Candidates 2026: R Praggnanandhaa goes down to Javokhir Sindarov in latest installment of India-Uzbekistan chess rivalry

The foundation of the dynamic was laid two decades ago by two former world champions, Viswanathan Anand and Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Their rivalry ignited in the early 2000s. Anand beat Kasimdzhanov to claim the 2002 World Cup in Hyderabad. The Uzbek returned the favour at the 2005 World Championship before Anand packed another punch. Then, in that very same year, Kasimdzhanov gave Anand another shock in the 18th Magistral Ciudad de León final. That generational thread has now passed to a younger set, and familiarity runs deep. The rivalry between Pragg and Sindarov also goes back a long way. They first…