Indian chess prodigy Arjun Erigaisi has made some bold predictions days ahead of the FIDE Candidates 2026 chess tournament, which will decide the challenger for D Gukesh’s world title. The winner of the eight-player FIDE Candidates 2026, which will be played from 28 March in Cyprus, will take on world champion Gukesh in the World Chess Championship late this year.

While Erigaisi narrowly missed qualifying for the Candidates, he is backing his good friend and fellow Indian R Praggnanandhaa to do well in the prestigious tournament. The 20-year-old Praggnanandhaa has never won the Candidates, but Erigaisi picked him and FIDE World Cup winner Javokhir Sindarov as two players he would be rooting for, in an interview with ChessBase India.

FIDE Candidates: Erigaisi supports Pragg, but Caruana is his favourite

However, neither Praggnanandhaa nor Uzbek Grandmaster Sindarov features in Erigaisi’s top pick to win the tournament. The 22-year-old from Warangal feels that American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana is the clear favourite to win the FIDE Candidates 2026.

Interestingly, Erigaisi did not pick world No 2 Hikaru Nakamura, who, for many, is the favourite to win the tournament.

When asked who would win the World Chess Championship 2026 between Gukesh and Caruana if the American qualifies, Erigaisi was a bit uncertain but picked the USA chess maestro as his final choice. Despite Erigaisi giving Caruana the advantage due to his experience, he also added that Gukesh would give a tough fight.

“Probably Fabiano. In general, I believe Gukesh does well against Fabi (Caruana), but in a World Chess Championship match, it’s quite different. I still think it will be close,” Erigaisi told ChessBase India.

It will be a dream come true for Caruana if Erigaisi’s prediction holds in the end. He has already made one failed attempt, losing to Magnus Carlsen in the 2018 World Chess Championship.

Meanwhile, the
pairings for FIDE Candidates 2026 were revealed on Friday. Caruana will start the tournament against rival Nakamura, while Praggnanandhaa faces Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri in his first match.

India’s R Praggnanandhaa will begin his FIDE Candidates 2026 campaign against Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri, it was confirmed on Friday. The draw for the FIDE Candidates 2026, which will decide the challenger for world champion D Gukesh, took place at the Cap St George’s Hotel & Resort in Paphos, Cyprus.

The FIDE Candidates Chess Tournament 2026 and FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2026 will take place from 28 March to 16 April at the Cap St George’s Hotel & Resort, Cyprus.

FIDE Candidates 2026 format

Both the Open and Women’s categories would include eight players each, who will compete in a double round-robin format. The game will be played in the time control of 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 41.

In case there’s a tie at the top of the standings after the 14 rounds, a playoff will be conducted to decide the eventual winner who will compete against Gukesh in the World Chess Championship.

Praggnanandhaa is the only Indian to qualify for the Open FIDE Candidates 2026 tournament. The seven other players are Javokhir Sindarov, Andrey Esipenko, Matthias Bluebaum, Wei Yi, Anish Giri, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura. World No 2 Nakamura and world No 3 Caruana are seen as the favourite to win the Candidates.

The pairings for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 and FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2026 are set! 🔥

Round 1
FIDE Candidates:
🇺🇿 Javokhir Sindarov vs Andrey Esipenko
🇩🇪 Matthias Bluebaum vs 🇨🇳 Wei Yi
🇮🇳 Praggnanandhaa R vs 🇳🇱 Anish Giri
🇺🇸 Fabiano Caruana vs 🇺🇸 Hikaru… pic.twitter.com/JLhScAaTRA

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) February 20, 2026

Meanwhile, this is the first time three Indians have qualified for the Women’s FIDE Candidates. Divya Deshmukh, Koneru Humpy and R Vaishali will represent India at the tournament. FIDE World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh will start her campaign against the veteran Koneru Humpy.

