Hikaru Nakamura spent 67 minutes to make the 13th move in the game against the Uzbek Sindarov, conceding the advantage and losing the chess match.

In the Candidates Tournament 2026, grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura had a disappointing performance in his game against Uzbek Javokhir Sindarov, spending 67 minutes and 44 seconds to make his 13th move. Nakamura, the number one seed, opened the game with a Marshall Gambit, sacrificing two pawns to attack the opponent's king.

The young Sindarov, 20 years old, responded with a castling, protecting his king. After a long reflection, Nakamura moved a pawn to h4, instead of a more favorable move of his knight from e4, thus losing the offensive advantage. Sindarov quickly took advantage, dominating the game and winning with a three-pawn advantage. After the match, Nakamura acknowledged that it was a mistake to spend so much time on a single move and blamed his technical team for the lack of solutions in preparation. At the end of the fifth round, Nakamura had only 1.5 points, while Sindarov was at the top of the tournament, having chances to face the world champion, Gukesh Dommaraju. The longest thinking time in the history of the Candidates Tournament remains held by Aleksandr Grischuk, who took 72 minutes for a move in 2021.