Nicosia [Cyprus], April 14 : Uzbekistan's Javokhir Sindarov on Tuesday booked the title clash against world champion D Gukesh after securing the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Candidates title in the Open section after drawing his round 13 match-up against Dutch Anish Giri.
As per ESPN, Sindarov drew the match against Giri with black pieces.
The Uzbekistan chess player won the title unbeaten, with a round to spare, and the clash for the world championship will be held later this year.
On the other hand, in the women's section, R Vaishali bounced back from a loss, drawing her match with Tan Zhongyi with black pieces. This lifted her points tally to 7.5 and keeps her in contention for the world title. In the final round, she will play Zhu Jiner, whose match with Aleksandra Goryachkina is in progress, and Bibisara Assaubayeva, who also has 7.5 points with a win over Anna Muzychuk today.
Gukesh had made history back in December 2024, becoming the youngest world champion by securing the FIDE World Championship title, beating Ding Liren of China in Singapore at the age of 18.
In April, Gukesh made headlines by winning the FIDE Candidates Chess Tournament 2024, becoming the youngest challenger to Ding's world title.
Meanwhile, in other games at the FIDE Candidates 2026, R Praggnanandhaa drew against Fabiano Caruana and Divya Deshmukh faced defeat to Kateryna Lagno.