Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan is on a roll at the Candidates in Cyprus. Two days after defeating top favourite Fabiano Caruana, the 20-year-old beat Hikaru Nakamura after forcing the American into over an hour-long mulling over a move. It lasted over 67 minutes, and yielded a loss.

Sindarov played the triangular Marshall, something he told FIDE he had a lot of time to prepare for on the rest day, after he led 3.5/4. “Yesterday I had a lot of time to prepare Marshall line against him….He probably forgot the move after knight g3 castle,” Sindarov told FIDE.

With his thorough preparation, he played solid and even sidestepped the Gambit that Nakamura tried to lure him into.

“I tried to not miss small tactics and checked everything with black so I had time,” the Uzbek winner of World Cup, said. “I expected Italian or Lopez but he played d4. I was prepared for it,” he would add confidently.

Sindarov had been playing the triangle system for a while and extensively. Nakamura’s attempts to trap him were seen right through too. “I think he didn’t check lines too deeply but I was prepared for this since World Cup. Played a lot of games with Marshall triangle. I’m using it after 3-4 months,” he would say.

It’s at this point that Nakamura went into a complete funk, mulling his move for over 67 minutes, 44 seconds and emerging to play h4 after the second longest turn in all candidates history.

“I thought knight d4 was the only move giving advantage,” Sindarov would say, surprised about why his opponent had taken so long and still chosen poorly. “I thought maybe he didn’t like the position. I was surprised when he played h4. I was already better, plus I had one hour extra,” Sindarov said.

Journalists asked him if he had a photographic memory, given how cleanly he was playing the lines against Caruana as well as Nakamura, the top two at Cyprus, decimating the Americans in the first turn. “I don’t have photographic memory. I just spend a lot of time preparing. Because I’m young it’s not too much pressure for me. I work a lot with my Seconds,” he would say.

On his rest day, Sindarov confessed to playing paddle, sleeping well, and spending time with preparation. Which game? “Counterstrike on laptop.”

The young GM, who keeps the lead after five rounds, also had an interesting take on playing with black. “I have my next 5 games, 4 black, so I’ll prepare for them. It’s not easier, but …When you are playing with black you can repeat your lines from before. So it’s easy,” he chuckled.