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 R1–4 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 and Prizes
Pairings for Round 1
Open:
| White | Black |
|---|---|
| GM Javokhir Sindarov | GM Andrey Esipenko |
| GM Matthias Blübaum | GM Wei Yi |
| GM R Praggnanandhaa | GM Anish Giri |
| GM Fabiano Caruana | GM Hikaru Nakamura |
Women’s:
| White | Black |
|---|---|
| GM Divya Deshmukh | GM Anna Muzychuk |
| GM Vaishali Rameshbabu | GM Bibisara Assaubayeva |
| GM Aleksandra Goryachkina | GM Kateryna Lagno |
| GM Zhu Jiner | GM Tan Zhongyi |
Interviews
Make sure to check out all of our interviews from the Candidates on our YouTube channel! All our pre-tournament 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
#1 Seed: GM Hikaru Nakamura (2810)
GM Hikaru Nakamura; photo: Michal Walusza
The highest-rated participant of the 2026 FIDE Candidates, GM Hikaru Nakamura has been one of the least active classical players of the field in the past year. In the first half of 2025, he played virtually no classical chess; just a couple of fast classical games at the Champions Showdown Kings Tournament, some games at Norway Chess 2025 (finishing 4th overall with the Armageddon games), and a bit of classical chess960 at the Freestyle Grand Tour Weissenhaus Tournament. The second half of 2025 was different as Nakamura did play some classical chess, but this time his opposition was far lower rated. To meet the minimum activity requirements set forth by FIDE as part of their eligibility criteria for the rating qualification spot for the Candidates, Nakamura played four events against amateurs: the Louisiana State Championship 2025, the 70th Iowa Open Championship, the 2025 Maritime Open Championship and the 1st Annual Washington Dulles Open 2025. With the recently concluded Hikaru Nakamura – Awonder Liang Training Match, which included just two classical games where Nakamura drew both, it is unclear what Nakamura’s form looks like. As the oldest participant in the field, Nakamura will be very determined to make his way to the World Chess Championship, so despite his inactivity, we can expect excellent preparation from Nakamura.
#2 Seed: GM Fabiano Caruana (2793)
Watch our interview with GM Fabiano Caruana:
In contrast to his fellow countryman, GM Fabiano Caruana has been extremely active. A Candidates tournament veteran, this will be Caruana’s sixth Candidates tournament appearance. In 2018, he made his mark on the chess world by qualifying for the world championship match against then-world champion GM Magnus Carlsen, drawing the classical portion of the match with 12 draws. With a peak classical rating of 2851, Caruana is the 3rd highest ranked player in history, behind only Carlsen and GM Garry Kasparov. Recently, in preparation for the upcoming Candidates, Caruana decreased his activity in classical, only playing the American Cup 2026, Open and the American Cup 2026, Elimination, where he split the classical matches against both GM Wesley So and GM Levon Aronian. He also played the 2026 Saint Louis Masters, where he finished in second place behind GM Mikhail Antipov. Just before his mini-hiatus, though, Caruana won the 2025 Grand Chess Tour, edging out GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the Finals; thus, overall, Caruana should be in solid form going into the Candidates.
#3 Seed: GM Wei Yi (2754)
GM Wei Yi; photo: Michal Walusza
GM Wei Yi has been one of the most solid players on the tournament circuit in the past year. Since the start of 2025, Wei lost just five classical games; the caveat, though, is that he played in few events. Nevertheless, this fact remains impressive as he did not lose a single classical game at the FIDE World Cup 2025, a grueling, single-Elimination Knockout that spans an entire month. Of his five classical losses, he lost two games at the Prague International Chess Festival 2025, and three at Norway Chess 2025, one against the current world champion himself, GM Gukesh D. Meanwhile, last year at the 2025 Tata Steel Chess, Wei drew twelve of his games and won just one. In the Candidates, solid play is less important as winning game after game takes precedence. Therefore, it remains to be seen if Wei will adapt his style to the Candidates, or if he will play solidly and then shift gears if he draws too much at the outset.
