Meet The 20-Year-Old Prodigy Dominating The World's Best Chess Players

Javokhir Sindarov, a 20-year-old chess grandmaster from Uzbekistan, has taken the chess world by storm over the past few weeks with a historic performance at the Candidates Tournament in Cyprus.

Sindarov, previously considered the underdog of the lineup, has beaten several of the world's strongest players and is currently leading the field by two points.

Within the first six rounds of the tournament, Sindarov had claimed five victories and one draw. He beat the American players Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura, who are ranked #2 and #3 on the world rankings and were widely considered the favorites to win the tournament. He remains undefeated with four rounds to go.

The Candidates Tournament is the most important event of the year in competitive chess; whoever scores the most points over fourteen rounds is crowned the winner, and they will have the opportunity to challenge the 20-year-old World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju later this year.

Sindarov's performance is already breaking records. Nobody has ever won the Candidates Tournament with more than five wins, and the 20-year-old Uzbek grandmaster already has six (via Sportstar).

If he keeps up his undefeated streak, he will also join a very exclusive club of players who have attended the Candidates and lost no games. One of the most recent was Dutch grandmaster Anish Giri, who drew every single game he played in 2016. Giri currently sits in second place at this year's tournament, two whole points behind Sindarov.

There are several ways to qualify for the Candidates Tournament and land a shot at challenging the World Chess Champion. Typically, those who place first or second in the most important chess events of the year will qualify to the Candidates, though a spot is also given to the player who has the highest rating at the year's end. Sindarov qualified by winning the Chess World Cup last year.