FIDE Candidates 2026 pairings

Round 1 on 2026/03/29 at 15:30

Javokhir Sindarov – Andrey Esipenko

Matthias Bluebaum – Wei Yi

Praggnanandhaa R – Anish Giri

Fabiano Caruana – Hikaru Nakamura

Round 2 on 2026/03/30 at 15:30

Andrey Esipenko – Hikaru Nakamura

Anish Giri – Fabiano Caruana

Wei Yi – Praggnanandhaa R

Javokhir Sindarov – Matthias Bluebaum

Round 3 on 2026/03/31 at 15:30

Matthias Bluebaum – Andrey Esipenko

Praggnanandhaa R – Javokhir Sindarov

Fabiano Caruana – Wei Yi

Hikaru Nakamura – Anish Giri

Round 4 on 2026/04/01 at 15:30

Andrey Esipenko – Anish Giri

Wei Yi – Hikaru Nakamura

Javokhir Sindarov – Fabiano Caruana

Matthias Bluebaum – Praggnanandhaa R

Round 5 on 2026/04/03 at 15:30

Praggnanandhaa R – Andrey Esipenko

Fabiano Caruana – Matthias Bluebaum

Hikaru Nakamura – Javokhir Sindarov

Anish Giri – Wei Yi

Round 6 on 2026/04/04 at 15:30

Fabiano Caruana – Andrey Esipenko

Hikaru Nakamura – Praggnanandhaa R

Anish Giri – Matthias Bluebaum

Wei Yi – Javokhir Sindarov

Round 7 on 2026/04/05 at 15:30

Andrey Esipenko – Wei Yi

Javokhir Sindarov – Anish Giri

Matthias Bluebaum – Hikaru Nakamura

Praggnanandhaa R – Fabiano Caruana

Round 8 on 2026/04/07 at 15:30

Andrey Esipenko – Javokhir Sindarov

Wei Yi – Matthias Bluebaum

Anish Giri – Praggnanandhaa R

Hikaru Nakamura – Fabiano Caruana

Round 9 on 2026/04/08 at 15:30

Hikaru Nakamura – Andrey Esipenko

Fabiano Caruana – Anish Giri

Praggnanandhaa R – Wei Yi

Matthias Bluebaum – Javokhir Sindarov

Round 10 on 2026/04/09 at 15:30

Andrey Esipenko – Matthias Bluebaum

Javokhir Sindarov – Praggnanandhaa R

Wei Yi – Fabiano Caruana

Anish Giri – Hikaru Nakamura

Round 11 on 2026/04/11 at 15:30

Anish Giri – Andrey Esipenko

Hikaru Nakamura – Wei Yi

Fabiano Caruana – Javokhir Sindarov

Praggnanandhaa R – Matthias Bluebaum

Round 12 on 2026/04/12 at 15:30

Andrey Esipenko – Praggnanandhaa R

Matthias Bluebaum – Fabiano Caruana

Javokhir Sindarov – Hikaru Nakamura

Wei Yi – Anish Giri

Round 13 on 2026/04/14 at 15:30

Wei Yi – Andrey Esipenko

Anish Giri – Javokhir Sindarov

Hikaru Nakamura – Matthias Bluebaum

Fabiano Caruana – Praggnanandhaa R

Round 14 on 2026/04/15 at 15:30

Andrey Esipenko – Fabiano Caruana

Praggnanandhaa R – Hikaru Nakamura

Matthias Bluebaum – Anish Giri

Javokhir Sindarov – Wei Yi

FIDE Women’s Candidates 2026 pairings

Round 1 on 2026/03/29 at 15:30

Divya Deshmukh – Humpy Koneru

Vaishali R – Bibisara Assaubayeva

Aleksandra Goryachkina – Kateryna Lagno

Zhu Jiner – Tan Zhongyi

Round 2 on 2026/03/30 at 15:30

Humpy Koneru – Tan Zhongyi

Kateryna Lagno – Zhu Jiner

Bibisara Assaubayeva – Aleksandra Goryachkina

Divya Deshmukh – Vaishali R

Round 3 on 2026/03/31 at 15:30

Vaishali R – Humpy Koneru

Aleksandra Goryachkina – Divya Deshmukh

Zhu Jiner – Bibisara Assaubayeva

Tan Zhongyi – Kateryna Lagno

Round 4 on 2026/04/01 at 15:30

Humpy Koneru – Kateryna Lagno

Bibisara Assaubayeva – Tan Zhongyi

Divya Deshmukh – Zhu Jiner

Vaishali R – Aleksandra Goryachkina

Round 5 on 2026/04/03 at 15:30

Aleksandra Goryachkina – Humpy Koneru

Zhu Jiner – Vaishali R

Tan Zhongyi – Divya Deshmukh

Kateryna Lagno – Bibisara Assaubayeva

Round 6 on 2026/04/04 at 15:30

Zhu Jiner – Humpy Koneru

Tan Zhongyi – Aleksandra Goryachkina

Kateryna Lagno – Vaishali R

Bibisara Assaubayeva – Divya Deshmukh

Round 7 on 2026/04/05 at 15:30

Humpy Koneru – Bibisara Assaubayeva

Divya Deshmukh – Kateryna Lagno

Vaishali R – Tan Zhongyi

Aleksandra Goryachkina – Zhu Jiner