#4 Seed: GM Anish Giri (2753)
As we have reported previously, GM Anish Giri’s 2025 on the chessboard went rather well. His performance at Tata Steel Chess 2026 definitely did not meet his high standards, but it was not disastrous either, and he did, in fact, defeat the reigning world champion, Gukesh, in a one-sided game. Giri is well-known for his world class preparation, so he will definitely bring many surprises to the field, especially to those players who may not know his play style that well.
#5 Seed: GM Javokhir Sindarov (2745)
GM Javokhir Sindarov has been considered by many pundits as the dark horse of the tournament, and for good reason. Just one look at his performance over the past year will reveal why that is the case: Sindarov has been on a tear, and he does not seem to be slowing down any time soon. He finished in first at the 2025 TePe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament, 2nd (after tiebreaks) at the 2nd Uzchess Cup, 1st at the 2025 FIDE World Cup, and 2nd at Tata Steel Chess 2026. If Sindarov can keep his recent form up, he will be a very dangerous contender, and could very well win it all and become the world championship challenger.
#6 Seed: GM R Praggnanandhaa (2741)
As we have covered earlier, GM R Praggnanandhaa started off powerfully at the start of 2025, but he lost some steam in the fourth quarter. With a very bad performance at Tata Steel Chess 2026, where Praggnanandhaa lost 17 rating points and finished in 11th place, Praggnanandhaa’s recent form will be a mystery. Of course, a lot can change in two months, but if his recent performance is any indication, Praggnanandhaa might very well struggle at the Candidates.
#7 Seed: GM Andrey Esipenko (2698)
Similar to Nakamura, GM Andrey Esipenko also has not played much classical chess over the past year, though probably for different reasons than Nakamura. He played two classical tournaments in the past six months: the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025, where he finished in 19th place on 7/11, winning four games, drawing six, and losing just one, and the FIDE World Cup 2025, where he finished in third place, qualifying for the Candidates after narrowly losing the semi-finals tiebreaks to GM Wei Yi, and then bouncing back in style against GM Nodirbek Yakubboev in the fight for third. It is the former result which might go on to show that Esipenko’s style is too solid for the Candidates, while the latter result proves that Esipenko is resilient and can bounce back from defeat even in high pressure situations.
#8 Seed: GM Matthias Blübaum (2696)
Watch our interview with GM Matthias Blübaum:
GM Matthias Blübaum qualified for the Candidates by finishing in second place with four wins and no losses at the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss. His other recent performances included a fourth-round exit at the FIDE World Cup 2025 at the hands of his compatriot, GM Alexander Donchenko, after Blübaum defeated GM Ahmed Adly and GM Ivan Zemlyanskii, as well as a few games at the German Bundesliga 2025/26, where he has one win, one loss, and eight draws. In addition, Blübaum has played in Tata Steel Chess 2026, where he won three games and lost two — losing against fellow Candidate Sindarov, drawing against Praggnanandhaa, and defeating Giri as well as world champion Gukesh. Blübaum’s rise through the ranks has been nothing short of impressive, and it remains to be seen if he can keep the ball rolling and clinch the coveted Challenger spot.
Lichess Predictions (Open)
Just for fun, we ran a prediction tournament for the Lichess team. In the Open section, 60% of the team thought Caruana would finish in first place, with the rest thinking he’ll finish in either second or third place. Two people picked Giri in first, one Nakamura, one Sindarov, and one Blübaum. With bragging rights on the line, let’s see who’s the team’s best prognosticator!
#1 Seed: GM Zhu Jiner (2578)
GM Zhu Jiner; photo: Michal Walusza
GM Zhu Jiner has enjoyed many recent successes and has gained almost 70 rating points in the past year. She gained 20 rating points at the Fujairah Global 2025, finishing in 11th place and winning against the likes of GM Yuriy Kuzubov, GM Alexander Motylev, and GM Ivan Cheparinov, and only losing to GM Nihal Sarin. Zhu also did well at the European Chess Club Cup 2025 | Women’s, drawing against fellow Candidates GM Aleksandra Goryachkina and winning against GM Anna Muzychuk. However, Zhu’s most recent tournament, the Prague International Chess Festival 2026, went catastrophically as she lost 23 rating points and won just one game — an important one — that against fellow Candidate GM Divya Deshmukh. The jury is still out if this recent performance of hers is due to hiding preparation or if she truly is in bad form.
