About the Candidates and What’s at Stake?
The Candidates tournament is an eight-player double round robin whose winner earns the right to challenge the reigning world champion in a world championship match. Historically, the Candidates was an elimination knockout tournament, but since 2013, it has been conducted as a double round robin with eight players.
Lichess Coverage
Lichess will produce in-depth blog posts with annotations for each round of the 2026 FIDE Candidates. GM Axel Bachmann (@ABachmann) will annotate R1–7 and GM Maksim Chigaev (@Fandorine96) R8-14 + potential tiebreaks from the Open Candidates, while WGM Petra Papp (@cukus) will annotate R1–4, IM / WGM Lilit Mkrtchian (@Lilit-Mkrtchian) R5–7, and IM / WGM Ekaterina Atalik (@EkaterinaAtalik) R8–14 + potential tiebreaks from the Women’s Candidates. Lichess will also create videos for each round of the tournament, with interviews and other types of content. Keep an eye on our socials for the videos!
Tournament Schedule
Pairings for Round 2
Open:
| White | Black |
|---|---|
| GM Andrey Esipenko | GM Hikaru Nakamura |
| GM Anish Giri | GM Fabiano Caruana |
| GM Wei Yi | GM R Praggnanandhaa |
| GM Javokhir Sindarov | GM Matthias Blübaum |
Women’s:
| White | Black |
|---|---|
| GM Anna Muzychuk | GM Tan Zhongyi |
| GM Kateryna Lagno | GM Zhu Jiner |
| GM Bibisara Assaubayeva | GM Aleksandra Goryachkina |
| GM Divya Deshmukh | GM Vaishali Rameshbabu |
Interviews
Make sure to check out all of our interviews from the Candidates on our YouTube channel! All our round 1 interviews are also embedded throughout this article.
Lichess Broadcast
The Lichess broadcast for the Candidates can be found here:
https://lichess.org/broadcast/fide-candidates-2026/oe4JqS3R
Open Overview
GM Fabiano Caruana won a long, difficult game against GM Hikaru Nakamura, who missed one excellent chance to draw the game. Meanwhile, GM Javokhir Sindarov was worse against GM Andrey Esipenko, but found a way to suddenly turn the game around and win. Moreover, GM R Praggnanandhaa played an opening surprise against GM Anish Giri, which worked to perfection as he outplayed Giri in an endgame, while GM Matthias Blübaum’s draw against GM Wei Yi was just a correct and well-played game.
GM Fabiano Caruana vs. GM Hikaru Nakamura 1-0
Watch our interview with GM Fabiano Caruana here:
GM Fabiano Caruana sprung the first surprise of the game as he played the Réti Opening against GM Hikaru Nakamura, an opening Caruana rarely trots out. Nakamura was not rattled, though, and responded with a solid, equalizing system. The game remained highly complicated but seemed to be headed toward equality as opposite-colored bishops made their appearance on the board, but as Hikaru showed just nine months prior, light-squared weaknesses in these types of positions can be more dangerous than first meets the eye. Granted, Caruana did make multiple mistakes, with one almost forcing a draw and costing him the win, but, fortunately for Caruana, Nakamura was not able to capitalize on Caruana’s inaccuracies and eventually succumbed after 83 moves.
GM Axel Bachmann has annotated this game for you to learn from:
https://lichess.org/study/Y1yXP80U/oxgS1aRW#0
GM Javokhir Sindarov vs. GM Andrey Esipenko 1-0
Watch our interview with GM Javokhir Sindarov here:
The Exchange Queen’s Gambit Declined is nowhere near as calm as it looks; just 12 moves in, the position between GM Javokhir Sindarov and GM Andrey Esipenko was a novel one, which also happened to be rather complex and rich in ideas. Sindarov was probably the one who was pressing early on, but, soon enough, he started to drift and Esipenko was consequently better. In Sindarov’s time pressure, however, Esipenko made an inexplicable decision on move 27, both practically and chess-wise: trading off his strong light-squared bishop, which was applying pressure to Sindarov’s position. Sindarov was then no longer worse and created a whirlwind of an attack, which forced Esipenko to resign on move 41.