Round 8 on 2026/04/07 at 15:30

Humpy Koneru – Divya Deshmukh

Bibisara Assaubayeva – Vaishali R

Kateryna Lagno – Aleksandra Goryachkina

Tan Zhongyi – Zhu Jiner

Round 9 on 2026/04/08 at 15:30

Tan Zhongyi – Humpy Koneru

Zhu Jiner – Kateryna Lagno

Aleksandra Goryachkina – Bibisara Assaubayeva

Vaishali R – Divya Deshmukh

Round 10 on 2026/04/09 at 15:30

Humpy Koneru – Vaishali R

Divya Deshmukh – Aleksandra Goryachkina

Bibisara Assaubayeva – Zhu Jiner

Kateryna Lagno – Tan Zhongyi

Round 11 on 2026/04/11 at 15:30

Kateryna Lagno – Humpy Koneru

Tan Zhongyi – Bibisara Assaubayeva

Zhu Jiner – Divya Deshmukh

Aleksandra Goryachkina – Vaishali R

Round 12 on 2026/04/12 at 15:30

Humpy Koneru – Aleksandra Goryachkina

Vaishali R – Zhu Jiner

Divya Deshmukh – Tan Zhongyi

Bibisara Assaubayeva – Kateryna Lagno

Round 13 on 2026/04/14 at 15:30

Bibisara Assaubayeva – Humpy Koneru

Kateryna Lagno – Divya Deshmukh

Tan Zhongyi – Vaishali R

Zhu Jiner – Aleksandra Goryachkina

Round 14 on 2026/04/15 at 15:30

Humpy Koneru – Zhu Jiner

Aleksandra Goryachkina – Tan Zhongyi

Vaishali R – Kateryna Lagno

Divya Deshmukh – Bibisara Assaubayeva

There has been some form of drama involving Magnus Carlsen and the Titled Tuesday in recent weeks. Whether it was applauding American teenager Jacorey Bynum after getting checkmated by him last month or raising eyebrows with a unique opening while facing Iranian GM Amin Tabatabaei shortly after.

In the two-day ‘Titled Tuesday Grand Prix’ online blitz event that got underway on Tuesday, the world No 1 was held to a draw by Kazakhstani Candidate Master Aldiyar Zharas in a game that went down the wire and lasted 66 moves. The two players were left with less than 40 seconds on the clock in a rook endgame and ended up shaking hands virtually via repetition after losing a rook and a couple of pawns each.

Carlsen plays out scratchy draw against Zharas

The game began with a Sicilian Defense opening and was far from perfect for the Norwegian Grandmaster, who is the reigning Rapid and Blitz world champion and had recently been crowned the inaugural FIDE Freestyle Chess world champion. The 35-year-old had committed a pawn blunder in the 23rd move (23. f5), allowing Zharas to gain the upper hand in the contest.

It did not take long for the eval bar to return to level terms, however, after the young Kazakhstani talent committed a series of errors, including a couple of blunders (42. Kg7 and 44. Ke6). Carlsen, however, had another little misstep around this stage (44. Ke2), and couldn’t capitalise on an opening to close the game out on a winning note.

Watch the endgame here:

CM Aldiyar Zharas holds Magnus Carlsen to a draw in round one, though it could be said that it was Magnus who held!https://t.co/KTxyG16xQu#TitledTuesday pic.twitter.com/BVOc8li4tv

— chess24 (@chess24com) February 17, 2026

Then again, Carlsen isn’t exactly known for bringing his ‘A’ game to the ‘Titled Tuesday’ events and in all likelihood participates to have some fun and to keep himself engaged with the sport. And the experience that these youngsters get, especially the confidence derived from a victory or a draw is invaluable and could help them greatly in their development as a player.

The world’s longest known run of consecutive Classical chess games without losing is over. The proud unbeaten record that is owned by Chinese-American Grandmaster Zhou Jianchao came to an end after 158 Classical games last week.

