Sindarov takes an early lead in the Candidates after beating Caruana in Round 4 - 3-4

Javokhir Sindarov put a major marker down by beating Fabiano Caruana in Round 4 of the Candidates, the two were sharing the lead. Sindarov was one of the favourites before the event alongside Caruana. Sindarov has started with 3.5/4, whilst there's an extremely long way to go he looks in very fine form. In the women's event Bibisara Assaubayeva and Anna Muzychuk share the lead on 2.5/5 half a point clear of most of the rest of the players. Thursday sees the first rest day.

Round 4 (of 14) Standings: 1st Javokhir Sindarov, 3½/4. 2nd Fabiano Caruana, 2½. 3rd-5th Matthias Bluebaum, R Praggnanandhaa and Anish Giri, 2. 6th-7th Yi Wei and Hikaru Nakamura, 1½. 8th Andrey Esipenko, 1. 8 players.

Round 4 (of 14) Women's Standings: 1st-2nd Bibisara Assaubayeva and Anna Muzychuk, 2½/4. 3rd-6th Rameshbabu Vaishali, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Kateryna Lagno and Jiner Zhu, 2. 7th-8th Zhongyi Tan and Deshmukh Divya, 1½. 8 players.

FIDE Candidates Round 5 Friday 3rd April 13:30pm:

Praggnanandhaa R — Andrey Esipenko Fabiano Caruana — Matthias Bluebaum Hikaru Nakamura — Javokhir Sindarov Anish Giri — Wei Yi

FIDE Women’s Candidates:

Aleksandra Goryachkina — Anna Muzychuk Zhu Jiner — Vaishali Rameshbabu Tan Zhongyi — Divya Deshmukh Kateryna Lagno — Bibisara Assaubayeva