Uzbekistan's Javokhir Sindarov has just ripped apart some of the best chess players in the world to set up a World Championship match with the defending champion Dommaraju Gukesh. We don't exactly know what date, or where the two will wage battle, but does that mean we cannot preview the 2026 FIDE World Chess Championship? Of course it does not.
Taking inspiration from the out-there bravery of Sindarov and the calm nervelessness of Gukesh, we give it a go:
Wait, wait. What is so out-there about Sindarov?
Well, for one the way he reached the Candidates: stunning a stacked field at the World Cup to become the youngest winner of that tournament ever. But it's the manner of his entry into the World Championship match that really takes the breath away.
You see, we've had 8 Candidates tournaments played in this current round-robin format and in the seven previous editions, no one had ever won more than five matches (of 14). Sindarov won five by the halfway stage of the 2026 edition. So dominant was he that he coasted through the entire second half to end with six wins, not losing any of the others... and scored 10 points (out of 14;, the only time a Candidates winner has ever hit a double-digit points tally.
Experienced commentators were completely in awe of Sindarov's moves, with GM Peter Leko telling worldchess.com that "he makes equal positions look completely winning." Considering he's doing it against the best players in the world, that's simply not normal.
This Candidates performance was obliteration-of-rivals on a scale that was beyond even the likes of Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand, two of the greatest to ever play this game... and Sindarov made it look routine to become the second youngest to ever win this tournament.
Woah. Does Gukesh even stand a chance?
You have forgotten who the youngest ever to win the Candidates, to fight for the World Championship, to be crowned world champion is... haven't you?
Dommaraju Gukesh is a prodigy and a bonafide superstar. He will always stand a chance, and then some.
Fair. By the by, have we ever had such a young World Championship match?
Never. When they meet either in November or December, their combined age will be 39. A 20-year-old challenging a 19-year-old is utterly unheard of in this sport, and yet here we are, at the cusp of the youngest classical World Championship match in history.
What more proof do you need that chess is being taken over completely by the new gen?
It also marks just the second time in the 140-year history of the World Championship that two Asians will vie for the title (the first, of course, was when Gukesh dethroned China's Ding Liren in the last edition in 2024).
Have Sindarov and Gukesh played each other?
From what we can see, they've played three classical matches against each other, with two draws and one Sindarov win. Most recently in 2026, they played out a draw at the Tata Steel Chess tournament, a game in which Sindarov defended a bad position quite brilliantly.
Meanwhile, the two sensations have had quite a similar trajectory on the way to the top. Both became Grandmaster aged 12. Both won individual gold at the 2022 Olympiad. Both won the Candidates in their first go at it.
What's Gukesh's recent form like?
We'll let the champ himself take this one: "My performance in the last few events has been quite disappointing, not just for me, but for all of you who support me," he wrote on Instagram last month.
As the Candidates was on, Gukesh participated in the Cerrado Chess Menorca Masters in Spain, where he finished fourth with 4.5 points. Last month, he finished joint last at the Prague international chess festival, a tournament won by Sindarov's Uzbek compatriot, Nodirbek Abdusattarov (6/9).
What was Sindarov's reaction to the win?
Peak chess genius, really: "I'm very happy, but I'm not that surprised to win this tournament because I always believed in myself."
Did he say anything about Gukesh?
Only good things: "He's the youngest champion in history and of course one of the best players in the world. He has a lot of strong skills, and it will be a very exciting match. He has very good team. What can I say, I just wish him good luck."
Ok, who'll take the win?
This one is a proper clash of styles: although both are aggressive players who look for the win as much as possible, they go about it in very different ways.
Gukesh is a master of the prep and combines that with his ability to calculate multiple possibilities at any stage -- which is why we so often see him close his eyes and go into an almost meditative state in the big games.
Sindarov doesn't do meditation: he's fast, accurate and quick to make decisions that most elite GMs take ages to take a call on. It's a speed that even impressed one of the all-time-greats, with Garry Kasparov telling the St Louis chess club that "It's a deadly combination: playing fast and playing well."
So, Sindarov will try to ramp up the pace and control the tempo of the match. Gukesh will look to calm things down and bring it to a state where Sindarov might be more uncomfortable.
Form is on Sindarov's side, undoubtedly, and that makes him a slight favourite this early. Adding to that is one of the aspects of this match that Gukesh seized on when beating Ding - all the expectations are on the shoulders of the world champion, not the young upstart challenger.
Gukesh, though, is the reigning world champion for a reason... and ought not be written off at any stage. This should be a cracker.