Incredibly, Jianchao, who has been playing for the USA since 2024, did not suffer a single loss in FIDE-rated classical tournaments for almost a year. But that record-setting streak ended early February when he lost to Toalian Grandmaster Francesco Sonis in the fourth round of the Connecticut Classical. Jianchao’s last defeat was against fellow countryman Andrew Lewis Titus on 23 May 2025 at the Annual Chicago Open.

Zhou Jianchao: The new Classical chess star

With his 158-game unbeaten streak in Classical chess, Jianchao broke the record of Croatian legend Bogdan Lalic, who scripted a 155-game unbeaten run in 2010-2011.

While a casual chess fan may not have heard about Jianchao, not losing a Classical for close to a year and across 158 games is a massive feat. Even the world’s best players, including Magnus Carlsen, suffer a few losses here and there on a consistent basis.

“I didn’t know how many games I had played without losing. Mentality is very important. If I had thought about this, it would have affected my performance, and I would have lost a long time ago,” Zhou told Chess.com.

Chess statistician Stefano Ferrara, who has been tracking Jianchao’s feat closely, noted that while the China-born Grandmaster had been playing against mostly weaker players in state events across the USA, he has also faced some unpredictable players.

“Getting to 100+ classical games without losing is incredible, getting close to 160 is historical objectively,” Ferrara told Chess.com. “But he also plays a lot of young, underrated players, so to get this record is still incredibly impressive.”

Ferrara, however, added that it would be unfair to compare Jianchao’s world record streak to five-time world champion Carlsen’s 125-game unbeaten streak from 2018 to 2020, which mostly came against players with an average rating of 2745.

“Of course, it would be unfair to compare his [Zhou’s] streak to Magnus’ 125-game streak because of the difference in the level of opposition,” the chess statistician added.

Carlsen vs Zhou Jianchao

Zhou Jianchao also has no problem admitting that Carlsen’s achievement was much better. “Carlsen is still obviously better. His opponents were much stronger, and his performance was better,” Jianchao said.

As compared to Carlsen, Zhou played against players with an average rating of 2298 during his 158-game unbeaten streak. He won 106 games and drew 52.

He played 26 games against Grandmasters and defeated Mahel Boyer, Praveen Balakrishnan, Brewington Hardaway, Emilio Cordova, and Robby Kevlishvili. His only match against a higher-rated opponent was a draw against current world No 22 Awonder Liang.

Magnus Carlsen had entered the first ever FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship as the tearaway favourite, not just because he is the greatest player of this generation by a country mile but also because of the fact that he had won the inaugural Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour last year.

And in the end, his triumph over Fabiano Caruana in the final was more or less along expected lines, even if the
Norwegian Grandmaster was made to sweat hard and nearly let the trophy slip out of his grasp at one stage.

Another trophy in Carlsen’s crowded cabinet

Carlsen thus adds another piece of silverware to a trophy cabinet that is already running short of space. After all, his victory in the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship – formerly known as the FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship – is the 21st ‘World Championship’ of a career that had attained legendary status long back.

While it further underlines Carlsen’s legacy as one of the greatest to have ever played the game, if not the best, one can’t help but wonder whether chess is starting to go down the cricket route by having too many World Championships in place?

Also Read |
So insists Gukesh should be recognised as only world champion, slams ‘political’ FIDE for creating too many events

The popular proverb “too many cooks spoil the broth”, after all, can be applied in the context of sports and showpiece events. Football, for instance, has multiple noteworthy events taking place across the year, but has only one showpiece event – the FIFA World Cup – that takes place every four years.

Rugby Union might have the Six Nations Championship or the Tri Nations Series taking place in the northern and southern hemisphere respectively. But the spotlight remains on the World Cup that, like football, takes place every four years.

Several other sporting disciplines have world championships that take place on an annual or a biennial basis – from badminton hosting it every year except during the Olympics to athletics hosting it every two years. Like football and rugby though, the sanctity of the term ‘World Championship’ is maintained

And then there’s chess and cricket. In the latter’s case, the ICC World Cup was, for the longest time, the crown jewel of the sport as far as global tournaments were concerned. And while it remains the pinnacle of the sport, the introduction of the T20 World Cup in 2007 and the World Test Championship has somewhat watered down the ‘World Championship’ aspect of the sport.

