American GM Fabiano Caruana commented on Hikaru Nakamura’s loss to Javokhir Sindarov in Round 5 of the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026. Caruana says Sindarov has a big chance to win the tournament, and notes he didn’t expect this result from Hikaru in the game.

Fabiano Caruana

Fabiano Caruana

American GM

“Sindarov is playing great! He has a lot of chances, more chances than he normally gets. You could call it luck, but he’s obviously playing super well.

I didn’t expect this result today. I thought Hikaru would put pressure on Sindarov, and I didn’t expect things to go so, so wrong. I don’t know what went wrong — he seemed to be preparing — and here he is thinking on one move for a whole hour…

I wasn’t too happy to see it.”

The FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 takes place from March 28 to April 16 at the Cap St Georges Hotel and Resort in Pegeia, Cyprus. Uzbek GM Javokhir Sindarov (2745) leads the tournament with 4.5 points, and American GM Hikaru Nakamura (2810) holds 7th place with 1.5 points after 5 rounds.

Credit: Yoav Nisenbaum / FIDE