing his strategy (previously, Javokhir had mentioned playing "solidly"), the tournament leader stressed that he acted according to the situation. He said, "My idea was to play solidly. But when I realized he might have forgotten the variations, I decided to put pressure on him. Of course, if he had played accurately, the game would probably have ended in a draw." Regarding the difficulty of upcoming games, Sindarov added, "I don't think about it much. I just play chess. And during the game, I only notice one thing—I walk around the hall a lot."

Speaking about the reasons for the sharp rise of Uzbek chess players on the global stage, Sindarov highlighted the importance of systematic state support and the dense schedule of domestic tournaments in the country. He stated, "First of all, in Uzbekistan in recent years, many major tournaments have been organized—World Rapid and Blitz Championships, Grand Swiss, many strong opens. Our government and president are supporting chess very well. Over the last two to three years, excellent conditions have been created to work with the best coaches. I think this is helping us. Now we have a very strong team for the Olympiad." He declined to speculate in advance about a potential match with reigning world champion Dommaraju Gukesh and gave a brief answer to a question about chances to defeat Gukesh this year: "I don't want to answer this question because the tournament is still ongoing. Thank you."

The tournament is taking place in Cyprus from March 29 to April 15, featuring eight of the planet's strongest grandmasters, including Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, and debutant Javokhir Sindarov from Uzbekistan. Participants are competing over two rounds (14 games) for a prize fund of 500,000 euros and, more importantly, the right to challenge world champion Dommaraju Gukesh for the title. April 2 has been declared a rest day in the competition, and in the 5th round, Sindarov will play with the black pieces against Hikaru Nakamura.

Source: www.gazeta.uz