Too many world championships hurting chess? 

And in chess, that crown jewel status belongs to the FIDE World Championship, a tournament that has formally been in existence for nearly eight decades now, with informal matches having taken place even earlier. The Rapid and Blitz worlds are a recent phenomenon and have been jointly organised annually since 2012, but didn’t quite take the sheen off the Classical World Championship.

With the inaugural FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship and the soon-to-be-launched
Total Chess World Championship – a joint-venture between FIDE and Norway Chess – it would be safe to state that the sport has a bit of a ‘World Championship’ overkill at the moment.

Also Read |
Carlsen backs controversial ‘Total Chess World Championship Tour’ amid backlash from top players

It is of course in the interest of every sports governing body – whether FIDE, ICC or FIFA – to host more events. More events translates to more revenue – especially through the broadcast rights and advertising – and can also be seen as beneficial for players as it provides them more opportunities to prove themselves on the field.

And Carlsen, for one, will not be complaining about competing in these events, especially since he’s semi-retired from the Classical format. The trophy and a fat pay cheque is only fair for someone who has ruled chess for over a decade now.

At the same time, it is the responsibility of FIDE and other organisations to preserve the brand value of their key events. And having too many iterations of those can ultimately be detrimental for these events.

Fabiano Caruana and R Praggnanandhaa are among seven leading players who have complained against the scheduling conflict between the Esports World Cup and the Grand Chess Tour, who have major events lined up in the month of August.

Caruana and ‘Pragg’ had signed an open letter along with Levon Aronian, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Vincent Keymer, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Alireza Firouzja urging the EWC as well as the GCT to arrive at a compromise and rearrange their dates to ensure that the world’s best players get to compete in both events instead of being forced to choose between the two.

Hikaru disagrees with open letter to EWC and GCT organisers

World No 2 Hikaru Nakamura, however, disagrees with Caruana, Praggnanandhaa and the other chess stars contributing to the open letter. According to the American Grandmaster, the scheduling conflict between the Esports World Cup – in which chess makes a second appearance after a successful debut last year – and the Grand Chess Tour is a “good thing” for chess.

“I think this conflict — is actually a good thing. The reason is, I’m going to be honest, I think that every single player who signed this letter — they aren’t going to bring any more viewership or any more interest to events,” Nakamura was quoted by RookReview as saying.

“For example, if players will play in St. Louis, I don’t think that’s going to affect EWC, because Magnus will play, I will play, Alireza as well — and vice versa.”

‘I don’t want to call it a cartel or something’

Nakamura, who will be headlining the Esports World Cup in Riyadh along with world No 1 and defending champion Magnus Carlsen, added that having more tournaments in the calendar would mean more opportunities to players who normally don’t get invited to leading tournaments.

“Additionally, I think that one of the big problems I see with chess currently is that there are a handful of tournaments. I don’t want to call it a cartel or something — but essentially the same Top-15 players receive invitations to all events. And the players between Top-15 and Top-25 are not substantially worse than most the players in the Top-10…

“I think having this conflict is actually going to be a good thing. Because it’s going to provide more opportunities for players across the board. We’re not going to be in a situation where you have 10 players just hogging up all the invites and getting all the money,” the 38-year-old added.

Also Read |
‘If Magnus was playing Grand Chess Tour’: Caruana sheds light on GCT vs Esports World Cup conflict

The
Last Chance Qualifier for the Esports World Cup takes place from 6 to 8 August, with the main event then taking place from the 11th to the 15th of that month.

The 11th season of the Grand Chess Tour, meanwhile includes the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz (2 to 6 August) and the Sinquefield Cup (10-20 August) taking place around the same time, both events taking place in St Louis, USA.

The FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2026 will be held from February 13 to 15 at the Weissenhaus Private Nature Luxury Resort in Wangels, Germany. For the first time, the event is being jointly organised by FIDE and Freestyle Chess, marking a big shift from the tension seen between the two sides just a year ago.

This is also the first time the tournament is officially called the ‘FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship’, even though FIDE had earlier organised world title events in the same format in 2019 and 2022 under the name Fischer Random World Championship.

How the structure has changed from 2025

In 2025, Freestyle Chess was run as a year-long Grand Slam Tour with multiple legs across the world. However, there is no full Freestyle Tour this year. Instead, the world championship is now a standalone three-day event with rapid time controls and a reduced prize fund.

