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I'm enjoying the commentary on YouTube with Tania Sachdev or Judit Polgar with David Howell.

Does anyone think Sindarov will be caught?

I have a busy week at work, so can't watch much.
I got used to Jan Gustafsson / Peter Svidler on the old chess24 site, so I've been watching them (time permitting) on the FIDE site.
Peter Leko had been commenting on the grenke Freestyle tournament...I hope he will now appear on one of the Candidates coverage channels.

Giri won today and Caruana has a lost position vs. Nakamura. If that holds up, Sindarov (+5) will be up 2 points on Giri and Caruana (joint +1).

Sindarov should prevail, but I won't concede the tourney to him just yet. If he loses a game, the pressure could mount.

The women's Candidates is much more wide open, with 5 (out of 8) players tied for the lead after 8 rounds. The quality of play on the distaff side has been erratic, with quite a few games won (lost) from losing (winning) positions.

Hi Geeker,

I agree that the women's games have been much more open and, as a consequence, a far more enjoyable spectacle.

Brendan, the male Candidates Tourneys tend to be drawfests but this year the number of decisive games has pleasantly surprised me. Largely because Sindarov played "big chess" with some piece sacs in the first half.
It looks like Sindarov is protecting his big lead and happy with draws for now, so it's up to the other players to provide excitement. Unfortunately, Wei Yi and Pragg, from whom I expected entertaining play, seem to be in poor form.

Women tournaments generally have more uncompromising play and decisive results, but the "accuracy" per Stockfish can be lacking 🤣.

I have a feeling many of the players went in with the mindset of "just don't lose" and then hoped others would mess up. Nobody seemed to want to grab the bull by the horns, as it were - except Sindarov:-)

I heard some commentators (can't recall who) say that Naskamura, in particular, has been playing very conservatively, like he's just desperate not to lose, even though this strategy doesn't appear to be serving him well.

Maybe Caruana's setback yesterday has gifted it to Sindarov. But it's all new territory for the youngster; I hope he holds his nerve - he can be forgiven if he now adopts a more solid approach.

The FIDE commentary is a bit too "fast" for me to keep up even though I enjoy Svidler's taste in deadpan understatement. I've settled on the David Howell teams on Chess24.