Giri, Nakamura win, Sindarov 6.5/8 @ Cyprus

GMs Anish Giri (Netherlands) and Hikaru Nakamura (USA) scored wins helping tournament leader GM Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan) extend his lead to 2.0 points after the 8th round in the FIDE Candidates 2026 at the Cap St Georges Hotel and Resort in Pegeia, Cyprus. In the Open section GM Sindarov leads the pack with 6.5 points, while five GMs viz., Anna Muzychuk, Divya Deshmukh, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Kateryna Lagno, Zhu Jiner shared the lead with 4.5 points, in the Women’s section.

A quick draw between GMs Javokhir Sindarov and Andrey Esipenko was enough for the Uzbek to extend his lead to 2.0 points. On a dream Candidates run, GM Javokhir Sindarov now leads with 6.5 points followed by GMs Anish Giri and Fabiano Caruana at 4.5 points.

With the start of the second half, many a Grandmaster would hope to make good their chances in the home run. Dutch star GM Anish Giri was the first to pick up the gauntlet as he scored over GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, greatly affecting the Indians comeback run for qualification. Suffering his second defeat in the tournament, makes Praggnanandhaa’s task nothing but Herculean. The Queen’s Gambit Accepted game saw the Indian on the back foot for most part of the game. Using his heavy pieces effectively Giri increased the advantage and when Praggnanandhaa slipped with 35..Qf7? in time-pressure the Dutchman grabbed the chance and powered his way to a fine win in 44 moves.

GM Hikaru Nakamura’s win over fellow American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana effectively dampened the qualification path of the latter. Climbing out from the joint bottom rank, World No. 2 Hikaru demonstrated that he’d be posing a different challenge in the Candidates games played out with reversed colors. The English Opening game saw Hikaru going through a comfortable phase exerting mild pressure in the middle game. The double rook ending appeared heading for a draw when an uncharacteristic error from Caruana 28…h5? brought the menacing white rooks back into the game. Alert Hikaru held on to the advantage, landing his first win of the Candidates over his compatriot Caruana, in 67 moves.

In the women’s section, the points table got crowded on the top thanks to a fortunate win by GM Divya Deshmukh over leader GM Anna Muzychuk. The Sicilian Accelerated Dragon game looked set to go in favor of the Ukraine Grandmaster who’d built  a good advantage in the middle game. Just after the completion of the first time control Muzychuk slipped and the game moved on an even keel. The Indian Grandmaster kept pressing and for the second time white erred, with Muzychuk handing back an improbable win. The turnaround result threw the tournament wide open helping four Grandmasters viz., Divya Deshmukh, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Kateryna Lagno, Zhu Jiner join the lead.

Similar to every Candidates Tournament since 2013, this event will be a 8 player double round-robin tournament. The winner of the Candidates 2026 tournament will earn the right to play the next FIDE World Chess Championship against the reigning World Chess Champion Gukesh Dommaraju. The winner of the 2026 FIDE Women’s Candidates tournament will earn the right to challenge Women’s world champion Ju Wenjun.

Round 9 starts by Wednesday, 8th April at 8:45 AM ET / 2:45 PM CEST / 6:15 PM IST.

Round 8 Results (Open): Andrey Esipenko (2.5) drew with Javokhir Sindarov (6.5), Wei Yi (3.5) drew with Matthias Bluebaum (3.5), Anish Giri (4.5) beat Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (3.5), Hikaru Nakamura (3.5) beat Fabiano Caruana (4.5).

Round 8 Results (Women): Anna Muzychuk (4.5) lost to Divya Deshmukh (4.5), Bibisara Assaubayeva (3.5) drew with Vaishali Rameshbabu (4.5), Kateryna Lagno (4.5) beat Aleksandra Goryachkina (3.5), Tan Zhongyi (2.5) lost to Zhu Jiner (4.5)

Anish Giri (2753) – Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (2741) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e4 b5 6. e5 Nd5 7. Nxb5 Nb6 8. Be2 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. a4 Ba6 11. Na3 c5 12. a5 Nd5 13. Bxc4 Qxa5 14. Nc2 Qb6 15. Bxd5 exd5 16. Re1 Bb7 17. Bg5 Bxg5 18. Nxg5 h6 19. dxc5 Qxc5 20. Nf3 Nc6 21. Ncd4 Nxd4 22. Nxd4 Bc8 23. Qd2 Rb8 24. Rec1 Qb6 25. b3 Bd7 26. h3 Rfc8 27. Rd1 Rc5 28. Kh2 a5 29. f4 f6 30. Re1 Re8 31. Re2 fxe5 32. fxe5 Qc7 33. Rae1 a4 34. bxa4 Bxa4 35. Kh1 Qf7 36. e6 Qg6 37. Rf2 Rc4 38. Rf4 h5 39. Qf2 Bc2 40. e7 Be4 41. Rf8+ Kh7 42. Rxe8 Qxe8 43. Rxe4 dxe4

44. Qf5+ 1-0

Picture & Graphics courtesy: Michal Walusza / Yoav Nis / FIDE

Event photo gallery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fide/

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Official Site: https://candidates2026.fide.com/