GM Javokhir Sindarov
Bio
GM Javokhir Sindarov is a grandmaster and world championship candidate from Uzbekistan who will challenge GM Gukesh Dommaraju for the 2026 World Championship after posting the most dominant Candidates score yet achieved in the current format: an undefeated 10/14 with six wins and eight draws.
One of the youngest grandmasters in history, Sindarov earned his GM title in 2018 at the age of 12 years, 10 months, and 5 days. He is one of just six players to earn the title before turning 13 years old (as of April 2026). Sindarov is also a two-time national champion of Uzbekistan, winning in 2019 and 2021. He qualified for the 2021 FIDE World Cup, where he advanced to the fourth round as the 121st seed. Sindarov earned a gold medal with Uzbekistan at the 2022 FIDE Olympiad, scoring 6.5/10 in his individual games on the third board.
In March 2023, Sindarov won the Rustam Kasimdzhanov Cup, a new rapid tournament, out of a field of 10 grandmasters that also included GMs Parham Maghsoodloo, Alexander Grischuk, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. In December 2023, he crossed a 2700 FIDE rating for the first time.
In 2025, Sindarov became the youngest-ever winner of the World Cup, defeating GM Wei Yi in tiebreaks and qualifying for his first Candidates Tournament. Sindarov won five of his first six games in the event and ended up clearing the field by 1.5 points, clinching the event with a round to spare. Sindarov and Gukesh will have the youngest combined age of any championship match in history.