#2 Seed: GM Tan Zhongyi (2535)
Watch our interview with GM Tan Zhongyi:
Tan Zhongyi has already won the Women’s World Championship — that in 2017 against GM Anna Muzychuk. A few months ago, she got her revenge against her compatriot, GM Ju Wenjun, who defeated Tan in the FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship 2025. Tan has not been very active apart from those odd games in her home country, most notably finishing in fourth place at the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 | Women’s, winning six games and losing two. Thus, it remains to be seen what kind of form Tan is in.
#3 Seed: GM Aleksandra Goryachkina (2534)
GM Aleksandra Goryachkina; Michal Walusza
GM Aleksandra Goryachkina’s last classical tournament was the FIDE World Women’s Team Championship 2025, which was played almost five months ago. There, apart from the aforementioned Pool Stage A games, she played in the Quarterfinals, winning a game and drawing another against IM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova, the the Semifinals, drawing a game and losing the second against GM Hou Yifan, and the Finals, where she won her first game and drew the other against IM Ulviyya Fataliyeva.
#4 Seed: GM Anna Muzychuk (2522)
GM Anna Muzychuk comes in as a last-minute replacement of GM Humpy Koneru, who withdrew due to personal safety reasons, implying the 2026 Iran war as the reason. Similar to Goryachkina, Muzychuk did not play much classical chess in the past six months, though she did recently play in the Austrian Women’s Bundesliga 2025/26 as well as the European Chess Club Cup 2025 | Women’s, where she lost against Zhu and drew against Goryachkina. Despite her obvious lack of preparation owing to the circumstances of her qualification, Muzychuk, a former challenger / runner-up to the women’s world championship, will surely have a lot of tricks up her sleeves despite the time constraints.
#5 Seed: GM Bibisara Assaubayeva (2516)
GM Bibisara Assaubayeva received her GM title as recently as 2025 and continues to steadily gain rating. Her most recent classical event was Tata Steel Chess 2026 | Challengers, where she gained 19 rating points and finished in fifth place, ahead of the likes of IM Faustino Oro, GM Max Warmerdam, GM, Velimir Ivić, GM Daniil Yuffa, and GM Erwin L’Ami.
#6 Seed: GM Kateryna Lagno (2508)
GM Kateryna Lagno is among the veterans of the group and no stranger to the Candidates tournament, having made four appearances in the Candidates. Like other participants in this tournament, she has not played much classical chess recently, but the little she played went decently as she won two games and drew seven in the previously mentioned FIDE World Women’s Team Championship 2025.
#7 Seed: GM Divya Deshmukh (2497)
GM Divya Deshmukh will be riding high going into this year’s Candidates as her most recent performance at the Prague International Chess Festival 2026 was stellar; there, she had a tournament performance of 2601, won some rating, and won two games, drew six against mostly stronger opposition, and lost just one against Zhu. Divya also won the FIDE Women’s World Cup about nine months ago, so if her recent accolades are any indication, Divya will be a very dangerous contender in this year’s Candidates.
#8 Seed: GM Vaishali Rameshbabu (2470)
GM Vaishali Rameshbabu also did not have many opportunities to play classical chess, with her most recent classical tournament being the Wroclaw Chess Festival 2025, where she broke even. Just before that, though, Vaishali bounced back from a tragic performance at the Chennai Grand Masters 2025, where she finished in last place, with a crushing first place finish at the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 | Women’s. With four losses in a row followed by a streak of five wins at her previous Candidates appearance, Vaishali is a very streaky player, both game- and tournament-wise, so only time will tell what her form will look like and if she will be able to go all the way.
Lichess Predictions (Women’s)
Over 40% of the team though Zhu would finish in first place, with another ~20% giving Tan the Challenger spot. Muzychuk received ~15% of the vote, while Assaubayeva and Goryachkina received one vote each.