Sindarov on the brink of winning the Candidates after Round 12, Zhu beats Vaishali to catch her in the Women's event

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FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 (12)

Sindarov on the brink of winning the Candidates after Round 12, Zhu beats Vaishali to catch her in the Women's event

Mark Crowther - Monday 13th April 2026

Vaishali Rameshbabu lost to Zhu Jiner in Round 12. Photo ©

Vaishali Rameshbabu lost to Zhu Jiner in Round 12. Photo © | https://candidates2026.fide.com

Javokhir Sindarov was happy to take a quick draw against Hikaru Nakamura in Round 12 of the Candidates, in fact his entire preparation was directed towards it. Anish Giri was left trying to beat Wei Yi and he did in fact get a winning position in an endgame but it remained tricky. Giri accidentally repeated the position three times and Wei Yi was immediately alert to this. Matthias Bluebaum was slightly better against Fabiano Caruana but no more than that. Praggnanandhaa was pushing against Andrey Esipenko but had to settle with a draw. Following the rest day Giri will have to win against Sindarov in order to keep his chances alive.

The women's event was blown wide open when Zhu Jiner beat the leader Vaishali Rameshbabu in a tense game, these players share the lead. Half a point behind are Bibisara Assaubayeva who won a game that could have gone either way, and Anna Muzychuk who blew a winning position against Aleksandra Goryachkina at the very end of a long game. The top four are still in it, I really wouldn't like to guess who is going to win as there are so many wild swings in form even during games by all the leaders.

Round 12 (of 14) Standings: 1st Javokhir Sindarov, 9/12. 2nd Anish Giri, 7. 3rd Fabiano Caruana, 6. 4th-6th Matthias Bluebaum, Hikaru Nakamura and Yi Wei, 5½. 7th R Praggnanandhaa, 5. 8th Andrey Esipenko, 4½. 8 players.

Round 12 (of 14) Standings: 1st-2nd Jiner Zhu and Rameshbabu Vaishali, 7/12. 3rd-4th Bibisara Assaubayeva and Anna Muzychuk, 6½. 5th-6th Aleksandra Goryachkina and Kateryna Lagno, 5½. 7th-8th Deshmukh Divya and Zhongyi Tan, 5. 8 players.

Rest day Monday 13th April 2026.

Round 13 Tuesday 14th April 13:30 BST: Wei Yi vs Andrey Esipenko Anish Giri vs Javokhir Sindarov Hikaru Nakamura vs Matthias Bluebaum Fabiano Caruana vs Praggnanandhaa R

FIDE Women’s Candidates

Bibisara Assaubayeva vs Anna Muzychuk Kateryna Lagno vs Divya Deshmukh Tan Zhongyi vs Vaishali Rameshbabu Zhu Jiner vs Aleksandra Goryachkina

Round 12 Summary

Andrey Esipenko ½—½ Praggnanandhaa R

Esipenko against Praggnanandhaa was a very spirited game from the two strugglers but the drew nevertheless.

Matthias Bluebaum ½—½ Fabiano Caruana

Bluebaum seemed comfortable in a classical Carlsbad structure. He pressed a little but Caruana held easily enough.

Javokhir Sindarov ½—½ Hikaru Nakamura

Sindarov said he prepared many drawing lines and was ready for the Queen's Gambit Nakamura had already played in the event and when he could he forced a completely drawn bishops of opposite colours endgame, Nakamura said he was happy to draw easily too.

Wei Yi ½—½ Anish Giri

Wei Yi played the rare Vienna Variation he prepared for the event, he then followed it up with a sharp f4 that Giri was clearly ready for. After balanced play 31.c6? was losing to 32..Qe3! which Giri missed and the position was level again. Wei Yi defended a difficult position for a while but 59...h5! just wins. The game went on for a long while but Giri allowed a three fold repetition that Wei Yi immediately spotted, although by then the game was nearly equal.

FIDE Women’s Candidates

Anna Muzychuk ½—½ Aleksandra Goryachkina

Muzychuk got a winning endgame against Goryachkina which she played very well for a long time before miscalculating at the very last hurdle. If Muzychuk had take all her clear winning chances she'd be leading by at least a point. I used to get very upset at all the clear chances I missed, but if you keep making the same serious mistakes, that's actually your playing strength.

