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2026 FIDE Candidates - Start with sixteen and to end with two; Watch this space!

by TheCrossroad Team
 

 

The 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament for Open and Women's category kicked off on Sunday in Cyprus at Cap St Georges Hotel & Resort with 16 players - 8 players in each category Open and Women.  Each of the players gathered here have qualified from various elite events.  

Arkady Dvorkovich and Criton Tornaritis made the ceremonial first move in the Women's and Open category: 
Zhu Jiner vs  Tan Zhongyi 
Fabiano Caruana vs Hikaru Nakamura
Open Category:
GM Fabiano Caruana
GM Hikaru Nakamura
GM Praggnanandha Rameshbabu
GM Anish Giri,
GM Javokhir Sindarov
GM Andrey Esipenko
GM Mathias Bluebaum 
GM Wei Yi
Women Category:
GM Aleksandra Goryachkina
GM Kateryna Lagno
GM Vaishali Rameshbabu
GM Bibisara Assaubayeva
GM Zhu Jiner
GM Tan Zhongyi
GM Anna Muzychuk
GM Divya Deshmukh

The winners of the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament (both Open and Women's) will challenge the reigning World Chess Champions in their respective championship matches scheduled for later in 2026.

  • Open Tournament Winner: Will play against the current World Champion, Gukesh Dommaraju of India.
  • Women's Tournament Winner: Will play against the current Women's World Champion, Ju Wenjun of China.

We will bring the final results in mid April 2026.  The 2026 Candidates Tournament is currently taking place in Cyprus, running from March 29 to April 16, 2026.

Our Best wishes to all the players in the Open and Women category. 

 

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