Candidates 2026: R Praggnanandhaa Held To A Draw As Javokhir Sindarov Leads

Last Updated:April 02, 2026, 07:15 IST

R Praggnanandhaa draws Bluebaum in Candidates round 4, Sindarov beats Caruana for third win, in Womens event Zhu and Muzychuk win.

FIDE Candidates Tournament: R Praggnandha lost to Javokhir Sindarov (X@FIDE_Chess)

Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa settled for a draw against Matthias Bluebaum of Germany in the fourth round of the open section of the FIDE Candidates Tournament on Wednesday.

In the women’s event, Divya Deshmukh lost to Zhu Jiner of China, while R Vaishali drew with Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia.

Meanwhile, Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan scored his third win of the tournament, taking a major step toward winning the FIDE Candidates after defeating Fabiano Caruana of the USA with impressive opening preparation.

Tournament Still Underway

The Candidates is played to determine the challenger for the next world championship match. In the Open section, the winner will face D Gukesh.

The Uzbek was asked on a possible clash with Gukesh but Sindarov was quick with his response: “I don’t want to answer this question because the tournament is still going on.”

In the FIDE Women’s Candidates, Zhu Jiner and Anna Muzychuk regained momentum with important victories, and Muzychuk now shares the lead with Bibisara Assaubayeva.

On Tuesday, Praggnanandhaa had suffered a major setback in his campaign, losing to Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan in the third round. He had begun his campaign on a high by defeating Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri.

Standings After Round 4 –

Round 5 pairings – FIDE Candidates Tournament:

• Praggnanandhaa R vs Andrey Esipenko
• Fabiano Caruana vs Matthias Bluebaum
• Hikaru Nakamura vs Javokhir Sindarov
• Anish Giri vs Wei Yi

Round 5 pairings – FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament:

• Aleksandra Goryachkina vs Anna Muzychuk
• Zhu Jiner vs Vaishali Rameshbabu
• Tan Zhongyi vs Divya Deshmukh
• Kateryna Lagno vs Bibisara Assaubayeva

(With inputs from Agencies)

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