FIDE Candidates: Pragg draws with Blubaum as Sindarov races into sole lead; Divya suffers loss

R Praggnanandhaa followed up a third-round loss to Javokhir Sindarov with a straightforward draw in the fourth round against Matthias Blübaum, as he continued to remain in joint third in the FIDE Candidates 2026.

Praggnanandhaa chose to play the Slav defence against Blübaum and got just what he wanted, with no pressure against him, and he kept that going throughout the middle game too, as he came under no pressure at all.

However, the flipside to that was Praggnanandhaa couldn’t create any openings for himself, and the game ended in a tame draw by three-fold repetition, after 37 moves. Blübaum, like Praggnanandhaa, is also on 2 points at the moment, having played out four draws in four games so far. Anish Giri, with his win against Andrey Esipenko, is also on 2 points.

However, Praggnanandhaa’s position in the tournament now is worse than it was at the end of Round 3. As we head into the first rest day of the tournament, Javokhir Sindarov’s win against Fabiano Caruana means that the young Uzbek leads the tournament with 3.5 points in four rounds, a point ahead of Caruana.

Praggnanandhaa has 2 points in four rounds, 1.5 behind the leader. There are still ten rounds left to play, so there is still a lot left to play for, but on the first rest day, the question on the minds of the other players will be how they stop Sindarov. With wins against Andrey Esipenko, Praggnanandhaa and Caruana now, Sindarov has put himself in command of this competition.

FIDE Candidates 2026 Open Round 4 results

• Matthias Blübaum 0.5-0.5 R Praggnanandhaa

• Javokhir Sindarov 1-0 Fabiano Caruana

• Wei Yi 0.5-0.5 Hikaru Nakamura

• Andrey Esipenko 0-1 Anish Giri

FIDE Candidates 2026 Open Standings after Round 4

1. Javokhir Sindarov – 3.5

2. Fabiano Caruana – 2.5

3. R Praggnanandhaa – 2

4. Matthias Blübaum – 2

5. Anish Giri – 2

6. Hikaru Nakamura – 1.5

7. Wei Yi – 1.5

8. Andrey Esipenko – 1

Divya loses ground, as Vaishali draws again

In the women’s section, Divya Deshmukh’s Candidates dream lost steam in the fourth round, as she lost to China’s Zhu Jiner, after opening preparation went wrong for the defending Women’s World Cup winner.

In the 12th move, a pawn push on the h-file proved to be the beginning of the trouble for Divya, as Jiner continued to build the pressure on the Indian youngster. Just like in her first three games of the tournament, Jiner had a significant advantage out of the opening, and just like in those three games, she gave her opponent an opportunity to cut into that advantage, but this time, Divya couldn’t take that opportunity.

On move 21, Divya’s opportunity to equalise the game came in the form of a rook sacrifice, but she didn’t take that chance, and then her position evaporated in front of her eyes, as Jiner registered her first win of the tournament.

R Vaishali, on the other hand, drew a fourth game in a row, as she split the point with Aleksandra Goryachkina. Goryachkina put Vaishali under some pressure during the middle game, and had a couple of chances to press home an advantage, but she couldn’t find accurate progressions both on move 14 and 18, and then there was no chance for her to pressure Vaishali.

Having spent all game on the backfoot and in defence, Vaishali chose not to push for an advantage at the end, even if the engine did favour her slightly when she chose to go for a three-fold repetition.

FIDE Candidates 2026 Women’s Round 4 results

• R Vaishali 0.5-0.5 Aleksandra Goryachkina

• Divya Deshmukh 0-1 Zhu Jiner

• Bibisara Assaubayeva 0.5-0.5 Tan Zhongyi

• Anna Muzychuk 1-0 Kateryna Lagno

FIDE Candidates 2026 Open Standings after Round 4

1. Anna Muzychuk – 2.5

2. Bibisara Assaubayeva – 2.5

3. Zhu Jiner – 2

4. Aleksandra Goryachkina – 2

5. Kateryna Lagno – 2

6. R Vaishali – 2

7. Tan Zhongyi – 1.5

8. Divya Deshmukh – 1.5