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Candidates Tournament 2026

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Candidates Tournament 2026
VenueCap St Georges Hotel and Resort
LocationPegeia, Cyprus
Dates28 March – 16 April 2026
Competitors8
← 2024
2028 →

The 2026 Candidates Tournament is an eight-player chess tournament that will determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2026. The tournament will take place at the Cap St Georges Hotel and Resort in Pegeia, Cyprus, between 28 March and 16 April 2026.[1][2][3] The event will be held alongside the Women's Candidates Tournament.[1][2]

As with every Candidates tournament since 2013, it will be a double round-robin tournament.[4] The winner of the tournament will earn the right to play the World Chess Championship 2026 against the current World Chess Champion Gukesh Dommaraju.

Qualification

[edit]

The eight players to qualify to the Candidates Tournament will be:[5][6]

Qualification method Player Age Rating[7] World
ranking[7]
(December 2025)
2024 FIDE Circuit winner United States Fabiano Caruana 33 2795 3
Top two finishers of the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss Netherlands Anish Giri (winner) 31 2760 8
Germany Matthias Blübaum (runner-up) 28 2679 43
Top three finishers of the 2025 FIDE World Cup Uzbekistan Javokhir Sindarov (winner) 20 2726 22
China Wei Yi (runner-up) 26 2754 9
FIDE Andrey Esipenko[a] (third place) 23 2698 34
2025 FIDE Circuit winner India R Praggnanandhaa[9] 20 2761 7
Highest average rating[b] (Aug 2025 – Jan 2026) United States Hikaru Nakamura 38 2810 2

Unlike any other Candidates Tournaments, and any FIDE World Championship cycle (except 1999–2004 during the split-title period), there is no automatic spot for the runner-up of the previous Championship (Ding Liren). To compensate, the 2024 championship will be considered an eligible tournament for the FIDE Circuit, with the runner-up obtaining special bonus points for the 2025 FIDE Circuit based on the score.[5]

FIDE rating qualifier

[edit]

Despite reforms to the rating qualifier ahead of the 2024 Candidates Tournament, controversy arose over the continuous allocation of a spot to the Candidates by rating. As stated in the regulations, a non-qualified player is able to qualify "provided the player has played at least 40 games rated for the February 2025 through January 2026 standard rating lists, including at least 15 in any of the six consecutive lists from August 2025 to January 2026." Hikaru Nakamura, a potential frontrunner for the spot, opted to play in local U.S. and Canada tournaments: Louisiana State Championship[10], Iowa Open[11], Maritime Open[12] and Dulles Open.[13] In these four events he played 22 games meeting the regulations criteria (plus one game not applying) in order to reach the 40-game threshold, having played 18 games beforehand. He scored 20 wins and 2 draws against an opposition with an average Elo rating of 2090.[c]

This garnered criticism from some grandmasters, notably Hans Niemann and Jacob Aagaard.[14] However, Magnus Carlsen (who has not met the 40-game requirement and has publicly stated his lack of interest in qualifying for the Candidates) and Susan Polgar defended Nakamura, with the latter highlighting the openness that Nakamura showed by "discussing it publicly in advance and streaming his games". In response to the criticism, Nakamura noted earlier that "he is in the later stage of his playing life and wants to ensure he makes the most of his remaining chances to compete in Candidates cycles."[15]

Starting on 1 October 2025, FIDE announced partial changes to the rating system in response to Nakamura's rating gain from playing lower-level opponents.[16] For players rated above 2650, winning against opponents with a 400 point difference no longer gained 0.8 Elo points, instead only gaining 0.1 Elo points for a win and no rating gain when playing opponents with a difference of 735 points. Grandmaster David Howell called the reform "short-sighted and flawed", arguing for the minimum average of opponents rating to be used for qualification to the Candidates, and the change "will least impact the top players" and "negatively affect those who are dependent on open tournaments to make a living".[17] The updated rules did not change Nakamura's approach, who continued to play in small tournaments to reach the 40-game threshold. He achieved this after winning the 1st Annual Washington Dulles Open on tiebreak in early November, all but guaranteeing that he will take the rating spot.[18]

As of December 2025, the following table shows the ratings of the players with the top average ratings from August 2025 to January 2026.

