The Candidates Tournament is the most prestigious event behind the World Championship itself. It is 8 player double round robin tournament that determines the World Championship challenger in the next cycle.

Current player rankings and Elo scores are:

• Hikaru Nakamura (#2) - 2810

• Fabiano Caruana (#3) - 2795

• Praggnanandhaa R (#6-8) - 2760

• Anish Giri (#6-8) - 2760

• Wei Yi (#9) - 2754

• Javokhir Sindarov (#22) - 2726

• Andrey Esipenko (#35) - 2695

• Matthias Blübaum (#44) - 2678

However Candidates tournaments are usually pretty chaotic and often the biggest favorites do not win.

* Hikaru Nakamura or other player who qualifies via the rating spot (~99% certain it will be Hikaru).

** Praggnanandhaa R or other player who qualifies via FIDE Circuit spot (~99% certain it will be Pragg).