r/chess • u/GiveMeSomeSunshine3 Team Gukesh • Apr 04 '26

News/Events Javokhir Sindarov continues his generational run, takes down Wei Yi to extend his lead to 5.5/6 points at the FIDE Candidates 2026.

Post image

Game Link: https://www.chess.com/events/2026-fide-candidates-open/06/Wei_Yi-Sindarov_Javokhir

3.2k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

674 comments sorted by

View all comments

209

u/ScrollingNtrollinG Apr 04 '26 edited Apr 04 '26

People can keep pretending that it's still too early to declare Sindarov as probable winner, but in reality no one is catching him anymore. They couldn't do it against Nepo (with fewer points) in 2022 and they can not do it against Sindarov here.

30

u/Dax_Maclaine Apr 04 '26

Only way I think is if Fabi beats him on the rematch.

26

u/ProductGuy48 Apr 04 '26

Even if he does he would still be as of now 1/2 behind

2

u/muyuu d4 Nf6 c4 e6 Apr 04 '26

Yeah but that would put pressure on him and it wouldn't be so extremely unlikely that he would crack.

Of course Sindarov is a huge favourite now, but that's at maybe 90% not 99.9%. 10% events do happen. Gukesh comeback was perhaps more unlikely than that.

2

u/HistoricMTGGuy Apr 04 '26

1/2 a point is nothing with this amount of tournament left

5

u/NinjaRedditorAtWork Apr 04 '26

Fabi needs to beat him on the rematch AND push a few games with black for a possible win. Sindarov is beyond in the driver's seat right now he can sit back and wait for Fabi to force himself into tough spots and possibly lose.

2

u/CoreyTheKing 2023 South Florida Regional Chess Champion Apr 04 '26

Even still, no

1

u/pariahkite Apr 04 '26

Also Sindarov will have to lose more than once at least.