2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament: Who's In & Who Will Win?

FIDE recently announced that GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu has accrued enough points to win the 2025 FIDE circuit and earn a spot in the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament, the final step of the world championship qualification cycle. With Praggnanandhaa's qualification, the field for the upcoming Candidates tournament, beginning March 28th in Cyprus, is set. Let's take a look at which players will be contending for a match against World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju. 

• Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, 2025 FIDE Circuit Winner
• Fabiano Caruana, 2024 FIDE Circuit Winner
• Hikaru Nakamura, Highest Rating Spot
• Anish Giri, 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss Winner
• Matthias Bluebaum, 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss Runner-up
• Javokhir Sindarov, 2025 World Cup Winner
• Wei Yi, 2025 World Cup Runner-up
• Andrey Esipenko, 2025 World Cup 3rd Place

Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, 2025 FIDE Circuit Winner

Age: 20

World Ranking: 7

FIDE Rating: 2761

Candidates Appearance: 2nd. Even score in 2024.

Praggnanandhaa has arguably had the strongest classical performance this year of anyone in the world. He began the year by winning the 2025 Tata Steel Tournament, defeating Gukesh in a playoff, and followed up with victories in the 2025 SuperBet Classic Romania, and the 2025 UzChess Cup Masters. His recent tie for first place in the 2025 London Chess Classic Open section put his circuit performance mathematically out of reach of his closest competitors. 

Praggnanandhaa will be looking to build on his first Candidates appearance in 2024, where he finished on 50 percent. He recovered from losses against three of the top finishers, by winning three games against the bottom seeds. If he wants to win in 2026, he will need to maintain that ability to press against lower-rated opponents, but can't afford to lose multiple games.

Fabiano Caruana, 2024 FIDE Circuit Winner

Age: 33

World Ranking: 3

FIDE Rating: 2795

Candidates Appearance: 6th. Won in 2018. Overall score of +8 in 70 games.

The world championship cycle runs in two-year increments. GM Fabiano Caruana's victory in the 2024 FIDE Circuit made him the first official qualifier for the candidates. He is the most experienced candidate in the field, having played every event since 2016. He's also the only player to have won a candidates, scoring a brilliant 9/14 in the 2018 competition. That event earned him a match with Carlsen, where Caruana lost the tiebreaks. He's been trying to earn his way back ever since, but hasn't qualified, despite coming tantalizingly close in his last attempt.

He failed to break GM Ian Nepomniachtchi's defenses in the final round and finished half a point behind Gukesh. Check out GM Rafael Leitao's notes to this critical game in chess history.

Hikaru Nakamura, Highest Rating Spot

Age: 38

World Ranking: 2

FIDE Rating: 2810

Candidates Appearance: 4th. +4 in 42 games.

GM Hikaru Nakamura has held the number two spot in the world rankings since March of this year and for most of the last two years. With GM Magnus Carlsen not meeting the 40 games required to to participate in the world championship cycle, Nakamura has earned a candidates spot as the highest-rated active player in the world. 

Although Nakamura describes himself as more of a streamer than a tournament chess player these days, he made sure to play enough games to qualify as an active player and claim the rating spot. Controversially, he met the threshold by playing relatively small events in North America, only playing against one GM in classical chess after 2025 Norway Chess finished in June. 

Like Caruana, Nakamura was in contention the last cycle and would have won the tournament had he been able to defeat Gukesh in the final round. He nearly qualified in the previous cycle as well, but a final round loss to GM Ding Liren cost Nakamura second place and a chance at a match against Nepomniachtchi. Nakamura is the oldest player in the field and relatively inactive in classical chess. Will this be his final shot at the world championship? 

Anish Giri, 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss Winner

Age: 31

World Ranking: 8

FIDE Rating: 2760

Candidates Appearance: 3rd. +1 in 28 games.

The September, 116 top players competed in the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss tournament in Uzbekistan. The top two finishers qualified for the Candidates. GM Anish Giri won the event with an impressive 8/11 score. The Dutch number-one is back for his third Candidates tournament. He's had an equal score in 2016 and scored +1 in 2020, so if he builds on that he might win the whole thing on the third try.

Check out Leitao's note on the final game from the Grand Swiss that qualified Giri for the candidates.

Matthias Bluebaum, 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss Runner-up 

Age: 28

World Ranking: 43

FIDE Rating: 2679

Candidates Appearance: 1st

Behind Giri's eight points in the Grand Swiss were three players with 7.5/11 scores. GM Matthias Bluebaum had faced the stiffest competition among the field and had the best tiebreak score. All he needed in the final round was to hold a draw against GM Alireza Firouzja, and he managed it in a complicated game.

Bluebaum is the lowest-rated player in the Candidates and it will be a tough tournament for him. However, if he plays like he did in the Grand Swiss, then he will have a chance.

Javokhir Sindarov, 2025 World Cup Winner

Age: 20

World Ranking: 22

FIDE Rating: 2722

Candidates Appearance: 1st

GM Javokhir Sindarov is the youngest player in the Candidates, but he's fresh off of a victory in the 2025 FIDE World Cup. Outside of a long history with his fellow-20-year-old, Praggnanandhaa, Sindarov hasn't played any decisive classical games with the other Candidates, so it's hard to tell how he might fair. That said, as a rising star, this might be Sindarov's first Candidates of many to come. 

Wei Yi, 2025 World Cup Runner-up

Age: 26

World Ranking: 9

FIDE Rating: 2763

Candidates Appearance: 1st

GM Wei Yi was one of the top prodigies of the 2010s, scoring some amazing games in his youth. However, he took several years away from the game to attend Tsinghua University before returning to the game and reaching new heights. Wei Yi entered the top 10 in 2024 after winning Tata Steel. He only lost in the World Cup finals, after already clinching his spot in the candidates.

Check out NM Sam Copeland's analysis of Wei's immortal game in 2015, which featured a stunning rook sacrifice.

Andrey Esipenko, 2025 World Cup 3rd Place

Age: 23

World Ranking: 34

FIDE Rating: 2698

Candidates Appearance: 1st

GM Andrey Esipenko lost to Wei in the World Cup Semifinals when he hung his rook in a better position. But Esipenko showed his ability to bounce back by defeating GM Nodirbek Yakubboev by a 2-0 score in the third-place match to secure his spot in the Candidates. Esipenko has a poor lifetime score against the other players in the field, but his resilience means you can't count him out.

The Candidates Head To Head

How do the candidates stack up against each other? In their head-to-head classical games Bluebaum has the best score by percentage, but only in five games. Nakamura has the best score in terms of games over 50 percent with +10. In contrast, Esipenko will need to vastly improve his results against the field if he wants to contend. He has only scored one out of ten in decisive games against the other candidates.

Who do you think will win the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament? Let us know in the comments.