Siblings Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Vaishali Rameshbabu of India are among those who have qualified for this year’s Candidates Chess Tournament.
The Candidates Tournament will feature a field comprising of proven contenders and players from the new generation. The final list of qualifiers was shaped by performances across two seasons of FIDE Circuit (2024 and 2025), the 2025 World Cup, the 2025 Grand Swiss, and rating qualification.
After debuting in North America in 2024, the iconic event is returning to Europe and to be held at the luxury Cap St Georges Hotel & Resort near Paphos, on the south-western coast of Cyprus. The minimum prize fund for the event stands at a record €1,000,000.
21-year-old Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali, four-years-older, are two of the most promising Indian Grandmasters.
Vaishali is a two-time champion of the FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss Tournament in 2023 and 2025, securing qualification for two editions of the Women’s Candidates Tournament in 2024 and 2026 respectively.
As for her brother, he is considered a chess prodigy. He placed second in the 2023 Chess World Cup, and is the only Indian to have won the Tata Steel Chess Tournament after Viswanathan Anand. He was also part of the Indian team that won the silver medal at the 2022 Asian Games in the men’s team competition, and the gold medal in the open section at the 45th Chess Olympiad in 2024.
Apart from Praggnanandhaa, the confirmed line-up for the Open includes Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Matthias Blübaum, Javokhir Sindarov, Wei Yi and Andrey Esipenko.
The final spot was secured by Hikaru Nakamura, who earned qualification as the player with the highest average classical rating over the qualification period – rounding out a diverse and highly competitive field that blends youth and experience.
The Women’s Candidates Tournament 2026 lineup is also fully confirmed, with eight players having qualified through the Women’s World Championship cycle.
Zhu Jiner and Aleksandra Goryachkina earned their places by finishing first and second, respectively, in the 2024–25 FIDE Women’s Grand Prix series. Divya Deshmukh, Humpy Koneru, and Tan Zhongyi qualified through the 2025 Women’s World Cup.
Two further places were decided at the 2025 Women’s Grand Swiss, where Vaishali and Kateryna Lagno claimed top two qualifying positions. The final spot was awarded to Bibisara Assaubayeva, the 2025 Women’s Blitz Champion, via the Women’s Events qualification path.
This lineup promises a fiercely competitive battle to determine the next challenger for the Women’s World Championship title – a contest that balances established excellence with the energy of a new generation.
With both fields finalized, attention now turns fully to the Candidates tournaments themselves, where preparation, endurance, and composure under pressure will decide who earns the right to challenge for the world titles in 2026.
In both the Open and the Women’s, the eight qualified players will compete in a double round-robin tournament, consisting of 14 rounds.
The games will be played with a 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. Players are not permitted to agree to a draw before the completion of Black’s 40th move.
In the event of a tie for first place after 14 rounds, a playoff will be played to determine the winner who qualifies for the World Championship Match, due to take place in November 2026.
