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 12
Open:
| White | Black |
|---|---|
| GM Javokhir Sindarov | GM Hikaru Nakamura |
| GM Wei Yi | GM Anish Giri |
| GM Matthias Blübaum | GM Fabiano Caruana |
| GM Andrey Esipenko | GM R Praggnanandhaa |
Women’s:
| White | Black |
|---|---|
| GM Vaishali Rameshbabu | GM Zhu Jiner |
| GM Anna Muzychuk | GM Aleksandra Goryachkina |
| GM Bibisara Assaubayeva | GM Kateryna Lagno |
| GM Divya Deshmukh | GM Tan Zhongyi |
Interviews
Make sure to check out all of our interviews from the Candidates on our YouTube channel! All our round 11 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 had a tough game against GM Fabiano Caruana, who was much better as White in an endgame; ultimately, though, Sindarov was able to draw the game. GM Andrey Esipenko was also on the back foot against GM Anish Giri, but also drew, while GM Matthias Blübaum managed to draw against GM R Praggnanandhaa after having been much worse, lost at times, for a large portion of the game. Meanwhile, GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Wei Yi played a short draw in the Catalan Opening.
GM Fabiano Caruana vs. GM Javokhir Sindarov 1/2-1/2
Watch our interview with GM Javokhir Sindarov here:
GM Fabiano Caruana was able to put immense pressure on GM Javokhir Sindarov, getting narrowly close to a win. With shrewd targeted preparation, Caruana was able to quickly head into a slightly better endgame. From there, he gradually increased his advantage, but he was never completely winning. Sindarov held on, and following some imprecise play from Caruana, Sindarov was able to draw the game.
https://lichess.org/study/seMTFSPr/ErakVcBp#0
GM R Praggnanandhaa vs. GM Matthias Blübaum 1/2-1/2
GM R Praggnanandhaa vs. GM Matthias Blübaum; photo: Niki Riga / FIDE, FIDE Candidates 2026
GM Matthias Blübaum’s Petrov Defense was tested once again as GM R Praggnanandhaa, similar to Blübaum’s other opponents, chose yet another unique approach to handle the ever solid opening. The resulting position from the opening was structurally identical to the Exchange French Defense, though with a Petrov piece flavor. Blübaum erred early on, playing 10…Na6, allowing structural damage. Praggnanandhaa was still only a bit better, but after Blübaum evacuated his kingside from any friendly pieces, Praggnanandhaa’s 16. Ne5! came with stunning force. The position remained quite tricky, though, with Praggnanandhaa missing a golden opportunity on move 18. Subsequently, Praggnanandhaa was also close to a win at several points of the game, with the inflection point occurring on move 34. After Praggnanandhaa eschewed 34. Rxf7!! in favor of 34. Qf3??, the position was equal, and soon the game was drawn.
https://lichess.org/study/seMTFSPr/LmFrCH8s#0
GM Anish Giri vs. GM Andrey Esipenko 1/2-1/2
GM Anish Giri vs. GM Andrey Esipenko; photo: Niki Riga / FIDE, FIDE Candidates 2026
Just as in the Caruana vs. Sindarov game, GM Anish Giri also had the chance to play for more in an endgame against GM Andrey Esipenko. Similar to the aforementioned game, though, the path toward victory was narrow; Giri could not find the precise sequence, and the game was drawn by move 43.
https://lichess.org/study/seMTFSPr/8vgpc9aK#0
GM Hikaru Nakamura vs. GM Wei Yi 1/2-1/2
GM Hikaru Nakamura vs. GM Wei Yi; Niki Riga / FIDE, FIDE Candidates 2026
GM Hikaru Nakamura probed GM Wei Yi Black defense against the Catalan Opening, which Wei had already employed earlier in the tournament against GM Anish Giri. Nakamura had a slight advantage, but when he had a choice to take on a5 and continue playing, he repeated moves instead, drawing the game after just 22 moves.
https://lichess.org/study/seMTFSPr/Pc2LpFiv#0
Women’s Leaderboard
Women’s Overview
GM Vaishali Rameshbabu outplayed GM Aleksandra Goryachkina, converting a slightly better position into a win after Goryachkina blundered the game away. GM Tan Zhongyi was very close to winning her first game of the event, but she failed to find a critical move against GM Bibisara Assaubayeva deep into a rook endgame. GM Zhu Jiner vs. GM Divya Deshmukh and GM Kateryna Lagno vs. GM Anna Muzychuk were somewhat uneventful draws, though the former game could have produced an unwelcome result for Zhu had Divya found a testing move in the endgame.
GM Aleksandra Goryachkina vs. GM Vaishali Rameshbabu 0-1
Watch our interview with GM Vaishali Rameshbabu here:
Employing a highly uncommon defensive setup against GM Aleksandra Goryachkina’s London System, GM Vaishali Rameshbabu emerged out of the opening with a fine position and objective equality. After some more moves, she was even slightly better as the tables turned on Goryachkina, who now suffered from a weak pawn on e3, while Vaishali’s formerly doubled queenside pawns were undoubled by the 27th move. In time pressure, Goryachkina blundered with 30. Bc4??, getting her awkwardly-placed pieces trapped. She had to give up the exchange, and, eventually, the game.
https://lichess.org/study/fDNFUpG9/gyFkz2sd#0
GM Zhu Jiner vs. GM Divya Deshmukh 1/2-1/2
GM Zhu Jiner vs. GM Divya Deshmukh; photo: Niki Riga / FIDE, FIDE Candidates 2026
Just as in her game in round 8, GM Divya Deshmukh once again faced the Maróczy Bind pawn structure, though this time the Bind arose from the Nyezhmetdinov-Rossolimo Attack and was not the Maróczy Bind proper. In comparison to the other game, however, GM Zhu Jiner did not achieve much of an advantage with the Bind. In fact, Zhu had to bail out later as her position was deteriorating, and she was on the cusp of defeat.
https://lichess.org/study/fDNFUpG9/7yZlBJGK#0
GM Kateryna Lagno vs. GM Anna Muzychuk 1/2-1/2
GM Kateryna Lagno vs. GM Anna Muzychuk; photo: Niki Riga / FIDE, FIDE Candidates 2026
GM Anna Muzychuk played a rare guest at the top levels of chess, the Queen’s Indian Defense, against GM Kateryna Lagno. Lagno had a small, theoretical advantage, but Muzychuk equalized right out of the gates and was never in any danger. The game had its intriguing moments, but the players did not stray too far from equality.
https://lichess.org/study/fDNFUpG9/M0L8Djwv#0
GM Tan Zhongyi vs. GM Bibisara Assaubayeva 1/2-1/2
GM Tan Zhongyi decided to take her game against GM Bibisara Assaubayeva out of theoretical waters very early on, playing the rare 5. d3 in the Old Sicilian Defense, an opening which was most famously played by GM Levon Aronian against GM Magnus Carlsen. The game took a sharp turn very quickly, and had Tan played 18. Nc6, she would have been much better. After failing to find this move, Tan was still in the game with a slight pull for the remainder of it, culminating in reaching a winning rook endgame on move 58 after a blunder by Assaubayeva. Tan needed to find the single winning move in the position on move 62, 62. Rh6!; alas, she played 62. Ra6?? instead, and the rook endgame was no longer winning.
https://lichess.org/study/fDNFUpG9/Bci38mEI#0
Simulations
Lichess ran 1 million simulations of round results to determine the Candidates winner. Here are our results after round 11:
Open Candidates:
Women’s Candidates: