2. I want to believe in Fabiano. I really do. But I feel like every single major tournament I watch he always ends up being second and breaks my heart. I still would put him up as probably the favorite to win it, but I think there are some other sneaky options that could surprise a lot of people.
3. Anish is one of the few players who I’m talking about in terms of having a chance to win it. It has been a while since he has had a good tournament, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him do really well here in candidates. I personally believe some of the struggles during Tata steel were due to him fully preparing for Canidates and not preparing nearly enough for Tata. He may not do well, but I still would not be shocked at all to see him and top three.
4. Pragg is one of those guys who either is gonna absolutely dominate or he is going to be on the bottom of the toilet seat. I want to say it is the first option. With that being said, I think it is going to be difficult for him to keep his nerves together if he is doing really well, and that worries me. He is absolutely one of my favorite grandmasters to watch so I want to say put him up there’s a favorite, but I like the first threes chances more than his.
5. Wei I don’t think will do too terribly, but if he wins it, I will be absolutely stunned. I think realistically he won’t do anything more than end top five and that is if he is playing at the top of his game. He is a good grand master, and of course he did win the tournament to make candidates in the first place, but I don’t see him beating any of these other guys as long as everyone has done their preparation correctly.
6. Sindarov is another one of those guys who a lot of people are calling a dark horse. I like his chances, but I would put him in the same boat as pragg. A young player who has extremely solid chances if he keeps his nerves together. However, I genuinely think Pragg has better chances of winning than Javokhir. Call me crazy if you want, but to me Pragg just has more experience playing these top guys (Hikaru, Fabi, etc). But again, I like the idea of Sindarov doing extremely well if his nerves are together.
7. Esipenko unfortunately just hasn’t played well enough or often enough to do well this tournament. It came as a shock that he even made candidates in the first place for me. I do understand he has beaten Carlsen before, and that is something not all Grandmasters can say they have done, but quite simply Esipenko will not be our WC.
8. Bluebaum has OK chances, but again, he is not near the top. I would say he will end similarly to where Wei Yi ends, not on the bottom, but not on the top, either.
Hi everyone! Who do you think will win the FIDE Candidates 2026 held in Cyprus starting at the end of this month?
1. Hikaru Nakamura
2. Fabiano Caruana
3. Anish Giri
4. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu
5. Wei Yi
6. Javokhir Sindarov
7. Andrey Esipenko
8. Matthias Blübaum
The winner of this tournament will play Gukesh Dommaraju in the World Championship.