Sindarov and Caruana both win in Candidates Round 5 - 5

Javokhir Sindarov continues to lead the FIDE Candidates in Cyprus by a point after crushing Hikaru Nakamura with the black pieces. Even at this early stage it's already looking like it's going to be a fight between Sindarov and Fabiano Caruana, they're the only two looking in great form. Caruana overpowered the hitherto undefeated Matthias Bluebaum, he also made the win look very easy. Sindarov's 4.5/5 start is exceptional, that said there are a number of players already looking out of form, so points may be easier to come by that in some Candidates tournaments. The other games were drawn.

The women's event looks far harder to predict. Leader Anna Muzychuk had a quiet draw with Aleksandra Goryachkina and was caught on 3/5 by Kateryna Lagno (beating Bibisara Assaubayeva) and Jiner Zhu who beat Rameshbabu Vaishali. Only a point separates first and last so everyone is still very much in it.

FIDE Candidates: Round 5 (of 14) Standings: 1st Javokhir Sindarov, 4½/5. 2nd Fabiano Caruana, 3½. 3rd-4th Matthias Bluebaum and Yi Wei, 2. 5th-6th R Praggnanandhaa and Anish Giri, 2½. 7th-8th Hikaru Nakamura and Andrey Esipenko, 1½. 8 players.

FIDE Women Candidates: Round 5 (of 14) Standings: 1st-3rd Anna Muzychuk, Kateryna Lagno and Jiner Zhu, 3/5. 4th-6th Zhongyi Tan, Rameshbabu Vaishali and Deshmukh Divya, 2. 7th-8th Bibisara Assaubayeva and Aleksandra Goryachkina, 2½. 8 players.

Round 6 Saturday 13:30 BST 4th April 2026. FIDE Candidates: Fabiano Caruana vs Andrey Esipenko Hikaru Nakamura vs Praggnanandhaa R Anish Giri vs Matthias Bluebaum Wei Yi vs Javokhir Sindarov

FIDE Women’s Candidates Round 6: Zhu Jiner vs Anna Muzychuk Tan Zhongyi vs Aleksandra Goryachkina Kateryna Lagno vs Vaishali Rameshbabu Bibisara Assaubayeva vs Divya Deshmukh.