Uzbek GM Javokhir Sindarov spoke about his training in an interview with Hindustan Times. Sindarov says he trained hard before the 2026 Candidates Tournament, notes he prefers the board to the computer, and reflects on the amount of training he did as a youth.

Javokhir Sindarov

Javokhir Sindarov

Uzbek GM

“I worked really hard last year with my coach Roman, 10 hours a day for 80-90 days. So, it’s not that I was lucky to win the Candidates, a lot of hard work went into it. If I work on this system, in my opinion, I will be one of the strongest chess players in the world.

Roman always told me not to work too much on the computer. My team works with the computer but I choose to analyze on the board because it’s what Magnus does.

I feel if I had trained a lot when I was young, I would have already been a World Champion by now. I never really trained much, maybe 15 hours a week. It’s not of Grandmaster level…”

Javokhir Sindarov earned his first FIDE title, Candidate Master, at age 9. He completed his final GM norm at age 12 years and 10 months. Sindarov won the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 in April and will play in the World Championship match at the end of the year. Javokhir is World No. 4 with 2777 rating points.

Credit: Tor Nilssen / Norway Chess