GM Axel Bachmann has annotated this game for you to learn from:
https://lichess.org/study/Y1yXP80U/Vj69NAI2#0
GM R Praggnanandhaa vs. GM Anish Giri 1-0
GM R Praggnanandhaa is known for his creative opening play, which he does not shy away from even in high-stakes environments. Today was no different as he responded to GM Anish Giri’s Sicilian Defense with the Grand Prix Attack, a virtually nonexistent opening at the higher echelons of chess. Giri found a way to trade off some pieces and avoid Praggnanandhaa’s planned attack, but Praggnanandhaa remained positionally better and kept improving his pieces. With some superbly accurate maneuvers, Praggnanandhaa played the endgame perfectly and earned a well-deserved full point for his efforts.
https://lichess.org/study/uLCZwqAK/qIPzQJgf#0
GM Matthias Blübaum vs. GM Wei Yi 1/2-1/2
Watch our interview with GM Matthias Blübaum here:
The ever solid GM Wei Yi refused to budge against against GM Matthias Blübaum, both in terms of game play and his opening choices. The Semi-Tarrasch Defense is known as a drawing weapon at the top level, but Blübaum still had some ideas in the opening and was posing important question to Wei. First, by eschewing the much maligned 7. e4 “1. d4 Berlin endgame” in favor of 7. Bg5, Blübaum signaled his intention to fight for the win. Wei played the typical plans in the position, though, and was not significantly worse. Wei then found a way to force a draw with a perpetual check, which Blübaum could have avoided with 22. Rfd1. Assessing all options to be ultimately equal, though, Blübaum decided to call it a day by accepting Wei’s perpetual check draw offer.
https://lichess.org/study/uLCZwqAK/MXjq3pPw#0
Women’s Overview
Despite the four draws in the Women’s Candidates, most of the games were anything but equal. GM Zhu Jiner was better against GM Tan Zhongyi after she uncorked a stunning, long-term piece sacrifice, while GM Bibisara Assaubayeva was also much better against GM Vaishali Rameshbabu and GM Aleksandra Goryachkina was briefly winning against GM Kateryna Lagno. GM Divya Deshmukh’s game against GM Anna Muzychuk was much more equal, but Divya also had chances to play for more.
GM Zhu Jiner vs. GM Tan Zhongyi 1/2-1/2
GM Zhu Jiner’s game against GM Tan Zhongyi started off slowly enough with the Italian Opening, but soon the board was ablaze as Zhu played a spectacular knight sacrifice with 15. f4!!. Tan correctly avoided taking the knight, which would have also been acceptable but far too complicated, instead going for a more practical try with 15…Kh8. Zhu kept up the pressure and looked to be on the verge of some large positional gain, but, on move 21, she played a move which can only be described as being “too fancy.” After Zhu’s 21. h3, Tan had effectively equalized in the eyes of Stockfish, and her play in the resulting position was also rather logical and straightforward. The game lasted for a few more moves, but the draw was never in doubt.
WGM Petra Papp has annotated this game for you to learn from:
https://lichess.org/study/Y1yXP80U/Th9cTqhu#0
GM Aleksandra Goryachkina vs. GM Kateryna Lagno 1/2-1/2
GM Aleksandra Goryachkina kept accruing positional advantages against GM Kateryna Lagno, culminating in a crescendo of a tactic. Unfortunately for Goryachkina, though, after nearly a minute of thought, she played 24. Nxe5?? instead of the correct 24. Rxe5!, which would have won the game on the spot. She was still marginally better, but Lagno had no issue holding the game after Goryachkina’s misstep.
WGM Petra Papp has annotated this game for you to learn from:
https://lichess.org/study/Y1yXP80U/fBPsi72R#0
GM Divya Deshmukh vs. GM Anna Muzychuk 1/2-1/2
Watch our interview with GM Anna Muzychuk here:
GM Divya Deshmukh’s preparation in the Scotch Opening seemed to work out well as she was better out of the opening against GM Anna Muzychuk. However, the margins were very slim, and perhaps all roads led to equality anyway. Nevertheless, Divya’s 20. Bxc6 perhaps did not pose difficult practical problems as 19. Bxc8 Rxc8 20. Rd2 was perhaps a better option to prolong the game into a one-sided squeeze. After Divya’s 20. Bxc6, though, pieces were traded off very quickly, and with only a pair of rooks, bishops, kings, and three pawns for each side on the board, the players found a way to repeat moves before the 40-move no-draw-offers limit.
https://lichess.org/study/diPdGkEA/GSThjylV#0
GM Vaishali Rameshbabu vs. GM Bibisara Assaubayeva 1/2-1/2
GM Vaishali Rameshbabu’s 5. Ne2 was an attempt to avoid the well-trodden paths of the Sicilian Löwenthal, also known as the Kalashnikov Sicilian. Having said that, it seemed that Vaishali, and not her opponent, GM Bibisara Assaubayeva, was the one who was less familiar with the needs of the resulting position. Vaishali as White was already slightly worse by move 17, soon becoming significantly worse by move 26. With only a minute on the clock remaining for Vaishali, matters looked dire. However, just as the position seemed to be untenable due to the time situation, Bibisara played 28…Bd7, an inaccuracy which she later followed up with another inaccuracy, 29…Bxd6. The resulting complications led to sweeping trades, which ended with equality as an opposite-colored bishop endgame arose on the board.
https://lichess.org/study/diPdGkEA/BprjOnoQ#0