The qualification system has also changed this year. In 2026, six players qualified through the 2025 Freestyle Grand Slam Tour, wne wildcard was nominated, and one player came through an online play-in open to titled players. The final event features eight players in total.

Tournament format in 2026

• February 13: Single round-robin group stage (7 rounds) with a 10+5 time control.

• February 14: Semifinals (best-of-four matches, 25+10 time control).

• February 15: Final (best-of-four match, 25+10 time control).

Only the top four players from the group stage advance to the knockout stage. The total prize pool is $300,000 (Rs 2.7 crore), with $100,000 (Rs 90 lakh) going to the champion.

Who are the participants?

The eight players fighting for the title are:

• Magnus Carlsen

• Fabiano Caruana

• Levon Aronian

• Vincent Keymer

• Arjun Erigaisi

• Javokhir Sindarov

• Hans Niemann

• Nodirbek Abdusattorov

India’s
D Gukesh and
R Praggnanandhaa are notable absentees, while Nakamura has decided not to defend his title.

Nakamura, who won the 2022 Fischer Random World Championship, declined to participate this time, citing the rushed arrangement, change in format, and his focus on the Candidates Tournament.

Who are the favourites?

Magnus Carlsen enters as the top-rated player in the world and arguably the biggest favourite. His rapid skills make him very dangerous in a short event like this. Fabiano Caruana is another strong contender. Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Javokhir Sindarov are also among the favourites.

For Indian fans, Arjun Erigaisi will be the one to watch out. He has already shown good form in the World Rapid & Blitz Championships 2025 late last year, winning bronze medals in both events.

Garry Kasparov is widely regarded as one of the best to have ever played chess alongside Anatoly Karpov, Bobby Fischer, Magnus Carlsen and others, if not the greatest. Such was the Soviet-born Russian chess star’s dominance that he reigned as the world No 1 for a record 255 months from 1984 until his retirement from competitive chess in 2005. He was also the youngest world champion at the time, defeating Karpov at the age of 22 in 1985, and would hold on to that title for 15 years until losing to fellow Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik in 2000.

So what exactly was the reason behind Kasparov’s dominance? According to Soviet-born Israeli GM Boris Gelfand, it was the 63-year-old’s creativity and his ability to invent new ideas and opponents that ensured he remained a step ahead of everyone else.

“I think his creativity. He was inventing so many interesting ideas and all different openings that he was really above his opponents in this direction. Also matched with a very strong calculation. I think he played two hours per 40 and spent one-and-a-half hour for the first 20 moves, and maybe 10 of them were preparation or 12,” Gelfand said on the Chess with Mustreader podcast.

“But this part from a bridge between opening and middle game. he played so much better than his opponents. He knew how to outplay (his opponents) in this part of the game.

“Kasparov knew how to find ideas. HIs opening creativity, depth of creativity and the feeling was really amazing,” the 57-year-old added.

‘Kasparov focused on few openings, but went extremely deep in them’

Gelfand, who had unsuccessfully challenged Indian legend Viswanathan Anand for the World Championship in 2012 and had a peak ranking of No 3 in , further revealed attending a training camp with Kasparov and his late coach Yury Dokhoian and how he came up with an entirely new opening after focusing on the board for about 20 minutes.

“Once I had a training camp with him. Yury Dokhoian, his late coach, sits, and we decide to analyse Najdorf (Sicilian Defence, Najdorf Variation). Let’s say bishop e3 in the sixth move. And he thinks. Thinking five minutes, thinking 10 minutes, thinking 20 minutes. And they (others present in the camp) push Yuri saying, ‘What is this? Let’s analyse’,” Gelfand continued.

“(He) tells me to sit and wait. And then he kept up with this idea – knight g4, bishop g5, h6, g5, g7. One of the best system. In 2010, I won against Nakamura and Karjakin. Maybe the best till now, or one of the best. It’s not refuted till now.

“He just came and was able to go so deep in this idea. He focused so intensely for 20 minutes and he created a new opening idea. This was a reason of his dominance. Kasparov focused on few openings, but went extremely deep in them,” the 2009 Chess World Cup winner added.

R Praggnanandhaa kept the hopes of an all-Indian World Championship showdown with D Gukesh alive when he became the only Indian to qualify for the Candidates Tournament that will be taking place in Cyprus in the months of March and April.

