FIDE Candidates 2026, Round 4: Sindarov defeats Caruana to take sole lead; Vaishali, Pragg pick up draws as Divya loses to Zhu
Javokhir Sindarov dominated proceedings and continued his reign at the top of the FIDE Candidates 2026 standings by defeating World No. 3 Fabiano Caruana in the Round 4 contest in Cyprus on Wednesday.
Sindarov timed his central break to perfection with 27.d5, opening up the position and initiating a sustained positional squeeze. A key moment came with Rxf5, after which Caruana was pushed onto the back foot. With …Kh8, Black was left purely defending, while Sindarov’s Qg4+, Bd4+ and Rc5 showcased precise coordination as he sealed his second successive win.
Elsewhere, there was no separating Matthias Bluebaum and R Praggnanandhaa, as the players repeated moves to force a draw. Both remain tied for third in the standings.
ALSO READ: Check out highlights from Round 4
In the women’s section, R Vaishali, like her brother in the Open section, reached a structural deadlock. Any attempt to force a pawn break or activate the king risked weakening her position, prompting a threefold repetition as the players shared the point. Vaishali remains unbeaten in the tournament so far.
After surviving a scare in Round Three, Divya Deshmukh could not recover in her next outing, going down to Zhu Jiner. Despite centralising her queen around move 21, a critical inaccuracy under time pressure, opting for a4 instead of consolidating with Re6 — proved costly, and she was eventually forced to resign.
Other results in the women’s section saw Anna Muzychuk beat Kateryna Lagno, and Bibisara Assaubayeva draw with Tan Zhongyi.
Published on Apr 01, 2026