One move, 67 minutes, and a bad outcome
Chess grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura managed to turn one decision into a very long sit-down. In a professional game at the FIDE Candidates 2026 match, the American grandmaster, currently ranked No. 2 in the world, spent 67 minutes and 44 seconds thinking about a single move before finally playing it. The move did not exactly justify the wait.
Nakamura was facing 20-year-old Javokhir Sindarov, and the game had already been drifting in the wrong direction for him. By the time he reached his 13th move, he was under pressure and clearly trying to find a way back into the position. Instead, he used up more than half of his allotted time for the first 40 moves, all on one turn.
The move did not help
In this event, players get 120 minutes for their first 40 moves, so Nakamura burned through a huge chunk of his clock before even getting through the opening phase. Unfortunately for him, the move he chose was later marked as an inaccuracy by Sportstar, meaning it weakened his position rather than improving it. A small tragedy, if one enjoys expensive mistakes.
Sindarov took advantage and pressed his edge from there. Nakamura eventually lost the game.
Afterward, Sindarov was blunt about what happened: “He just thought for one hour and played the wrong move,” he said. “And after this, I took this advantage and played very well in my opinion.”
Not quite the longest pause in tournament history
Long think times are normal at elite level, but this one still stood out. It was later noted that Nakamura’s move was the second-longest in the history of the tournament. The record remains with Russian grandmaster Alexander Grischuk, who spent 72 minutes on a move in a 2021 match.
The result also follows Nakamura’s recent criticism of the Candidates tournament’s anti-cheating procedures. He described the security level as “nonsense,” adding another layer of tension to an event that already seems to have more than enough on its plate.
