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

World No 1 and reigning Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour champions Magnus Carlsen sailed into the final of the inaugural Freestyle Chess World Championship, where he faces world No 3 Fabiano Caruana, after beating Nodirbek Abdusattorov 3-1 in the semi-finals on Saturday. Caruana defeated German Grandmaster Vincent Keymer 2.5-1.5 in the other semi-final showdown to confirm a dream final with the Norwegian at the Weissenhaus Private Nature Luxury Resort in Wangels, Germany.

Carlsen stamps his authority over Nodirbek

Carlsen had picked Nodirbek as his semi-final opponent after topping the round-robin standings despite suffering a
stunning defeat at the hands of Arjun Erigaisi. The semi-final showdown began with consecutive draws, the two players choosing to shake hands on level terms in both games with Carlsen holding fort despite facing serious time pressure in Game 2.

Carlsen surged ahead in Game 3 while playing as white, beating Nodirbek in 48 moves. Both players were in the mood to attack in this round, with both sets of bishops and knights getting knocked off the board by the 26th move. The Uzbekistani GM, however, committed a blunder (33. Re2) while pushing for a win, allowing his celebrated opponent to seize control and grind him into submission.

Nodirbek needed to win Game 4 in order to level the scores and force the semi-final showdown to head into tie-breaks. Carlsen, however, maintained a stable position on the board despite committing a couple of errors (19. h4 and 24. Nc5) and won in just 29 moves after cornering the white king with a knight, a rook and his queen to complete a 3-1 triumph.

Nodirbek had a considerable time advantage over his fancied opponent – three-and-a-half minutes compared to less than half-a-minute for Carlsen. The 35-year-old, however, reiterated the fact that it will take more than just time pressure to beat the best in the world.

Caruana vs Keymer showdown goes into decider

As for the other semi-final, Caruana had drawn first blood while playing as black and maintained a lead over his opponent with a draw in the second game. Keymer, however, made things interesting by leveling the scores in Game 3 to setup a decider in the fourth and final rapid game.

The first three games were hard-fought encounters.  Caruana defeated Keymer in 72 moves in Game 1, while the latter returned the favour in 68 moves in Game 3. Caruana, however, sealed a 2.5-1.5 victory in dominant fashion after winning game four in just 22 moves while playing as black, with nearly seven minutes left on the clock compared to just 20 seconds for his opponent.

🇳🇴 Magnus Carlsen vs 🇺🇸 Fabiano Caruana in the final!#FreestyleChess pic.twitter.com/uuAQi8MnZS

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) February 14, 2026

The final between Carlsen and Caruana gets underway on Sunday, 15 February, with Game 4 and the Armageddon tie-break taking place on Monday, if necessary. The winner will pocket a prize money of $100,000 while the runner-up takes home $60,000.

Indian No 1 Arjun, who had finished sixth out of eight players in the round-robin stage, defeated Javokhir Sindarov 3-1 and will be facing American GM Hans Niemann for the fifth place starting Sunday.

Arjun Erigaisi failed to reach the semi-finals of the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship in Weissenhaus on Friday, but still had a memorable classification round with a victory over world No 1 Magnus Carlsen. The Indian chess prodigy also defeated Vincent Keymer and FIDE World Cup winner Javokhir Sindarov.

The 22-year-old from Warangal, Erigaisi, lost the remaining four games to finish in sixth place in the classification as Carlsen, Keymer, Fabiano Caruana and Nodirbek Abdusattorov progressed to the semi-finals.

Erigaisi, fast becoming Carlsen’s ‘boogeyman’

Amazingly, Carlsen’s only defeat in the classification round came against the Indian Erigaisi before he won the round robin with 4.5 points out of 7.

The match was played in the No 277 position, where the two bishops are in the extreme corner on the king’s side. Making the most of the white pieces’ advantage, Erigaisi pushed Carlsen into a corner early on

“This is a position that you don’t even want to get in your nightmares,” legendary Judit Polgar said in commentary as Erigiasi took an advantage over Carlsen. “These are the positions that you want to make a good move and then resign because you don’t want to suffer longer.”

Chess great Peter Leko added, “You won’t even wish it upon your biggest enemy. This is a horror.”

Erigaisi’s advantage in the early opening can be explained by the fact that he did not play a piece from the back rank till the 10th move,

“I find it interesting that Arjun has not moved any other piece other than his pawns. It’s like a pawn war,” Polgar underlined.

As per the Lichess engine, Carlsen also made four inaccurate moves during the game, and a major mistake on the 27th move before resigning next.

How Arjun crushed Carlsen

It must have been a difficult defeat for Carlsen to digest, having recently lost to Erigiasi at the FIDE World Blitz Championship 2025 towards the end of last year. Carlsen had infamously
slammed the table in frustration after losing to Arjun, and while at Weissenhaus, he repeated any such antics; it’s clear that Erigiasi is soon becoming Carlsen’s boogeyman.

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.

R Praggnanandhaa is among a group of leading chess players who have spoken out against scheduling conflicts involving two major events that are set to take place later this year. Besides ‘Pragg’, world No 3 Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Alireza Firouzja, Anish Giri, Vincent Keymer and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are the other chess stars who have put their names in an open letter addressed to the Grand Chess Tour and the organisers of the Esports World Cup.

The Last Chance Qualifier for the Esports World Cup – in which chess makes its second appearance – takes place from 6 to 8 August with the main event then taking place from the 11th to the 15th.

The 11th season of the Grand Chess Tour, which gets underway in May in Poland, has events scheduled around the same time, with the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz taking place from 2-6 August and the Sinquefield Cup from the 10th to the 20th of that month.

‘Discussions have since stalled completely’

In the open letter addressed to the organisers, Caruana, Praggnanandhaa and the other players made it clear that a solution to the issue was a “clear and immediate priority” for them. The letter added that the issue had been flagged earlier, but changes to the schedule were yet to be made.

“Resolving the situation is now the players’ clear and immediate priority. Players and teams raised this issue with both organizers earlier and received replies, but no scheduling adjustment followed,” read the letter.

“Discussions have since stalled completely, leaving players with no visibility. With qualification paths already underway, the conflict is becoming concrete,” it added.

Here’s the full letter, shared by French Grandmaster Vachier-Lagrave:

Two major chess events. One calendar clash.
We’ve published an open letter calling for better coordination between the 2026 Grand Chess Tour and the Esports World Cup — so qualified players can compete in both. pic.twitter.com/jPq3jMU0Hu

— MVL (@Vachier_Lagrave) February 10, 2026

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.