Resolution

Round 1 starts on March 29 at 8:30 AM EST. Results will be determined by the official FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 standings, available at Chess.com's live results page or the official event website. Players receive 1 point for a win, ½ point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss. The question "Player X (W) beats Player Y (B)" will resolve to YES if Player X beats Player Y. It will resolve to NO if the result is a draw or a loss.

Background

The 2026 Candidates Tournament is an eight-player tournament that determines the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2026. This event lasts from March 28th to April 16, 2026. This is a double round-robin tournament with 14 rounds. Each player will have the opportunity to play with white and black against the seven other players.

Player ratings before the Candidates are as follows:

Hikaru Nakamura: 2810 (World #2)

Fabiano Caruana: 2795 (World #3)

Wei Yi: 2754 (World #8)

Anish Giri: 2753 (World #9)

Javokhir Sindarov: 2745 (World #11)

Praggnanandhaa R: 2741 (World #12)

Andrey Esipenko: 2698 (World #32)

Matthias Bluebaum: 2698 (World #34)

Round 1 Pairings

Caruana (W) vs. Nakamura (B)

Sindarov (W) vs. Esipenko (B)

Bluebaum (W) vs. Wei Yi (B)

Praggnanandhaa (W) vs. Anish Giri (B)