Stern test awaits Praggnanandhaa at Candidates

The FIDE Candidates match 2026 begins in Paphos, Cyprus, on Saturday. Eight elite chess gamers every within the Open and girls’s sections will battle it out over 14 rounds to establish the challenger to the World champions.

R. Praggnanandhaa is the one Indian within the open occasion, which is a mixture of expertise and youth. He will probably be wanting to go all the best way and earn a shot at his compatriot D. Gukesh within the championship match later within the 12 months.

Nonetheless, it is going to be a troublesome job in a area that features Individuals Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana, China’s Wei Yi, Dutchman Anish Giri, German Matthias Bluebaum, Uzbek Javokhir Sindarov and Russian Andrey Esipenko.

The 20-year-old Praggnanandhaa, making his second look within the occasion, has received quite a few elite invitational and open tournaments over the previous two years, and might be a harmful buyer if he hits the fitting notes.

Ranking-wise Nakamura and Caruana could also be the perfect within the area however the remainder together with Praggnanandhaa will fancy their possibilities.

The ladies’s match, being held concurrently, will function R. Vaishali and the fast-rising Divya Deshmukh alongside former World champion Tan Zhongyi, Kateryna Lagno, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Zhu Jiner, Bibisara Assaubayeva and Anna Muzychuk, a late alternative for Koneru Humpy. The Indian ace determined to not journey owing to security issues within the wake of the West Asia battle.

Humpy’s withdrawal does rob the match of a few of its class however there may be nonetheless sufficient high quality to supply intense contests. Vaishali, who carried out brilliantly within the earlier Candidates, has matured into an elite competitor and will probably be among the many contenders if she begins effectively.

The tactically sharp Divya, the youngest participant within the fray and the World Cup winner, will count on to place up a stiff combat.