Standings Stable After Candidates Round 7

The relatively peaceful Round 7 did not shake up the standings in either section. Players mostly seemed content to play it safe entering the second rest day and halfway point of the 2026 Candidates and Women’s Candidates.

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All eyes on Sindarov. (Photo courtesy FIDE/Yoav Nis)

All eyes once again were on GM Javokhir Sindarov. Even with a big time advantage on the clock, the young star could not cause enough problems for his opponent on the board and made his second draw of the event so far, this time against GM Anish Giri.

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Bend don't break: Giri held the theoretical draw to give Sindarov his second draw of the event. (Photo courtesy FIDE/Yoav Nis)

Sindarov comfortably sits on top of the standings with 6/7, making this Candidates reminiscent of Madrid 2022.

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Caruana put Praggnanandhaa under pressure, but the Indian talent handled it nicely. (Photo courtesy FIDE/Yoav Nis)

Caruana remains 1½ points behind the leader. The American prepared a fresh idea in the Slav Defense, looking to get a fighting game, but accurate responses from GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu dried out the game:

The only decisive result in the open section was GM Wei Yi’s win against tailender GM Andrey Esipenko.

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Wei Yi's first victory of the event doesn't impact the standings, but could ignite more dangerous play from the Chinese star. (Photo courtesy FIDE/Michal Walusza)

This result did not influence the chase for first in any real way, but it was psychologically important for the Chinese GM who so far had suffered two losses.

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Graphic courtesy of FIDE

In the Women’s event, GM Vaishali Rameshbabu moved up in the standings ahead of her five rivals with her second win in a row.

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Vaishali Rameshbabu admitted in her post-game interview that her opponent's shocking blunder gave her a win that did not feel deserved. (Photo courtesy FIDE/Yoav Nis)

She is now in clear second, only half a point behind leader GM Anna Muzychuk, after a very unfortunate blunder by Tan Zhongyi.

With draws in the other three games, the standings otherwise remained unchanged.

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We are now at the halfway point of the tournament. Today is the second rest day and it remains to be seen whether it will affect the flow of the tournament. Play resumes Tuesday, April 7, at 8:45 a.m. EDT.

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