Sindarov Admits This Might Be His Only Chance
By Cameron W. · Fri, 23 Oct 2026
Javokhir Sindarov does not pretend the match ahead of him will be easy. With the World Championship a month away, one of his most candid interviews is worth another look.
Javokhir Sindarov does not pretend the match ahead of him will be easy. With the World Championship a month away, one of his most candid interviews is worth another look. Speaking to The New Indian Express at the end of August, the 20-year-old challenger called the match against Gukesh Dommaraju the toughest event of his life, said that 14 classical games against one opponent over three weeks will be hard, and did not rule out that he may not get a second shot at the title. The interview was published around August 29 to 31, so it predates the Olympiad.
In his own words, more or less
UzDaily's report on the interview says Sindarov called the 14-game, three-week format difficult. The match starts in Geneva on November 24, and the first player to reach 7.5 points wins. He also said he might not get another chance at the title, though the sources reviewed do not spell out what he meant.
On Gukesh stepping back
Sindarov spoke generously about his opponent. Gukesh has largely stepped away from tournaments to prepare, and Sindarov said he understands that. In his reading, Gukesh played a lot of events the year before, did not feel comfortable psychologically, and may have decided his preparation needed work. That is Sindarov's own view of his rival, not anything Gukesh has said, and the sources reviewed contain no comment from Gukesh or his team.
In a separate Reuters interview, reported by World Chess while Sindarov was playing the Global Chess League in Bengaluru, he was blunter about Gukesh's form. He said he did not take Gukesh's recent results seriously, because a player can look completely different in a match. He pointed to Gukesh's 2024 win over Ding Liren, when predictions before the match were also one-sided. By then Gukesh had finished last at Tata Steel, lost at the Prague Masters and struggled at the Sinquefield Cup, and had slipped to No. 32 on the September FIDE list, while Sindarov stood at No. 4.
How he is getting ready
Sindarov said he would play the Global Chess League and then the Olympiad in Samarkand for Uzbekistan, with a full training camp starting only after the Olympiad. He works with coach Roman Vidonyak and plans to keep largely the same approach that won him the World Cup and the Candidates, improving it rather than changing it. In the Candidates in Pegeia, Cyprus, he scored 10/14, finished a point and a half clear of the field and went unbeaten, clinching with a round to spare.
Since the interview
The Olympiad has come and gone. It ran from September 15 to 27 in Samarkand, with Gukesh leading India and Sindarov captaining Uzbekistan. The sources reviewed do not say whether the two met across the board there. Sindarov said his full camp would start after the Olympiad.
