Javokhir Sindarov (Image credit: FIDE) NAGPUR: World Cup winner Javokhir Sindarov is four wins and three draws away from winning the qualifiers in Cyprus.With five wins, two draws and six points from seven games, Uzbekistan’s 20-year-old youngest prospect has already achieved their best tally at the halfway stage of the tournament since 2013, when the eight-player, two-round format was adopted.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SIGN UP NOW!Even if he splits Sindar’s points over the next seven games, he will equal the tournament’s best ever score achieved by Ian Nepomni-achtchi to win the 2022 Candidates with 9.5 points from 14 rounds. In his Candidates debut, as Sindarov served in the first half, switching sides against the seven remaining Candidates looks like a piece of cake for the youngest winner of the World Chess Championship in Goa six months ago.While Candidates Tournament veteran Fabiano Caruana follows Sindarov with 4.5 points, Indian Praggnanandhaa R and seasoned Dutch GM Anish Giri hold joint third position with 3.5 points. If the trio of Caruana, Pragg and Giri get a full point against Sindarov with some luck from the other four, then the open field will look like a battleground.In his post-match interview with the Saint Louis Chess Club after drawing with Pragg, Caruana said he was under no pressure in Cyprus.Will Cyprus get lucky again for Ukrainian Anna?Anna Muzychuk qualified just a week before the start of the candidates, after the withdrawal of Indian number one Humpa Konera. The 36-year-old Ukraine’s highest-ranking GM now leads the women’s field, undefeated and half a point ahead of the field.Luckiest of all Vaishali R trails Anna on four points while Divya Deshmukh and Russia’s Kateryna Lagno and Aleksandra Goryachkina along with China’s Zhu Jiner are joint third.