Ranking Player Aug 2025 Sep 2025 Oct 2025 Nov 2025 Dec 2025 Jan 2026 Average rating Candidates Total games played
1 Norway Magnus Carlsen 2839 2839 2839 2839 2840 2839.20 - 16
2 United States Hikaru Nakamura 2807 2807 2816 2813 2810 2810.60 Qualified 40
3 United States Fabiano Caruana 2784 2789 2789 2795 2795 2790.40 Qualified 40+
4 India Arjun Erigaisi 2776 2771 2773 2769 2775 2772.80 - 40+
5 India R Praggnanandhaa 2778 2785 2771 2768 2761 2772.60 Qualified 40+
6 India Gukesh Dommaraju 2776 2767 2752 2763 2754 2764.50 World Champion 40+
7 France Alireza Firouzja 2766 2754 2762 2762 2762 2761.20 - 33
8 Germany Vincent Keymer 2730 2751 2755 2773 2776 2757.00 - 40+
9 Netherlands Anish Giri 2748 2746 2759 2769 2760 2756.40 Qualified 40+
10 United States Wesley So 2745 2756 2756 2764 2753 2754.80 - 39
  Qualified to Candidates by rating
  Qualified to Candidates by another path
  Not qualified to Candidates (already World Champion)
  Player ineligible for Candidates qualification

Organization

[edit]

The tournament is an eight-player, double round-robin tournament, meaning there are 14 rounds with each player facing the others twice: once with the black pieces and once with the white pieces. The tournament winner will qualify to play Gukesh Dommaraju for the World Championship in 2026.

Regulations

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The time control is 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game, plus a 30-second increment per move starting from move 41. Players get 1 point for a win, ½ point for a draw and 0 points for a loss. The pairings and colours for each round shall be decided via a draw, which shall be conducted not later than four weeks before the tournament.

Tiebreaks for the first place are addressed as follows:[4]

  • If two players are tied, they will play two rapid chess games at 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move. If a three- to six-way tie occurred, a single round-robin will be played. If seven or eight players are tied, a single round-robin will be played with a time limit of 10 minutes plus 5 seconds per move.
  • If any players are tied for first after the rapid chess games, they will play two blitz chess games at 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move. In the case of more than two players being tied, a single round-robin will be played.
  • If any players are still tied for first after these blitz chess games, the remaining players will play a knock-out blitz tournament at the same time control. In each mini-match of the proposed knock-out tournament, the first player to win a game will win the mini-match.

Ties for places other than first will be broken by, in order: (1) Sonneborn–Berger score; (2) total number of wins; (3) head-to-head score among tied players; (4) drawing of lots.

The minimum prize money will be €70,000 for first place, €45,000 for second place, and €25,000 for third place (with players on the same number of points sharing prize money, irrespective of tie-breaks), plus €5,000 per half-point for every player, for a minimum total prize pool of €700,000, according to the regulations.[4] However, FIDE has stated that the prize fund will be at least €1 million.[19][20][2]

Schedule

[edit]

On 10 November 2025, FIDE announced the following schedule.[1]

Date Day Event
28 March 2026 Saturday Opening ceremony
29 March 2026 Sunday Round 1
30 March 2026 Monday Round 2
31 March 2026 Tuesday Round 3
1 April 2026 Wednesday Round 4
2 April 2026 Thursday Rest day
3 April 2026 Friday Round 5
4 April 2026 Saturday Round 6
5 April 2026 Sunday Round 7
6 April 2026 Monday Rest day
7 April 2026 Tuesday Round 8
8 April 2026 Wednesday Round 9
9 April 2026 Thursday Round 10
10 April 2026 Friday Rest day
11 April 2026 Saturday Round 11
12 April 2026 Sunday Round 12
13 April 2026 Monday Rest day
14 April 2026 Tuesday Round 13
15 April 2026 Wednesday Round 14
16 April 2026 Thursday Tie-breakers (if required)

