Uzbekistan’s Sindarov becomes youngest Chess World Cup winner

GOA (Agencies): Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov became the youngest player to win the chess World Cup when he beat China’s Wei Yi in the final’s tiebreak in Goa, India on Wednesday. Sindarov, 19, defeated Wei in the second tiebreak game after they drew the classical games as well as the first rapid one, making the most of his opponent’s poor time management in a nail-biting finale. Wei pressed the clock to gain his 10-second increment with one second left several times and eventually blundered while in a better position, allowing his opponent to take the $120,000 prize. Sindarov and Wei, as well as Russia’s Andrey Esipenko, who finished third, have booked their place in the March 28-April 16 Candidates tournament, which will decide who challenges reigning champion Gukesh Dommaraju for the world title. The trio join Grand Swiss winner and runner-up Anish Giri of the Netherlands and German Matthias Bluebaum, as well as 2024 FIDE circuit winner Fabiano Caruana of the U.S. The date and venue for the 2026 world title match have yet to be announced.