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 6
Open:
| White | Black |
|---|---|
| GM Wei Yi | GM Javokhir Sindarov |
| GM Fabiano Caruana | GM Andrey Esipenko |
| GM Anish Giri | GM Matthias Blübaum |
| GM Hikaru Nakamura | GM R Praggnanandhaa |
Women’s:
| White | Black |
|---|---|
| GM Zhu Jiner | GM Anna Muzychuk |
| GM Kateryna Lagno | GM Vaishali Rameshbabu |
| GM Bibisara Assaubayeva | GM Divya Deshmukh |
| GM Tan Zhongyi | GM Aleksandra Goryachkina |
Interviews
Make sure to check out all of our interviews from the Candidates on our YouTube channel! All our round 5 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
The GM Javokhir Sindarov freight train continues to destroy the field, but GM Fabiano Caruana remains in close pursuit, defeating GM Matthias Blübaum shortly after Sindarov won against GM Hikaru Nakamura. Meanwhile, GM R Praggnanandhaa had some chances to push against GM Andrey Esipenko but could not find the correct setup to put pressure on Esipenko’s position, while GM Anish Giri and GM Wei Yi played a very correct, staid Catalan Opening.
GM Hikaru Nakamura vs. GM Javokhir Sindarov 0-1
Watch our interview with GM Javokhir Sindarov here:
GM Hikaru Nakamura had clearly come in with some targeted preparation against GM Javokhir Sindarov’s Triangle Semi-Slav Defense, which Sindarov has been employing often as Black. Nakamura chose the most critical test of the line, the swashbuckling Marshall Gambit, but as early as move 13, Nakamura had either forgotten his preparation or did not have Sindarov’s 12…O-O in his files. Nakamura spent a staggering hour and seven minutes on move 13, 13. h4, which turned out to be a mistake, handing Black the advantage. The remainder of the game still had some intrigue left, but, ultimately, Sindarov was calculating like a machine and Nakamura was playing off balance, so Sindarov’s win seemed rather perfunctory.
GM Axel Bachmann has annotated this game for you to learn from:
https://lichess.org/study/Y1yXP80U/IJ15fh7f#0
GM Fabiano Caruana vs. GM Matthias Blübaum 1-0
Watch our interview with GM Fabiano Caruana here:
The Petrov Defense is known as a drawish opening owing to the very solid pawn structure that usually arises, as well as Black’s general freedom of movement. The offbeat line chosen by GM Fabiano Caruana, however, saw Black’s pieces become rather inactive as GM Matthias Blübaum chose an imbalanced, but somewhat difficult to play, setup. Blübaum was already significantly worse by move 14 of the game, and with Caruana’s pawns rolling forward on the kingside, it was very difficult for Black to respond to White’s threats. Caruana crashed through in short order, checkmating Blübaum on move 28 as Blübaum graciously allowed a pretty checkmate to appear on the board.
GM Axel Bachmann has annotated this game for you to learn from:
https://lichess.org/study/Y1yXP80U/fJCC02Gk#0
GM Anish Giri vs. GM Wei Yi 1/2-1/2
GM Anish Giri vs. GM Wei Yi; photo: Yoav Nis (Eugene Nisenabum) / FIDE Candidates 2026
GM Anish Giri, a renowned opening theoretician, was surprised as early as move 10 by GM Wei Yi’s peculiar pawn sacrifice in the Catalan Opening. Wei was well-prepared, but there was also not much a significant risk for Giri to be worse; with a rook endgame arising on move 26, the game’s drawn finish came as no surprise.
https://lichess.org/study/liBI9Brw/2pyjWUYv#0
GM R Praggnanandhaa vs. GM Andrey Esipenko 1/2-1/2
GM R Praggnanandhaa vs. GM Andrey Esipenko, with GM Anish Giri checking out the game; Michal Walusza / FIDE Candidates 2026
GM R Praggnanandhaa attained a small opening nibble against GM Andrey Esipenko in the poorly differentiated b3 setup of the Zukertort Opening. Converting such positions requires exceptional accuracy, though, and after Praggnanandhaa did not play the more testing 19. Qh4!, the game started slipping away from his hands, and a move repetition soon appeared on the board.
https://lichess.org/study/liBI9Brw/doQytm8e#0
Women’s Leaderboard
Women’s Overview
GM Bibisara Assaubayeva’s very risky Accelerated Dragon did not pay off as GM Kateryna Lagno won a relatively easy game, if it were not for one small chance Assaubayeva missed on move 13. GM Zhu Jiner played a nearly perfect game against GM Vaishali Rameshbabu, winning in exemplary fashion, while GM Aleksandra Goryachkina vs. GM Anna Muzychuk and GM Tan Zhongyi vs. GM Divya Deshmukh saw two quiet draws.
GM Kateryna Lagno vs. GM Bibisara Assaubayeva 1-0
GM Kateryna Lagno vs. GM Bibisara Assaubayeva; Michal Walusza / FIDE Candidates 2026
GM Bibisara Assaubayeva’s enterprising choice of the Accelerated Dragon has to be commended, even though it did not go her way in today’s game. GM Kateryna Lagno achieved a strong position out of the opening, but it was not all smooth sailing for Lagno. Indeed, Assaubayeva had a chance to wrest the advantage from Lagno on move 13, but she failed to find the complicated 13…Bxa4!, which could have forced a very imbalanced position to appear on the board after 14. Nxa4 Rxc2 15. Qxc2 Nxc2 16. Kxc2. Alas, after 13…Nh5, Lagno was again better and won the game comfortably.
IM / WGM Lilit Mkrtchian has annotated this game for you to learn from:
https://lichess.org/study/Y1yXP80U/5OSWTOOy#0
GM Zhu Jiner vs. GM Vaishali Rameshbabu 1-0
GM Zhu Jiner vs. GM Vaishali Rameshbabu; Michal Walusza / FIDE Candidates 2026
GM Zhu Jiner played a model game in the Italian Opening against GM Vaishali Rameshbabu’s unconventional setup, which was somewhat reminiscent of the Paulsen Variation of the Ruy Lopez Cozio Defense. Zhu was slightly better out of the opening and kept massaging her advantage, never giving Vaishali any chance to come back into the game.
IM / WGM Lilit Mkrtchian has annotated this game for you to learn from:
https://lichess.org/study/Y1yXP80U/TnliJPF3#0
GM Aleksandra Goryachkina vs. GM Anna Muzychuk 1/2-1/2
GM Aleksandra Goryachkina vs. GM Anna Muzychuk, with GM Kateryna Lagno checking out the game; Michal Walusza / FIDE Candidates 2026
GM Aleksandra Goryachkina had a small but not insignificant edge in the Nyezhmetdinov-Rossolimo Attack against GM Anna Muzychuk. Instead of keeping the tension on move 13 with a move such as 13. Be3, however, Goryachkina liquidated with 13. exd5?, allowing mass piece trades to occur on the board and an early day out of the office for both players.
https://lichess.org/study/VAELuM6E/xopTxEEj#0
GM Tan Zhongyi vs. GM Divya Deshmukh 1/2-1/2
GM Tan Zhongyi had a smidgen of an advantage against GM Divya Deshmukh, who played fairly precisely in the Carlsbad pawn structure which arose from the Queen’s Gambit Declined. The game was rich in ideas, but both players were finding all the right moves, making a draw the logical conclusion of the game.
https://lichess.org/study/VAELuM6E/JMOzaeWi#0
Simulations
Lichess ran 1 million simulations of round results to determine the Candidates winner. Here are our results after round 5:
Open Candidates:
Women’s Candidates: