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 7
Open:
| White | Black |
|---|---|
| GM Javokhir Sindarov | GM Anish Giri |
| GM R Praggnanandhaa | GM Fabiano Caruana |
| GM Matthias Blübaum | GM Hikaru Nakamura |
| GM Andrey Esipenko | GM Wei Yi |
Women’s:
| White | Black |
|---|---|
| GM Anna Muzychuk | GM Bibisara Assaubayeva |
| GM Divya Deshmukh | GM Kateryna Lagno |
| GM Vaishali Rameshbabu | GM Tan Zhongyi |
| GM Aleksandra Goryachkina | GM Zhu Jiner |
Interviews
Make sure to check out all of our interviews from the Candidates on our YouTube channel! All our round 6 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 Leaderboard
Open Overview
GM Javokhir Sindarov continues his winning ways, defeating GM Wei Yi in a one-sided game. GM Fabiano Caruana had a small advantage against GM Andrey Esipenko, but he was not remotely close to winning the game, while GM Anish Giri tried for a long time to break through GM Matthias Blübaum’s defenses but also came up short. Meanwhile, GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM R Praggnanandhaa played a quiet draw in the Nimzo-Indian Defense.
GM Wei Yi vs. GM Javokhir Sindarov 0-1
Watch our interview with GM Javokhir Sindarov here:
In the press conference, GM Javokhir Sindarov mentioned that he was effectively out of book against GM Wei Yi’s Vienna Hybrid by move 4. As he later clarified, though, being surprised in this opening as compared to a sharper opening such as the one he played in round 5 is much less disorienting. Nevertheless, Wei had a bit of an edge out of the opening, but with dynamic chaos on the board, Sindarov was in his element, while Wei was spending copious amounts of time: almost 48 minutes on 18. Bxf6?!, which turned out to be inaccurate. Sindarov then seized the initiative and started playing with his patented alacrity; however, he played too quickly at one point, allowing Wei to equalize on move 30. Wei had only six minutes for ten moves, though, and thus his blunder with 30. Rxd6?? was very much understandable.
GM Axel Bachmann has annotated this game for you to learn from:
https://lichess.org/study/Y1yXP80U/29U7mIeP#0
GM Fabiano Caruana vs. GM Andrey Esipenko 1/2-1/2
GM Fabiano Caruana vs. GM Andrey Esipenko; photo: Yoav Nis (Eugene Nisenbaum) / FIDE Candidates 2026
GM Fabiano Caruana is clearly not too happy to see Sindarov win game after game as he feels more inclined to take bigger risks the longer the tournament drags on. Today, he had a nominal advantage against GM Andrey Esipenko in a Double Fianchetto setup, but not much more than that.
https://lichess.org/study/WmbQrSNz/JSl2MlKS#0
GM Anish Giri vs. GM Matthias Blübaum 1/2-1/2
GM Anish Giri vs. GM Matthias Blübaum; photo: Yoav Nis (Eugene Nisenbaum) / FIDE Candidates 2026
GM Anish Giri was not horsing around against GM Matthias Blübaum as the latter played the Black side of an opening his compatriot knows all too well. Once again, this line of the Queen’s Gambit Declined to be extremely solid. Giri tried almost every conceivable maneuver in the position, but he could not break through Blübaum’s defensive construction. With some pawn breaks still available in the position, Giri avoided prolonging the game any further and acquiesced to a draw after nearly five hours of play.
GM Axel Bachmann has annotated this game for you to learn from:
https://lichess.org/study/WmbQrSNz/EIKU0dE4#0
GM Hikaru Nakamura vs. GM R Praggnanandhaa 1/2-1/2
GM Hikaru Nakamura vs. GM R Praggnanandhaa; photo: Yoav Nis (Eugene Nisenbaum) / FIDE Candidates 2026
GM Hikaru Nakamura did not get much out of the opening against GM R Praggnanandhaa, who played the tournament’s first Nimzo-Indian Defense. Nakamura’s h-pawn was flying down the board, so he was still hoping to get an edge somewhere; however, Praggnanandhaa defended well, and there was little left to play for with objective and practical equality making an appearance on the board.