Closing ceremony

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Esipenko is Russian. However, he plays under the FIDE flag because FIDE banned the display of Russian and Belarusian flags on 27 February 2022 in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[8]
  2. ^ Provided the player has played at least 40 games rated for the February 2025 through January 2026 standard rating lists, including at least 15 in any of the six consecutive lists from August 2025 to January 2026. If two players have the same average rating, the one with the higher performance rating over the rated games qualifies. If the player with the highest average rating over this period is already World Champion in January 2025 or has already qualified by an above path, the replacement will be selected in order of priority as: the 2nd place in the 2025 FIDE Circuit; the 3rd place in the 2025 FIDE Circuit; the player with the lowest sum of places in the 2024 and 2025 rating lists. If the highest-rated player withdraws, the replacement will be the second-highest-rated player averaged across the same period and subject to the same criteria, unless that player is already World Champion or has already qualified by another path, in which case he is replaced in the same order of priority as before.[6]
  3. ^ Opponents' ratings in chronological order, as per the FIDE site: 1812, 1919, 2043, 1900, 2250, 2138 (Louisiana); 1915, 1919, 1950, 2147, 2100 (Iowa); 1917, 1808, 2366, 2353, 2311, 2101 (Maritime Open); 1788, 2025, 2310, 2400, 2505 (Dulles).

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Mediterranean Stage Set for Chess History: The 2026 FIDE Candidates Come to Cyprus". FIDE. 10 November 2025. Archived from the original on 10 November 2025.
  2. ^ a b c Barden, Leonard (14 November 2025). "Outsiders sense Chess World Cup glory after host of big names make early exits". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 14 November 2025. The field is gradually taking shape for the $1m 2026 Candidates, which will take place in Pegeia alongside the women's tournament.
  3. ^ "Cap St Georges Hotel and Resort: Official Factsheet" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 November 2025.
  4. ^ a b c "Regulations for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026" (PDF). FIDE Handbook. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  5. ^ a b "Changes to qualification paths for the Candidates Tournament". FIDE. 27 January 2024. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  6. ^ a b "FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026: Qualification paths" (PDF). FIDE. 27 January 2024. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  7. ^ a b "FIDE World Top Chess players". International Chess Federation (FIDE). Retrieved 23 November 2025.
  8. ^ "FIDE Council condemns Russia's military action". ChessBase. 28 February 2022. Archived from the original on 20 November 2025.
  9. ^ FIDE (8 December 2025). "Praggnanandhaa wins FIDE Circuit 2025". FIDE. FIDE. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  10. ^ Colin McGourty (3 September 2025). "Nakamura Wins Louisiana State Championship, Edges Closer To Candidates". Chess.com.
  11. ^ Carlos Alberto Colodro (11 September 2025). "Nakamura wins tournaments in Louisiana and Iowa, as he attempts to get rating spot at the Candidates". Chess News.
  12. ^ Carlos Alberto Colodro (18 October 2025). "Nakamura scores 5½/6 at Maritime Open in Canada". Chess News.
  13. ^ Carlos Alberto Colodro (11 November 2025). "Nakamura shares first place at Dulles Open, is now eligible for Candidates' rating spot". Chess News.
  14. ^ Jack Baer (12 September 2025). "Here's why Hikaru Nakamura, the world's No. 2 chess player, is gaming the system with 'Mickey Mouse' tournaments". Yahoo! Sports.
  15. ^ Carlos Alberto Colodro (11 September 2025). "Nakamura wins tournaments in Louisiana and Iowa, as he attempts to get rating spot at the Candidates". ChessBase.
  16. ^ "FIDE Council approves targeted amendment to Rating Regulation". ChessBase. 30 September 2025.
  17. ^ Tarjei Svensen (30 September 2025). "FIDE Scraps 400-Point Rule For 2650+ Players, 'Triggered By Nakamura'". Chess.com.
  18. ^ "Nakamura Clinches Candidates Spot As FIDE Announces Cyprus As 2026 Host". Chess.com. 2 December 2025.
  19. ^ "Mediterranean Stage Set for Chess History: The 2026 FIDE Candidates Come to Cyprus – International Chess Federation". Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  20. ^ "Candidates 2026 Line-up: Full list of qualified players after Sindarov Wei Yi & Esipenko confirm qualification via FIDE World Cup". The Indian Express. 27 November 2025. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
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