World Chess Weekly: World Cup Sorted, Candidates Sorted, Now for the London Chess Classic
It's finally over, the race for the Candidates is no more. Nor is the month-long World Cup. Phew!
We have a new World Cup winner: 19-year-old GM Javokhir Sindarov, from Uzbekistan. Sindarov was a rank outsider but emerged from 206-player strong field victorious and undefeated.
He is the youngest ever winner of the World Cup, and the first from Uzbekistan. What a result that was.
The teenager scooped the $120,000 top prize and a much-coveted place in the Candidates tournament.
On his return home, Sindarov got a hero's welcome, was congratulated by his country's president and was gifted an extra $10,000 bonus and a three-room flat. Nice work for a 19-year-old—it's fair to say the win has changed his life.
One other significant point about the end of the World Cup is that we also now have every spot filled for next year's Candidates.
China's number-one GM Wei Yi, the beaten finalist, filled the second of the three spots available in Goa and the 23-year-old Russian talent GM Andrey Esipenko grabbed the last with his third-placed finish.
It means the next challenger to GM Gukesh D's world title will come from one of these eight:
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2024 FIDE Circuit winner)
- GM Praggnanandhaa R (2025 FIDE Circuit winner)
- GM Matthias Bluebaum (2025 Grand Swiss runner-up)
- GM Anish Girl (2025 Grand Swiss winner)
- GM Wei Yi (World Cup runner-up)
- GM Andrey Esipenko (World Cup third-place)
- GM Javokhir Sindarov (World Cup winner)
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (Rating)
Technically, Praggnanandhaa and Nakamura don't have their places confirmed but they are uncatchable.
The list is quite a surprise. The likes of in-form GM Vincent Keymer, GM Alireza Firouzja and GM Arjun Erigaisi will not be going to Cyprus. Also, only Giri, Praggnanandhaa and Caruana were in the world's top 10 going into the tournament.
However, the tournament always delivers and it will be exciting to see who emerges as the challenger.
So the World Cup, which provided so many thrills and spills, is finally over. What's next?
Pragg Plays London
The London Chess Classic started this week at the Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal Football Club.
It's a magnificent venue to host a chess tournament—World Chess attended on day two—and the line-up is suitably strong.
We detailed the stars taking part in this piece, but the late entry of Indian superstar Praggnanandhaa into the Open section has left the intriguing prospect of the world number seven taking on amateurs. The highest ranked player in the entire event isn't in the ten-player invite-only Elite Tournament.
At first we thought it was for FIDE Circuit points to rubber-stamp his entry into the Candidates. However, after the results in Goa, that's now academic. Pragg continues to play, however, despite the danger of losing rating points. There is a £25,000 top prize in the Open, so there is that reason.
But we don't know his motivation—perhaps he just loves playing this event, which he won in 2019 and first entered aged 11.
Whatever the reason, he looked happy going into Round 2 on Thursday and emerged with a second win, although English youngster FM Stanley Badacsonyi gave him a tough test. At one point, the 16-year-old had a +2 edge, according to the computer.
World Chess congratulated Badacsonyi on his way out and his mother posted this:
Praggnanandhaa will be expecting to win the nine-round Open section while in the Elite Tournament, Firouzja and GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov share the lead going into Friday's Round 3 with Greek GM Nikolas Theodorou.
You can follow all the action with live commentary from GM Danny King and guests at the event's website here.