GCT Super Chess Classic 2026: Sindarov stuns Keymer, shakes up the standings

By admin May 22, 2026 Updated: May 23, 2026 0 comments

The World Championship Challenger, Javokhir Sindarov scored his first win of Grand Chess Tour Super Chess Classic 2026 in Round 7. Sindarov defeated the sole leader of the event, Vincent Keymer.

Jorden van Foreest and Fabiano Caruana join Vincent Keymer at the top

Jorden van Foreest got a forfeit win as his opponent Alireza Firouzja withdrew from the event on the previous day. R Praggnanandhaa got outwitted by Fabiano Caruana. Thus, Jorden and Caruana joined Keymer in the lead 4.5/7. They are closely followed by Anish Giri at 4/7. Two of three leaders – Caruana and Keymer will clash against each other in the penultimate round.

Praggnanandhaa – Caruana: 0-1

R Praggnanandhaa (2733) and Fabianao Caruana (USA, 2788) have played 15 Classical rated games against each other. Both of them two games each and the remaining eleven games ended in draws.

Position after 17…c4!

17…c4! is a nice pawn sacrifice. The idea is to open the c-file and launch an attack on the queenside using his rooks and pawns. That is exactly what happened in the game. 18.Bxc4 Rac8 19.Bb3 b5 20.Kb1 a5 21.h3 Be6 22.Bxe6 Qxe6 23.f5 Qc6 24.e5? inviting trouble Nd5 25.Qe2?? Nf4-+

Position after 25…Nf4

26.Qg4 b4 27.Qxf4 bxc3 28.Rc1 Rb8 and Black won the game in the next few moves.

R Praggnanandhaa – Fabiano Caruana (USA): 0-1 | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Caruana: Pragg is a Fighter, but I Don’t Back Down | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

Sindarov – Keymer: 1-0

Javokhir Sindarov (UZB, 2776) played only one Classical rated game against Vincent Keymer (GER, 2759). That happened earlier this year at 88th Tata Steel Chess Masters. It had ended in a draw. Sindarov was in search for his first win of the event and it happened against the sole leader, Keymer.

Position after 27.g5

In an already difficult position, 27…Nxe4? only helped White 28.fxe4 Bxg5 29.Bxf7+ Kh8 30.b4 Qb6 and White won the game in ten more moves.

Javokhir Sindarov (UZB) won FIDE World Cup 2025 and FIDE Candidates 2026 for a reason | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Interview with Javokhir Sindarov | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) – Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Anish Giri (NED) – Wesley So (USA): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Ceremonial first move of Round 7 | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Round 7 in progress | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Replay Round 7 live stream

Replay Round 7 live commentary by GMs Yasser Seirawan, Peter Svidler, & Cristian Chirila, IMs Nazi Paikidze & Irene Sukandar, and WGM Anastasiya Karlovich | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

Replay Round 7 games

Schedule and Format

Super Chess Classic will have one round per day from 14th to 23rd May. Rest day is on Tuesday 19th May. Each round starts at 4 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST, except the last round which starts at 2 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. It will be a 10-player Round Robin event. Time control will be 40 moves in 90 minutes + 30 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.