Vaishali Rameshbabu 0—1 Zhu Jiner

Vaishali and Zhu Jiner played a very tense Caro-Kann, Vaishali was better out of the opening, from about move 25 black was better and she won on move 39.

Divya Deshmukh 0—1 Tan Zhongyi

Tan Zhongyi hasn't had a lot of luck in this event but steadily outplayed Divya Deshmukh on the black side of a Berlin today.

Bibisara Assaubayeva 1—0 Kateryna Lagno

Bibisara was better and ahead on the clock but blundered, on move 30. Lagno quickly took the initiative and played quickly but she didn't have time to finish off her winning advantage (35.Bc6!) she was then lost, given a chance and then was finally lost again.

Round 12 Commentary

FIDE Candidates 2026 Pegeia CYP (CYP), 29 iii-16 iv 2026																			cat. XX (2749)
					1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8
1.	Sindarov, Javokhir	g	UZB	2745	*	*	½	.	1	½	½	½	1	½	1	.	1	1	1	½	9	2942
2.	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2753	½	.	*	*	½	1	½	.	½	½	½	½	0	1	1	½	7	2810
3.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	USA	2795	0	½	½	0	*	*	1	½	1	0	1	½	½	.	½	.	6	2746
4.	Bluebaum, Matthias	g	GER	2698	½	½	½	.	0	½	*	*	½	.	½	½	½	½	½	½	5½	2723
5.	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2810	0	½	½	½	0	1	½	.	*	*	½	½	½	.	½	½	5½	2715
6.	Wei, Yi	g	CHN	2754	0	.	½	½	0	½	½	½	½	½	*	*	½	½	1	.	5½	2724
7.	Praggnanandhaa, R	g	IND	2741	0	0	1	0	½	.	½	½	½	.	½	½	*	*	½	½	5	2684
8.	Esipenko, Andrey	g	RUS	2698	0	½	0	½	½	.	½	½	½	½	0	.	½	½	*	*	4½	2666

Round 12 (April 12, 2026)
Sindarov, Javokhir	- Nakamura, Hikaru	½-½	33	D37	QGD 5.Bf4
Bluebaum, Matthias	- Caruana, Fabiano	½-½	52	D37	QGD 5.Bf4
Wei, Yi	- Giri, Anish	½-½	77	C26	Vienna Game
Esipenko, Andrey	- Praggnanandhaa, R	½-½	46	A13	Reti Opening

FIDE Women Candidates Pegeia CYP (CYP), 29 iii-16 iv 2026																			cat. XI (2520)
					1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8
1.	Zhu, Jiner	g	CHN	2578	*	*	1	1	0	0	0	.	½	.	½	1	1	½	½	1	7	2566
2.	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	g	IND	2470	0	0	*	*	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	.	½	1	1	.	7	2585
3.	Assaubayeva, Bibisara	g	KAZ	2516	1	1	½	½	*	*	½	.	½	½	0	1	0	.	½	½	6½	2551
4.	Muzychuk, Anna	g	UKR	2522	1	.	½	½	½	.	*	*	½	½	1	½	½	0	½	½	6½	2544
5.	Goryachkina, Aleksandra	g	FID	2534	½	.	½	0	½	½	½	½	*	*	½	0	½	1	½	.	5½	2482
6.	Lagno, Kateryna	g	RUS	2508	½	0	0	.	1	0	0	½	½	1	*	*	½	.	1	½	5½	2499
7.	Divya, Deshmukh	g	IND	2497	0	½	½	0	1	.	½	1	½	0	½	.	*	*	½	0	5	2468
8.	Tan, Zhongyi	g	CHN	2535	½	0	0	.	½	½	½	½	½	.	0	½	½	1	*	*	5	2463

Round 12 (April 12, 2026)
Vaishali, Rameshbabu	- Zhu, Jiner	0-1	39	B12	Caro Kann Advanced
Assaubayeva, Bibisara	- Lagno, Kateryna	1-0	49	C54	Giuoco Piano
Muzychuk, Anna	- Goryachkina, Aleksandra	½-½	71	C84	Ruy Lopez Centre Attack
Divya, Deshmukh	- Tan, Zhongyi	0-1	62	C44	Scotch Gambit

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