English Chess Forum

FIDE Candidates Tournament taking place in Cyprus from 28 March to 16 April 2026. Website and pairing below.

https://candidates2026.fide.com/

https://candidates2026.fide.com/tpost/v ... drawn-in-c

This is the thread for the Open tournament. Link to Women's tournament thread below.

Women's tournament can be discussed in its own thread.

Open pairings:

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

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 22, 2026 10:35 am

FIDE Candidates Tournament taking place in Cyprus from 28 March to 16 April 2026. Website and pairing below.

https://candidates2026.fide.com/

https://candidates2026.fide.com/tpost/v ... drawn-in-c

Do we want separate thread for the Open and Women's events?

Maybe someone can post the pairings here?

Probably put it in the Women's chess section?

Have done that now and done some cross-links.

TWIC

Hikaru Nakamura had a warm up match for the Candidates in Saint Louis 13th to 15th March. Two classical games were drawn. On the final day Liang won the rapid 3-1 and the blitz was drawn 2-2.

Nakamura is the unknown to me, he should be favourite as the highest rated player, but I am not sure how he's going to perform in the Candidates

Mick Norris wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 18, 2026 11:15 am

TWIC

Hikaru Nakamura had a warm up match for the Candidates in Saint Louis 13th to 15th March. Two classical games were drawn. On the final day Liang won the rapid 3-1 and the blitz was drawn 2-2.

Nakamura is the unknown to me, he should be favourite as the highest rated player, but I am not sure how he's going to perform in the Candidates

This might generally hold, but not in the way that naka has maintained his rating, and moreover he would not be there at all were it not for his rating. No doubt he will still have his moments though.

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 22, 2026 10:37 am

Open pairings:

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
...

So the start time for each round is 15:30, presumably local time. I believe Cyprus is currently two hours ahead of the UK, which would give a UK start time of 13:30... However, the clocks in the UK go forward next Sunday - so the start time here will be 14:30? (The clocks in Cyprus won't also go forward, will they?) Is this correct does anyone know?

Angus French wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 22, 2026 7:41 pm

. However, the clocks in the UK go forward next Sunday - so the start time here will be 14:30? (The clocks in Cyprus won't also go forward, will they?) Is this correct does anyone know?

Isn't summer time harmonised across the EU? So Greece and Cyprus are always two hours ahead of the UK and Ireland and one hour ahead of Germany and France.

I happen to know that the time in Portugal is the same as UK time. Our Portuguese tour guide said that the time is the only thing Spain is ahead of Portugal in!

What, no predictions? Does the forum still exist, or what?

These are my "not afraid to look stupid" thoughts for round one:

Javokhir Sindarov – Andrey Esipenko 1-0 (youngster turns pacesetter)
Matthias Bluebaum – Wei Yi draw
Praggnanandhaa R – Anish Giri draw (but I do rate Giri very highly, just to be clear)
Fabiano Caruana – Hikaru Nakamura draw, albeit an opening surprise from Naka, both as in their first round game last time

I am going 3 draws and a win for Wei Yi

Nakamura to win the event

and Esipenko to do better than everyone expects

My finishing order:
1 Prag
2 Caruana
3 Giri
4 Sindarov
5 Nakamura
6 Wei Yi
7 Esipenko
8 Bluebaum

Prediction for round 1:

Sindarov – Esipenko 1-0
Bluebaum – Wei Yi Draw
Pragg - Giri 0-1
Caruana – Nakamura 1-0

As for the overall event, I will go with Caruana. Things move so fast at the top nowadays that I imagine it will be his last shot. I think we are definitely in the era of a new World Champion every 2 years, and history might view these winners as similar in status to the ill-fabled FIDE knockout champions.

Prediction for round 1:

Sindarov – Esipenko 1-0
Bluebaum – Wei Yi Draw
Pragg - Giri Draw
Caruana – Nakamura 1-0

I think the Caruana – Nakamura result is key, if Caruana does not lose this game I think he will win the Candidates, but if Nakamura wins he will do well.
Sindarov and Pragg are my other tips to win, as Sindarov is improving at a very fast pace and Pragg poor form may end with this tournament.