Jan Gustafsson

German GM and commentator

“I would certainly count Sindarov among the very strong aggressive players. That doesn’t mean, of course, that he always wants the board to be on fire. Sometimes he also shows himself to be a very, very good technician from the positional side.

He feels absolutely confident in both the opening and the endgame, even with a minimal advantage. But still, Sindarov is one of the most aggressive and optimistic players in the entire field.

He recently had an incredible streak: winning the World Cup, second place in Wijk aan Zee. He must be overflowing with confidence.

Nevertheless, the question of his chances is not so simple. He doesn’t have much experience yet at the very top level. This is his first Candidates Tournament, and it’s often the experience of participating in a Candidates Tournament that helps. Sindarov is still relatively new to this path.

Still, I believe in his momentum, in his great energy — he truly has an incredible amount of it, we saw that at the World Cup. The question is how to translate that into chances.

Summarizing, Sindarov is definitely in my Top-3 favorites.”