Wei Yi has been enjoying great success with this super-solid approach against the king's pawn game, so it's no major surprise to see him relying on it once more.
The first capture of the game, as Wei Yi temporarily goes up a central pawn.
Sindarov accelerates his development, bringing his bishop out and threatening to win the enemy knight.
Wei Yi continues his own development, while supporting his advanced knight.
Recovering the material, and landing in a symmetrical structure.
Immediately challenging the piece
Wei Yi keeps things solid, bringing his knight out to target Sindarov's invading piece.
Sindarov is the first to castle
He ignores the piece tension in the center, bringing his king to safety immediately.
Wei Yi changes the structure
He simplifies the position by trading off the first set of minor pieces, though now Sindarov is left with a 4 vs 3 pawn majority on the kingside.
Wei Yi uses the fact that this square is no longer controlled by Sindarov's pawns, as he prepares to trade off a second set of pieces.
Sindarov supports his center
He wastes no time, as he expands his control of the center and grabs some more space on the kingside.
Wei Yi wins the bishop pair, something he will hope will be enough to offset Sindarov's advantage in space and central control.
Sindarov takes back with his queen, and is now threatening to push his pawns further up the board.
Wei Yi shuts down the threat
He steps his own pawn forward, in order to block Sindarov from advancing the pawns dangerously far up the board.
Sindarov continues his development
He brings his dark-squared bishop out to the best diagonal available, and will soon complete his minor piece development by stepping his queen's knight forward.
Wei Yi challenges for the center
On the kingside, it's Sindarov who has more space. Wei Yi wants to counteract this, by grabbing as much space as possible on the left side of the center.
Concrete play!
Sindarov targets the central pawn immediately, understanding that Wei Yi is not going to be able to win a piece by forking.
Double attack!
Wei Yi pushes his pawn anyway, guarding his pawn while also threatening to capture one of Sindarov's minor pieces.
Sindarov uses tactics to save his piece
The point is that if Wei Yi takes the bishop, then the check will be extremely uncomfortable to meet, as it would ruin Wei Yi's king safety.
Wei Yi covers against the threat
He declines the offered piece, instead continuing his development while protecting himself against the threatened check.
Now the piece was under threat, so Sindarov drops the bishop back.
Wei Yi pins the knight
Sindarov's knight is now pinned to the queen, an uncomfortable position that will likely lead to an immediate reaction from the Uzbek grandmaster.
Sindarov drops back, escaping the pin.
Wei Yi brings his own king to safety
Overall, things seem to be going as smoothly for Wei Yi in the opening stages as his previous encounters in the Petroff Defense. It's true that Sindarov has a little more space, but Wei Yi's bishop pair should be enough to offset that.
Sindarov expands on the kingside
He would be happy to see bishop takes knight from Wei Yi here, as then the Chinese player would no longer have the advantage of the bishop pair.
Wei Yi doesn't want to surrender this asset, so he drops the bishop back and eyes up a new diagonal in the future.
Sindarov improves his piece harmony
The bishop now protects the two dark-squared pawns in the center, and he also sets himself up for further pawn pushes on the next move.
A really nice move, showing that he is still very much in his home preparation. The point is that he wants to push the pawn in front of his king's rook next, but doing so immediately would allow an unpleasant check from Sindarov's queen. This pawn sacrifice nips that in the bud.
Sindarov wins the pawn, but now his slightly damaged structure coupled with his less safe king will offset the material advantage.
A great move, breaking down Sindarov's space advantage on the right flank, while also opening up the game in order to activate his strong bishops.
En passant!
Sindarov's knight and pawn were both under attack, so he has nothing better than to trade en passant. But now he no longer possesses that strong central pawn.
Wei Yi activates his bishop along the main diagonal, while if knight takes bishop then the middlegame with opposite colored bishops would be extremely drawish.
Bringing the final piece into the game.
Wei Yi gives an uncomfortable check, forcing Sindarov to drop his bishop back in order to avoid placing his king on the dangerous light squares.
