2026 FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament: Official Discussion Thread

The 2026 FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament takes place March 29 - April 15, featuring a €300,000 prize fund and the pass to challenge the reigning WWCC.

Eight of the world's strongest players compete to earn the right to play in the next FIDE Women's World Championship vs. reigning Women's World Chess Champion Ju Wenjun.

Watch the live broadcast on our ChessTV, Twitch and YouTube channels.
Find all relevant links and event info below, and use the comments for discussion.

• Events Page - All official Women's event info, standings, and games.

• Official Regulations - Full tournament rules and tiebreak system.

• Prediction Contest - Place your guesses and win up to 6 months diamond.

• Previous Edition - 2024 Women's Candidates event reference and results.

• Survey - Vote on your favorite player to win the event.

• Prize Fund - €300,000

• Time Control - 90 min + 30 min (Move 41) + 30 sec increment (Move 1+)

• Format - 8-player double round-robin

• Dates - March 29 - April 15

• Players - GM Aleksandra Goryachkina, GM Anna Muzychuk, GM Bibisara Assaubayeva, GM Divya Deshmukh, GM Kateryna Lagno, GM Tan Zhongyi, GM Vaishali Rameshbabu, GM Zhu Jiner

Ill be there

Im not eligable

It's funny, the concern is Iranian attacks on Cyprus, but the main supporters against the US are represented mostly in who is playing. I don't know Uzbekistan's position on this, but we have Russia, India, and China at least. Maybe the location should be moved to one of those countries.

Are we talking about the war

My comment wasn't regarding the conflict. My comment was non-political based on logistics of finding an alternative city/country to hold the Candidates. This is similar to the Women's World Championship where the location was decided based on each player's hometown. They played in Shanghai and Chongqing. I was suggesting they do something similar.

Oh my bad

What is the deal with Humpy Koneru dropping out due to safety concerns? I've heard rumors but nothing official and chess.com has yet to publish an article about it.

Edit: 10 minutes ago, the Candidates Prediction Contest article was updated with this: "NOTE: GM Humpy Koneru has withdrawn from the tournament, but don't worry, your predictions are still valid! The Women's section will simply be scored as a 7-player field, and any substitute for Koneru will not count toward standings. No action needed on your end. Thank you!"

That doesn't make sense. When MVL replaced Radjabov, MVL had full chances of playing for the world championship. If Anna Muzychuk were to replace Humpy, she should have the same opportunity.

What you quoted is just for chess.com's prediction contest. Whoever replaces Koneru will have full chances at winning.

The standings for that are for the prediction contest, not the winner of the event.

Ok

Still the same. Why not just use that person who replaces?

Damn

wow

Hi

Hello

elo mordy