Javokhir Sindarov

Javokhir Sindarov is an Uzbek chess grandmaster, born in Tashkent on 8 December 2005. He became a grandmaster in 2018 at the age of twelve, the second-youngest in history at the time, and he has been part of the Uzbek team that won gold at both the 44th and the 46th Chess Olympiads. In 2025 he won the Chess World Cup by beating Wei Yi in the final, the youngest winner and the first Uzbek to take it, and that result put him into the 2026 Candidates Tournament, which he then won. The win earned him the right to challenge the reigning world champion, Gukesh Dommaraju, for the World Chess Championship, so he now stands among the title's challengers. He is known for aggressive, dynamic play, and in 2026 he went 53 classical games without a loss before that streak ended.