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The ”’2026 Candidates Tournament”’ will be an eight-player [[chess]] tournament that will determine the challenger for the [[World Chess Championship 2026]]. It will be held in |
The ”’2026 Candidates Tournament”’ will be an eight-player [[chess]] tournament that will determine the challenger for the [[World Chess Championship 2026]]. It will be held in between 28 March and 16 April 2026.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mediterranean Stage Set for Chess History: The 2026 FIDE Candidates Come to Cyprus|url=https://www.fide.com/mediterranean-stage-set-for-chess-history-the-2026-fide-candidates-come-to-cyprus/|publisher=[[FIDE]]|date=10 November 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251110121343/https://www.fide.com/mediterranean-stage-set-for-chess-history-the-2026-fide-candidates-come-to-cyprus/|archive-date=10 November 2025|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=FIDE |date= |title=Regulations for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 |url=https://handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/Regulations_for_the_FIDE_Candidates_Tournament_2026.pdf |website=fide.com |location= |publisher=FIDE |access-date=9 November 2025}}</ref> The event is expected to be held alongside the [[Women’s Candidates Tournament 2026|Women’s Candidates Tournament]]. The event decides the [[World Chess Championship]] challenger, who challenges the [[World Chess Champion]]. The winner of this tournament will challenge world champion [[Gukesh Dommaraju]]. |
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==Qualification== |
==Qualification== |
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Latest revision as of 12:25, 10 November 2025
The 2026 Candidates Tournament will be an eight-player chess tournament that will determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2026. It will be held in Cyprus between 28 March and 16 April 2026.[1][2] The event is expected to be held alongside the Women’s Candidates Tournament. The event decides the World Chess Championship challenger, who challenges the World Chess Champion. The winner of this tournament will challenge world champion Gukesh Dommaraju.
The eight players to qualify to the Candidates Tournament will be:[3][4]
Unlike any other Candidates Tournaments, and any FIDE World Championship cycle (except 1999–2004 during the split-title period), there is no automatic spot for the runner-up of the previous Championship (Ding Liren). To compensate, the 2024 championship will be considered an eligible tournament for the FIDE Circuit, with the runner-up obtaining special bonus points for the 2025 FIDE Circuit based on the score.[3]
FIDE Rating qualifier
[edit]
Despite reforms to the rating qualifier ahead of the 2024 Candidates Tournament, controversy arose over the continuous allocation of a spot to the Candidates by rating. As stated in the regulations, a non-qualified player is able to qualify “provided the player has played at least 40 games rated for the February 2025 through January 2026 standard rating lists, including at least 15 in any of the six consecutive lists from August 2025 to January 2026.” Hikaru Nakamura, a potential frontrunner for the spot, opted to play in local U.S. tournaments (notably the Louisiana State Championship and Iowa Open) which garnered criticism from some grandmasters, notably Hans Niemann and Jacob Aagaard.[5][6] However, Magnus Carlsen (who has not met the 40-game requirement and has publicly stated his lack of interest in qualifying for the Candidates) and Susan Polgar defended Nakamura, with the latter highlighting the openness that Nakamura showed by “discussing it publicly in advance and streaming his games”. In response to the criticism, Nakamura noted earlier that “he is in the later stage of his playing life and wants to ensure he makes the most of his remaining chances to compete in Candidates cycles.”[7]
Starting on 1 October 2025, FIDE announced partial changes to the rating system in response to Nakamura’s rating gain from playing lower-level opponents.[8] For players rated above 2650, winning against opponents with a 400 point difference no longer gained 0.8 Elo points, instead only gaining 0.1 Elo points for a win and no rating gain when playing opponents with a difference of 735 points. Grandmaster David Howell called the reform “short-sighted and flawed”, arguing for the minimum average of opponents rating to be used for qualification to the Candidates, and the change “will least impact the top players” and “negatively affect those who are dependent on open tournaments to make a living”.[9]
- ^ If any of these players is already World Champion in January 2025, has already qualified by an above path when the 2025 Grand Swiss begins, or withdraws, then the replacement is selected in order of priority as: the 3rd place in the 2025 Grand Swiss; the 2nd place in the 2024 FIDE Circuit; the 2nd place in the 2025 FIDE Circuit; the 3rd place in the 2025 FIDE Circuit; the player with the lowest sum of places in the 2024 and 2025 ranking lists.[4]
- ^ If any of these players is already World Champion in January 2025, has already qualified when the 2025 World Cup begins, or withdraws, then the replacement is selected in order of priority as: the 4th place in the 2025 World Cup; the 2nd place in the 2024 FIDE Circuit; the 2nd place in the 2025 FIDE Circuit; the 3rd place in the 2025 FIDE Circuit; the player with the lowest sum of places in the 2024 and 2025 ranking lists.[4]
- ^ If the winner is already World Champion in January 2025, has already qualified by an above path, or withdraws, then the replacement is selected in order of priority as: the 2nd place in the 2025 FIDE Circuit; the 3rd place in the 2025 FIDE Circuit; the player with the lowest sum of places in the 2024 and 2025 ranking lists.[4]
- ^ Provided the player has played at least 40 games rated for the February 2025 through January 2026 standard rating lists, including at least 15 in any of the six consecutive lists from August 2025 to January 2026. If two players have the same average rating, the one with the higher performance rating over the rated games qualifies. If the player with the highest average rating over this period is already World Champion in January 2025 or has already qualified by an above path, the replacement will be selected in order of priority as: the 2nd place in the 2025 FIDE Circuit; the 3rd place in the 2025 FIDE Circuit; the player with the lowest sum of places in the 2024 and 2025 rating lists. If the highest-rated player withdraws, the replacement will be the second-highest-rated player averaged across the same period and subject to the same criteria, unless that player is already World Champion or has already qualified by another path, in which case he is replaced in the same order of priority as before.[4]