https://lichess.org/study/Y1yXP80U/cE4uVCPD#0
Women’s Leaderboard
Women’s Overview
GM Anna Muzychuk won a strong, attacking game against GM Zhu Jiner, pushing her to sole first and a point clear of the field. GM Divya Deshmukh and GM Vaishali Rameshbabu defeated GM Bibisara Assaubayeva and GM Kateryna Lagno, respectively, in two back-and-forth games. GM Tan Zhongyi vs. GM Aleksandra Goryachkina was a theoretically-heavy game where Tan blundered a tactical sequence and was lost, but the position demanded extreme precision, which Goryachkina was not able to produce, making a draw the logical conclusion of the game.
GM Zhu Jiner vs. GM Anna Muzychuk 0-1
GM Zhu Jiner vs. GM Anna Muzychuk; photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE Candidates 2026
The Giuoco Pianissimo GM Zhu Jiner had on the board against GM Anna Muzychuk looked rather promising, for Muzychuk’s dark squares on the kingisde seemed to creak by move 21. Just one over-optimistic move by Zhu in 22. Nh2?, though, allowed Muzychuk to generate a powerful initiative on the kingside. Zhu had one chance to come back into the game, but on move 34, she blundered again, allowing Muzychuk to pick up an important central pawn and make use of Zhu’s awkward knights.
IM / WGM Lilit Mkrtchian has annotated this game for you to learn from:
https://lichess.org/study/Y1yXP80U/0mKh2LDO#0
GM Bibisara Assaubayeva vs. GM Divya Deshmukh 0-1
Watch our interview with GM Divya Deshmukh here:
GM Divya Deshmukh came very well-prepared today, playing almost instantaneously in the Cambridge Springs Defense. GM Bibisara Assaubayeva navigated the complications well, though, and had a significant advantage at some points of the game. She took a big risk in pushing pawns in front of her castled king, however, and soon Divya was better. With the players making moves with less than a minute on the clock, the game remained nerve-wracking, but, by that point, Divya had matters under control and converted without much of an issue.
https://lichess.org/study/hmGcNp3P/QCuUbyx9#0
GM Kateryna Lagno vs. GM Vaishali Rameshbabu 0-1
GM Kateryna Lagno vs. GM Vaishali Rameshbabu; photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE Candidates 2026
GM Kateryna Lagno played an absolutely topsy-turvy game against GM Vaishali Rameshbabu, with the advantage yo-yoing in the players’ mutual time trouble. Vaishali equalized from the opening and had the better prospects as her f-pawn push on the kingside was a very natural plan, while Lagno’s plans seemed more opaque. The game started getting out of hand soon enough, though, with the advantage switching sides multiple times. The culmination of this back-and-forth affair was Vaishali’s 34…Rff5??, which gave up her strong f3-pawn and handed Lagno a winning advantage. In the resulting tricky position and with just two minutes on the clock, however, Lagno blundered with 38. Qf1??, allowing Vaishali to blow open the White king; instead, 38. Qf3 would have been a simple win. Vaishali proceeded to play the remainder of the game perfectly, never letting her winning advantage slip.
https://lichess.org/study/hmGcNp3P/p6BGloJq#0
GM Tan Zhongyi vs. GM Aleksandra Goryachkina 1/2-1/2
GM Tan Zhongyi and GM Aleksandra Goryachkina played a long, theoretical line of the Italian Game, Two Knights Defense. White was slightly better, but Tan put her rook on the wrong square on move 25, allowing Goryachkina to gain a nearly winning advantage. Tan, showcasing her resilience, did find the best defense, and with a complicated material imbalance on the board, Goryachkina did not play accurately and eventually had to accept a draw.
https://lichess.org/study/hmGcNp3P/dzS96Cxk#0
Simulations
Lichess ran 1 million simulations of round results to determine the Candidates winner. Here are our results after round 6:
Open Candidates:
Women’s Candidates: