Sindarov Maintains Lead After Draw with Esipenko

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Uzbek grandmaster Javokhir Sindarov drew with Russian chess player Andrey Esipenko in the eighth round of the Candidates Tournament, held on 7 April in Cyprus.

Playing with the black pieces, Sindarov agreed to a draw with his opponent after the 24th move in an even position.

After eight rounds, the Uzbek player has accumulated 6.5 points, with five wins and three draws, maintaining his sole lead in the tournament standings. His advantage over nearest rival Fabiano Caruana increased to two points, as the American grandmaster lost to Hikaru Nakamura while playing black.

In other games, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa was defeated by Anish Giri, and Matthias Bluebaum drew with Wei Yi.

In the ninth round on April 8, Sindarov will play with the black pieces against Bluebaum, who had drawn six games and suffered one loss by that stage.

By the end of the first half of the tournament, the Uzbek grandmaster scored 6 points out of 7 possible, marking the best start in the modern history of the Candidates Tournament.

The tournament runs from 29 March to 15 April in Cyprus with eight of the world’s strongest grandmasters. The competition is held in a double round-robin format over 14 rounds. The winner will earn the right to play a World Chess Championship match against reigning champion Dommaraju Gukesh. The total prize fund is €700,000.