FIDE Candidates 2026 on April 15: Sindarov Secures First Place

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At the halfway mark, the tournament still refused to produce a runaway leader. FIDE’s round-six report said Vignir Vatnar Stefansson had emerged as sole leader with 5.5/6 and added that, with five rounds remaining, the event was still wide open.

The 2026 FIDE Candidates was played in Cyprus from March 28 to April 16, and the event used a 14-round double round robin to decide the next World Championship challenger. By April 17, the headline is fully settled: Javokhir Sindarov won the tournament with 10.0/14, finished undefeated, and secured

Robert Hovhannisyan, Isik Can, Jonas Buhl Bjerre, and Aydin Suleymanli are all listed on 5.0/7, which means the event still has a compact lead group rather than a runaway favorite.