Sagar Shah shares stories from Candidates
Who will become the Champions?
From the CEO
I am currently in Cyprus and the stream for the 12th round is just about to begin! The way the events have panned out, it is quite unbelievable how Javokhir Sindarov has played here. Absolutely stunning play by the youngster. He is on 8.5/11 - a score which many players made in 14 rounds to win the Candidates!
How has Javokhir made such rapid progress? This is definitely something I would love to know! I intend to do a long interview with him once the tournament ends. One person who has not come much in front of the camera, but seems to have played a big role in Javokhir’s success is IM Roman Vidonyak. We did publish an interview about Roman on ChessBase India a few months ago. But this world class trainer, seems not very well known to the general chess population. Javokhir often has mentioned the role of his coach in his post game conferences, and he was mentioning about Roman.
It’s also quite interesting to see that Bibisara Assaubayeva and Javokhir decided to make their relationship public during this event! Bibisara posted this picture on her Telegram, which is an open account that anyone can join! I wish the wonderful couple the best in their chess journeys and life!
Coming to the star of the women’s event and the big news of Indian chess - R. Vaishali. Vaishali, who often doesn’t speak much, has let her moves do the talking in this event (like always!). She is currently leading the women’s section by one full point - 7.0/11. She has 3 strong opponents left and big challenge today in the form of Zhu Jiner. I hope Vaishali would be able to keep her cool and make it to the World Championships to face Ju Wenjun. It would be another huge boost for Indian chess. Women’s World title is something that has been missing from the achievement of India as a country. Humpy reached the World Championship match in 2011, but lost it at the final hurdle against Hou Yifan. We hope Vaishali would be able to better it. Also what an amazing achievement this would be for WestBridge as a sponsor. Gukesh sponsored by them plays in the open world championship and Vaishali in the women’s.
Cyprus is beautiful and I would love to share how I am spending my time here in the subsequent newsletters. Suffice it to say, that the arrangements made by FIDE have been top notch and all the players are having an excellent time off the board! Over the board - well that’s a different story! In the Candidates tournament you can only have 2 people going home with a smile on their face! :) - Sagar Shah
HEADLINE OF THE WEEK
FIDE Candidates 2026 R11: Vaishali beats Goryachkina to gain a full point lead, Sindarov still going strong
Vaishali Rameshbabu scored an important victory in the 11th round of FIDE Women’s Candidates 2026 to gain a full-point lead over Zhu Jiner and Anna Muzychuk. Vaishali is on 7/11 points while Jiner and Muzychuk are on 6/11 points. In the 11th round of the FIDE Candidates 2026, there was only 1 decisive result in 8 games, including both sections. In the Open Section, all 4 games ended in a draw. Tournament leader Javokhir Sindarov drew his game against Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri also drew his game against Andrey Esipenko, and is still trailing Sindarov by 2 points. Praggnanandhaa missed some opportunities in a clear winning position against Matthias Bluebaum, and the game ended in a draw. Hikaru Nakamura and Wei Yi also played a solid draw. Round 12 will start on 12th April at 15:45 Local Time/18:15 IST. Photos: Michal Walusza, Niki Riga/ FIDE
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LATEST NEWS OF THE WEEK
Menorca Masters 2026 R6-7: Nihal Sarin in joint lead with Ruslan Ponomariov going into 8th round
Nihal Sarin and Ruslan Ponomariov are in joint lead after 7 rounds of play at Menorca Masters 2026. On the 4th day, Ruslan Ponomariov won both of his games to catch up to Nihal. In the 6th round, Ruslan Ponomariov defeated Richard Rapport, while in the 7th round, he defeated World Champion D Gukesh. Nihal had two draws. In the 6th round, he drew against Pentala Harikrishna, and in the 7th round, he drew against Leinier Dominguez Perez. Gukesh had both decisive games on the 4th day, first he won against Leinier Dominguez Perez, and then lost against Ponomariov. With 3 rounds to go, Nihal and Ponomariov are co-leading with 4.5/7, and Gukesh is in sole second place with 3.5/7. Round 8 will start on 10th April at 5 PM Local time/8:30 PM IST. Photos: Saji Mathew
Petroleum Sports Promotion Board wins 23rd National Women Team Chess Championship 2026
The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board scored 12/14 points to win the 23rd National Women’s Team Chess Championship 2026. Airport Authority of India and PSPB both scored 12/14 points, but a better tie-break score helped PSPB clinch the title. West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh B, and Telangana A scored 9/14 each to secure 3rd to 6th place, respectively. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹5,00,000. The top three prizes were ₹1,25,000, ₹1,00,000, and ₹75,000 each. The championship was smoothly organized at Agrasen Dham, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, by Chhattisgarh State Chess Association from 16th to 22nd March 2026. Photos: Ayush Jain/ChessBase India
How Chola Chess is making an impact on Indian chess
Chola Chess was launched in July 2025 with a clear vision to nurture young talent in India. Even before its launch, the initiative had already begun conducting training camps from January 2025. Since then, it has conducted 100 camps and trained over 1300 players. It provides a space for promising players to train under experienced coaches. On 1st April, they conducted their 100th camp, marking an important milestone in their journey. Read the article to know how Chola Chess is making a difference. Photos: Chola Chess
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