Sindarov blocks the check
It was not advisable to move his king, since placing it on a light square when only Wei Yi has the light-squared bishop would add a lot of risk to the Uzbek's position.
Wei Yi adds to the pressure
He brings his bishop out, targeting Sindarov's vulnerable central pawn. Importantly, he's now defending his other bishop with his queen. This sets him up to be able to play rook takes pawn on the next move, since bishop takes bishop can now be met by queen takes bishop with check!
Sindarov plays things safe
After quite a long think, he goes for the very human choice of defending his hanging pawn. Given some more time, he would love to jump his knight forward to set up a nasty fork in the center.
He takes the pawn, practically forcing Sindarov's hand to capture his own hanging pawn in return. But then Wei Yi will be able to give a check and force the bishops to get traded. He's essentially saying that he's willing to play down a pawn, since he (correctly) feels that his strong pieces and better structure will offset the small material deficit.
It seems that his intention with this move is to force a completely equal endgame, but he has overlooked a key detail at the end of the sequence. Let's see if Wei Yi will exploit this opportunity...
The beginning of a forced series of exchanges, after which Wei Yi will at a minimum have a completely drawn endgame involving opposite colored bishops.
Sindarov aiming for a drawn endgame
His rook and knight are both under fire, but his point is that he expects that after rook takes bishop, Wei Yi will reply with bishop takes knight. This is the dead drawn endgame that he will have had in mind when embarking on this forced sequence.
Wei Yi goes into the tank!
The problem for Sindarov is that, in fact, Wei Yi does not have to win back his missing piece right away! Instead, he can take the hanging pawn and make use of the fact that so much material will be hanging for Sindarov. If he does so, he's going to have a very real chance of playing for the full point here...!
A very practical decision, avoiding the messiness of the rook takes pawn line and instead looking to just guide the game to an uneventful draw.
Sindarov restores material equality.
Moving away from the threat against this piece, while gaining time by targeting Sindarov's own piece in return.
Activating the rook, again with gain of time against the unguarded bishop.
Sindarov anchors the piece on the strong outpost.
If anything, I would take Wei Yi's position here. He dominates the open files, ensuring he has the better piece activity. That said, the presence of opposite colored bishops means that this one is almost certainly headed for a draw over the next dozen or less moves.
Sindarov consolidates his pawn structure on the kingside.
Wei Yi moves in with his rook, threatening to take the undefended pawn.
Sindarov lifts his rook, in order to challenge the invading piece and to defend his right-hand pawn. We might see a quick draw by 3-fold repetition over the coming moves here, if Wei Yi now moves his rook one square forward.
This move makes more sense than going for the immediate draw by repetition, as here Wei Yi will force the win of a pawn.
Sindarov has no good way of covering himself against the threatened check, but at least by trading off one set of rooks he takes away potential checkmating patterns available for Wei Yi.
This check allows Wei Yi to set up the windmill pattern, where he can give a series of discovered checks. Though it's not a true windmill, in that Sindarov will be able to block the check by giving back the exchange at the right moment.
The only square!
Zero risk for Wei Yi
Another successful outing for his preferred Petroff Defense, as Sindarov will have the pawn down endgame in order to split the point in game 1 of the Classical portion. That should not be too difficult to do, due to the presence of opposite colored bishop, but definitely not the result Sindarov was hoping for!
Sindarov has to give back the material
He had no choice but to give one of his rooks back, since otherwise the discovered checks could soon turn fatal.
Wei Yi pins the enemy rook, and this way he is going to be forcing an opposite colored bishop endgame where he emerges a clean pawn to the good.
An important move, ensuring that all of the remaining rooks get traded. This is important for Sindarov to be able to easily hold the draw.
Wei Yi recovers his missing rook.
But the good news for Sindarov is that with opposite colored bishops, his missing pawn shouldn't be significant.
