Candidates Round 8: Sindarov Extends Lead, Five-Way Tie in Women’s

About the Candidates and What's at Stake?

The Candidates tournament is an eight-player double round robin whose winner earns the right to challenge the reigning world champion in a world championship match. Historically, the Candidates was an elimination knockout tournament, but since 2013, it has been conducted as a double round robin with eight players.

Lichess Coverage

Lichess will produce in-depth blog posts with annotations for each round of the 2026 FIDE Candidates. GM Axel Bachmann (@ABachmann) will annotate R1–7 and GM Maksim Chigaev (@Fandorine96) R8–14 + potential tiebreaks from the Open Candidates, while WGM Petra Papp (@cukus) will annotate R1–4, IM / WGM Lilit Mkrtchian (@Lilit-Mkrtchian) R5–7, and IM / WGM Ekaterina Atalik (@EkaterinaAtalik) R8–14 + potential tiebreaks from the Women's Candidates. Lichess will also create videos for each round of the tournament, with interviews and other types of content. Keep an eye on our socials for the videos!

Tournament Schedule

Pairings for Round 9

Open:

Women's:

Interviews

Make sure to check out all of our interviews from the Candidates on our YouTube channel! All our round 8 interviews are also embedded throughout this article.

Lichess Broadcast

The Lichess broadcast for the Candidates can be found here:

https://adjva4.dpdns.org/broadcast/fide-candidates-2026/oe4JqS3R

Open Leaderboard

Open Overview

After GM Andrey Esipenko and GM Javokhir Sindarov's quick draw, Sindarov must have been quite relieved to see his closest rival, GM Fabiano Caruana, lose a one-sided game against GM Hikaru Nakamura. GM Anish Giri now shares second place with Caruana after having defeated GM R Praggnanandhaa, while GM Wei Yi and GM Matthias Blübaum played a highly intriguing, imbalanced draw.

Watch our interview with Brazilian professional footballer David Luiz:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfzLYGtmETY

GM Andrey Esipenko vs. GM Javokhir Sindarov 1/2-1/2

GM Andrey Esipenko vs. GM Javokhir Sindarov; photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE Candidates 2026

GM Andrey Esipenko essayed the Catalan Opening, which arose by transposition from the English Opening, against GM Javokhir Sindarov, who has been etched in Esipenko's memory. Sindarov played a very rare line of the Catalan, with both the knight and bishop making their way to c6 and d6, respectively. Esipenko was theoretically better, but pieces rapidly started coming off the board. Esipenko had some options to keep more pieces on the board; however, understandably, owing to the tournament situation, Esipenko liquidated the material and acquiesced to a quick draw.

GM Hikaru Nakamura vs. GM Fabiano Caruana 1-0

Watch our interview with GM Hikaru Nakamura here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFxrdVDEljw

From one particular variation of the Symmetrical English, GM Hikaru Nakamura achieved a "two-results" position against GM Fabiano Caruana, where the only two results possible were either a win for Nakamura or a draw. As the scoreline indicates, it was the former result which occurred. By move 24, Caruana was staring down a double rook endgame which was much more difficult to play than first meets the eye. After just one imprecise move, 28...h5??, Caruana was effectively lost, and unlike another double rook endgame, Nakamura converted flawlessly.

GM Maksim Chigaev has annotated this game for you to learn from:

GM Anish Giri vs. GM R Praggnanandhaa 1-0

Watch our interview with GM Anish Giri here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLOJ80mqXYM

In a Queen's Gambit Accepted that was very reminiscent of the Vienna Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined, GM Anish Giri showed very strong play in the opening, outplaying GM R Praggnanandhaa and getting his pieces to powerful squares. Pieces were traded, but Giri remained better as more pieces were exchanged, with his knight sitting securely on the d4 blockading square. With such dominant pieces, Giri started an attack on the kingside, sacrificing some material to push through his passed pawn and win the game.

GM Maksim Chigaev has annotated this game for you to learn from:

GM Wei Yi vs. GM Matthias Blübaum 1/2-1/2

GM Wei Yi vs. GM Matthias Blübaum; photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE Candidates 2026

Another game, another Vienna; in this game, though, the Vienna Hybrid was on the cards, a completely different Vienna from the aforementioned QGD Vienna. At first, GM Wei Yi and GM Matthias Blübaum seemed to be playing a regular 1. e4 e5 game, with normal piece positions and stable play. Suddenly, though, matters quickly got out of hand as Wei went for a rook lift and some very subtle bishop maneuvers. Wei's kingside attack seemed to be paying off, but it was very difficult to increase White's advantage as extremely precise moves were required. Wei failed to find the most accurate path forward, and with Blübaum defending well, a draw by perpetual check was soon on the board.

Women's Leaderboard

Women's Overview

After being nearly winning for much of the game, GM Anna Muzychuk lost a queen endgame to GM Divya Deshmukh, while GM Kateryna Lagno and GM Zhu Jiner won relatively one-sided games against their compatriots, GM Aleksandra Goryachkina and GM Tan Zhongyi, respectively. Meanwhile, GM Bibisara Assaubayeva was slightly worse against GM Vaishali Rameshbabu but was able to hold the draw.

GM Anna Muzychuk vs. GM Divya Deshmukh 0-1

GM Anna Muzychuk vs. GM Divya Deshmukh; photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE Candidates 2026

GM Anna Muzychuk's game against GM Divya Deshmukh was rather heartbreaking for Muzychuk, who was completely winning for a long time in the Maróczy Bind pawn structure. With very active heavy pieces and the far superior pawn structure, it seemed as if Muzychuk had achieved a dream Maróczy Bind, gradually increasing her advantage to completely sideline Divya's pieces. Nevertheless, Divya kept the game going and defended fiercely. With further simplifications on the board, Muzychuk did not have a clear way to win, and she was soon only equal in the resulting queen endgame. The situation kept getting worse for Muzychuk, who perhaps was too intent on winning the game, as she eventually misplayed the queen endgame and resigned in short order.

IM / WGM Ekaterina Atalik has annotated this game for you to learn from:

GM Kateryna Lagno vs. GM Aleksandra Goryachkina 1-0

GM Kateryna Lagno vs. GM Aleksandra Goryachkina; photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE Candidates 2026

GM Kateryna Lagno's preparation in the Scotch Opening against GM Aleksandra Goryachkina could not have worked out any better. Indeed, while the opening Lagno had chosen may not receive the engine's approval, it paid off well as Goryachkina was clearly discombobulated by Lagno's decision.

IM / WGM Ekaterina Atalik has annotated this game for you to learn from:

GM Tan Zhongyi vs. GM Zhu Jiner 0-1

GM Tan Zhongyi vs. GM Zhu Jiner; photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE Candidates 2026

GM Zhu Jiner played an old line of the Nimzo-Indian Defense against GM Tan Zhongyi, whereafter it was Tan who was slowly getting the better of Zhu. After an inaccurate recapture on move 17, though, the position was equal, and Tan continued to misplay the position, handing Zhu a winning advantage. Zhu proceeded to spoil the edge a few moves later, but after further inaccurate endgame play by Tan, Zhu was once again winning and converted without much of an issue.

GM Bibisara Assaubayeva vs. GM Vaishali Rameshbabu 1/2-1/2

GM Bibisara Assaubayeva's preparation in the Italian Game did not work out too well against GM Vaishali Rameshbabu, who was at some point slightly better out of the opening. However, the position remained solid enough, and with precise defense, Assaubayeva was able to hold the draw.

Simulations

Lichess ran 1 million simulations of round results to determine the Candidates winner. Here are our results after round 8:

Open Candidates:

Women's Candidates: