Chess-Uzbekistan's Sindarov makes dream start to Candidates Tournament

April 1 - Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov made a stunning start to the Candidates Tournament as he took the lead after four games with a brilliant win against pre-tournament favourite Fabiano Caruana on Wednesday.

The 20-year-old, the youngest of the eight-player field in western Cyprus, claimed three victories and a draw before Thursday’s first rest day in the double round-robin event.

The winner will take on India’s Gukesh Dommaraju for the world title later this year.

“I never imagined I’d go in the rest day with +3, but I prepared very well. I need to play with full focus in the other rounds,” Sindarov said.

“It’s always hard to prepare against Fabi because he can play so many lines.”

Sindarov, playing with the white pieces, showed deep preparation in a Queen's Gambit Accepted.

In fewer than 20 moves, he gained a commanding advantage that left Caruana, ranked world number three, in time trouble. The American ultimately resigned with just 48 seconds on his clock, seeing no way to salvage the position.

Sindarov has 3.5/4 and leads Caruana by a full point.

The Candidates resumes on Friday with Sindarov, who had booked his place for the tournament by becoming the youngest winner of the World Cup last year, taking on Hikaru Nakamura of the U.S. with the black pieces. REUTERS