Wei Yi will likely force Sindarov to 'prove the draw' for another handful of moves, but this game should not go on for too much longer. It would not be out of the question for Wei Yi himself to be his usual pragmatic self and offer a quick draw to conserve energy.
Sindarov is happy to push the pawn forward. What he's looking to do is lock down the pawn structure on the queenside in order to neutralize Wei Yi's extra pawn on that flank.
Both sides improve their king position, bringing them closer to the center.
Targeting the undefended pawn.
Wei Yi invites 'en passant'
He knows his best chance at confusing Sindarov is in the endgame where he is left with a single passed pawn on the left hand side, so the players are moving towards this position quickly.
Wei Yi will now probe Sindarov's defenses for some time, to see if he can induce any sort of blunder.
Still a little tricky
I've been messing around a bit with this endgame with the help of the computer, and it's not completely trivial to draw (when compared to other similar endgames). That said, it shouldn't trouble a player of Sindarov's caliber too much.
Wei Yi immediately targets the only pawn on a light square, forcing it to move forward.
Wei Yi is hoping to be able to hit both pawns with his king at the same time, while Sindarov's king remains distracted guarding the passed pawn on the left hand side.
Sindarov switches diagonals, to ensure that Wei Yi cannot push his queenside pawn too much further forward.
Defending the pawn. It's crucial for Sindarov that he not drop either of his remaining pawns.
The bishop is now ideally anchored in defense of both pawns. This frees up Sindarov's king to cover against the threat on the queenside.
Wei Yi continues to advance the pawn as far forward as he can, while Sindarov's bishop is distracted defending his kingside pawns.
The king arrives in time to stop Wei Yi from advancing his passer further.
Wei Yi drops his bishop back in order to save his pawn.
Wei Yi is looking to push his pawn forward, in order to kick the bishop away from its ideal post.
Sindarov anticipates this, and moves his bishop forward. He has an ideal configuration here that Wei Yi will not be able to break.
Sindarov brings his bishop to target the pawn, and now there is no way for Wei Yi to entertain further progress. If he takes Sindarov's pawn with his king, he will lose one of his own kingside pawns. While his extra pawn is rendered insignificant as it can be permanently blockaded by Sindarov's bishop.
Overall, a successful game from Wei Yi's perspective. He once again essayed his favored Petroff Defense. And once again, he showed that his depth of preparation here turns the system into an impenetrable fortress.
In fact, if anyone was at risk of defeat in this game, it was Javokhir Sindarov. He got nothing out of the opening, and in the middlegame complications he found himself on a defensive footing after some slight miscalculations.
Ultimately though, it was never more than an optical advantage. Wei Yi was able to grab a pawn in the tactical mess, but Sindarov defended well and forced an opposite colored bishop endgame that was always headed towards a peaceful outcome.
Tomorrow, Wei Yi will have the White pieces and a final opportunity to try and trouble his young Uzbek opponent. If he can do so, he could become the 2025 FIDE World Cup winner, without the need to go to tiebreaks. If not, we may well be treated to one more nervewracking day of tiebreaks, as the tournament draws to a close.
See you again tomorrow, for more action from Goa, India!
The battle for gold
The field has been thinned down to just two players, both in the quest for what would be their first ever World Cup victory.
The ratings favorite is China's highest ranked grandmaster, Wei Yi. At age 26, he is already a veteran of elite play, holding the world record for the youngest player to ever break the 2700 mark. Incredibly, he accomplished this feat at just 15 years of age!
He will face Uzbek prodigy Javokhir Sindarov. At just 19 years old, he is the youngest participant to book his seat at the 2026 Candidates.
This match is as close to a coinflip as you can get. While Wei Yi may edge out his opponent in rating, Javokhir has momentum on his side as he has been picking up rating in almost every event he has played these last few months.
The format stays the same: two classical games to decide, and if still tied then we will move to rapid (and perhaps blitz) play-offs on the final day of the tournament, on 26th November.
May the best man win!