‘Pragg’ had qualified for the prestigious event for the second consecutive time in December
as the winner of the 2025 FIDE Circuit, thus becoming the only Indian to compete in the ‘Open’ section with compatriot Arjun Erigaisi, the current Indian No 1 in all three formats, having failed to secure his place through the other pathways.

And among the players he’s likely to come face to face with in the upcoming tournament with Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri, who had secured his qualification as one of the top two finishers in the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament that took place in Uzbekistan in September.

Giri backs Nakamura and Caruana as the favourites

In a conversation with Greg Mustreader on the Chess with Mustreader podcast, Giri felt that it was only natural to include Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana in the favourites conversation. Nakamura and Caruana are second and third respectively on the FIDE Classical ratings, and qualified for the tournament via the ratings spot and as the winner of the 2024 FIDE Circuit respectively.

“It’s very sensible to place Hikaru and Fabi in the top two, simply because Hikaru is the highest rated and somewhat surprising to me he has the best score against the field. Largely because he’s doing well against Fabiano recently, and he’s been doing fine against me,” Giri said on the podcast.

“Fabi, of course, such a stable player for so many years, been winning so many events. He got to the match with Magnus, and he almost took him all the way down and just to the wire and almost won,” he added.

As for Praggnanandhaa, the Dutch GM made a passing mention of the world No 8 in the FIDE Classical ratings.

“Pragg played, but he didn’t come as close as the others in his outing the last time. He gave it a good shot,” Giri added while discussing the other players in the fray.

Besides Nakamura, Caruana, Giri and Praggnanandhaa, the upcoming Candidates – which takes place from 28 March to 16 April – will feature Matthias Bluebaum, Javokhir Sindarov, Wei Yi and Andrey Esipenko.

Chess is set to remain part of the Esports World Cup after a successful debut in Riyadh last year, with world No 1 and five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen headlining the event once again. In a social media post earlier this week, the Esports World Cup Foundation shed light on the qualification pathways as well as the format, dates and other information pertaining to the World Cup that will once again be taking place in the capital city of the Gulf kingdom.

As per the announcement, there are four pathways for players to qualify for the Esports World Cup, one of which is reserved for the winner of the 2025 edition – Carlsen in this case. World Cup hopefuls can also book their slot in the tournament through the Speed Chess Championship as well as the Chess.com Global Championship, both events offering three slots each.

Another six slots will then be decided through the Champion Chess Tour leaderboard. That, however, is not all as far as the number of chess Grandmasters in action at the Esports World Cup is concerned, with the EWCF set to announce additional slots for the event at a later date.

The sharpest minds in the world gather to outthink, outlast, and outplay.

Chess returns to the 2026 Esports World Cup ♟️ pic.twitter.com/KZBLQU9FD7

— EWC Extra (@EWC_Extra) February 3, 2026

While the third edition of the Esports World Cup will be taking place from 6 July to 23 August in Riyadh, the world’s top chess players will assemble in the Saudi capital from 11 to 15 August, with a total prize pool of $1.5 million (£1.09 million) being set aside for this event.

What the format will be like at Esports World Cup 2026 Chess? 

As for the format, the chess event will feature three stages. The Play-in will feature eight players divided into two groups of four and will take place in a GSL format wherein two games are played per match.

That will be followed by the group stage, which will feature 16 players divided into two groups of eight. This stage will follow a double elimination bracket, with matches once again comprising two games.

The top four teams from each group then advance to the Playoffs, the final stage of the chess tournament at the 2026 Esports World Cup. A total of eight players will be in action in this round, competing in a single-elimination bracket with matches in this stage featuring four games.

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The number of games per match will then increase to six when only four players are left standing. The top two players will then be facing off for the title in best-of-three clash.

Carlsen, who represents Team Liquid,
had won the chess event last year after beating Team Falcons’ Alireza Firouzja 2-0 in the final. The Norwegian had defeated India’s Nihal Sarin (S8UL Esports) during the quarter-finals in the playoff en route to victory.

Indian No 1 Arjun Erigaisi, representing Gen.G Esports, had gone as far as the semi-finals, ultimately finishing fourth after suffering a 2.5-3.5 loss to Hikaru Nakamura (Team Falcons) in the third-place playoff.