India Chess Star Praggnanandhaa is out of contention for the Candidates 2026 chess tournament, as he remained on 4 points following his third loss to Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan on Thursday. Sindarov continued his march towards the title as he beat Pragg and stretched his lead to a massive two points after the end of the tenth round of the Candidates.
Sindarov took his tally to eight points following his sixth victory in the tournament and second over the Indian. Anish Giri of the Netherlands is the only player within six points of Sindarov.
But what was most impressive about the 20-year-old Uzbek was his ability to maintain calm and composure under pressure and punish Pragg after his Bd7 blunder.
With this result, Sindarov has officially won the most games ever in the Candidates tournament’s current format with four more rounds to spare.
Sindarov has shown the importance of preparation for the candidates. Initially, he was way behind Fabi and Hikaru as the pre-tournament favourite, but he has demolished the field completely. For Pragg, maybe he needs to take a hard look at that decision to exchange a queen for rooks.
Speaking after his game, Sindarov gave a glimpse into his mindset and said: “I had a big stress because yesterday I didn’t win a completely winning position. That’s why my coach tells me: if you deserve this title, you will get it; if you don’t, we will work hard to become strong. Don’t think about the result, just play your chess.”
HE PLAYS IT🥶🥶 https://t.co/fOJwEQdIYy pic.twitter.com/fvz2zdodCj
— Chess.com (@chesscom) April 9, 2026
Meanwhile, R Vaishali, the elder sister of Praggnanandhaa, meanwhile, continued with her good form and drew with Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine to emerge as the sole leader in the women’s Candidates on six points.
READ: ‘Sindarov is Fantastic But He’s Barely Played a Move, It’s All…’
Candidates 2026 Round 10 Results
Results Round 10: Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb, 8) beat R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 4); Andrey Esipenko (Rus, 3.5) drew with Matthias Bluebaum Ger (4.5); Wei Yi (Chn, 4.5) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 5); Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 4.5) drew with Anish Giri (Ned, 6).
Women: Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 5.5) drew with R Vaishali (Ind, 6); Bibisaraa Assaubayeva (Kaz, 5) beat Jiner Zhu (Chn, 5.5); Kateryna Lagno (Rus, 5) drew wirh Zhongyi Tan (Chn, 3.5) Divya Deshmukh (Ind, 4.5) lost to Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus, 5).
