source: chess.com
Round 4 of the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 was exciting and saw the two leaders Caruana and Sindarov against each other to try and grab the sole lead. Still only 20 years old and playing his first Candidates tournament, Sindarov upset tournament favorite Fabiano Caruana and is now leading the tournament with ten rounds to go.
The position looked equal with Sindarov enjoying a safer King position and around thirty minutes advantage on the clock.
He could take the pawn of d4 and the position is still holdable but he moved f5 which was a mistake. His time was also dangerously low, 34 minutes and still needs 22 moves to make.
He could have captured the pawn on d4 and after Bxe6 Qe4 to force the exchange of Queens. It's an unfavorable endgame but not yet losing.
Instead, he moved Rg4 and a few moves later he was losing with 11 minutes left to 21 moves. Sindarov converted the position to a win.
Game link: https://lichess.org/broadcast/fide-candidates-2026-open/round-4/97di6JjX/Jzyakrf4
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In the other decisive game, Anish Giri beat the hapless Andrey Esipenko with the Black pieces. It looked like that Esipenko wasn't able to recover when he lost a winning game in the first round.
Their game looks weird when Giri's King walked to the Queen side but looked safe after Bd7, Rc8 and Kb8.
Inspite of the battery on his King, Black has enough defense. In contrast, he had the Bishop pair against White's Knights and a passed pawn on the c file that was enough to convert to a win.
Game link: https://lichess.org/broadcast/fide-candidates-2026-open/round-4/97di6JjX/xbSQ7kmG
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Grenke Chess Festival
So many things happening in the chess world. Aside from the Fide Candidates Tournament, the Grenke Chess Festival started yesterday headlined by Magnus Carlsen and other top players who are not playing in the Candidates. I was watching the game between world ranked #21 Levon Aronian against a candidate master and he was at a disadvantage at one point due to his opponent's control of the h file. He found enough resources to steer the game into a draw.
Game link: https://lichess.org/broadcast/grenke-chess-festival-2026--freestyle-open-a/round-1/Kj7bq13E/YPb3SQc1
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