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Candidates Chess 2026 takes place in Paphos, Cyprus, from 28 March to 16 April 2026. It is an eight-player double round-robin, meaning each participant plays every other player twice (14 rounds total).

Participants include Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, R Praggnanandhaa, Anish Giri, Wei Yi, Andrey Esipenko, Javokhir Sindarov, and Matthias Blübaum. Candidates Chess 2026 start with round 1 on March 29th. The final round is April 16th. This is the official FIDE broadcast with Peter Svidler and Jan Gustafsson

Candidates Chess 2026 takes place in Paphos, Cyprus, from 28 March to 16 April 2026. It is an eight-player double round-robin, meaning each participant plays every other player twice (14 rounds total).

Participants include Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, R Praggnanandhaa, Anish Giri, Wei Yi, Andrey Esipenko, Javokhir Sindarov, and Matthias Blübaum. Candidates Chess 2026 start with round 1 on March 29th. The final round is April 16th.

Have you ever heard of “The Great Bluebaum Sweep”? It’s a playful, ironic meme that pops up in the chess community, centered around German Grandmaster Matthias Blübaum. “The Great Bluebaum Sweep” imagines Blübaum absolutely steamrolling the Candidates Tournament, not just winning it, but doing so in absurdly dominant fashion. Fans exaggerate this idea to the extreme, joking that he’ll go a flawless 14/14 in the double round-robin format, defeating every top contender without dropping a single point.

In a spirit of goodwill and cooperation, with a virtual handshake, the Stockfish and Reckless teams present a peaceful solution in the face of a challenging force majeure situation.

Reckless chess engine is making headlines in computer chess by breaking a long term duopoly. Chessdom spoke to Arseniy Surkov about the key features of the engine, the team behind it, and the future of the engines.

Follow Reckless vs Stockfish TCEC Superfinal / Top Chess Engine Championship live on Chessdom

Candidates Chess 2026 takes place in Paphos, Cyprus, from 28 March to 16 April 2026. It is an eight-player double round-robin, meaning each participant plays every other player twice (14 rounds total).

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, often called “Pragg,” is one of the most exciting young talents in modern chess. Now Pragg is ready to take the big step and will play the Candidates 2026 with one major hope for India, a direct match Gukesh vs Pragg for the World Championship title.

Candidates Chess 2026 live / Pragg vs Anish Giri, Candidates Chess 2026 R1 live

The 2026 edition of the Reykjavík Open, one of the most established tournaments on the international chess calendar, begins today (25 March) and runs through 31 March at the Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavík, Iceland. Participation remains one of the tournament’s defining characteristics. Organizers capped the field at roughly 400 players, and registration closed early due to high demand, with a waiting list introduced—an indicator of sustained global interest. The 2026 lineup features a strong mix of elite grandmasters and ambitious young talents.

With the Candidates Chess 2026 starting this week in Paphsos, Cyprus, tension around the tournament is rising. At stake is not only the challenger’s spot, but also the smooth running of the tournament. Humpy Koneru shared she does not feel safe there and withdrew from the women section of the event.

At the end of 2025, Andrey Esipenko, a native of the Rostov region, took third place at the Chess World Cup held in Goa, India. Andrey came within one step of the top title. However, even third place allowed him to qualify for the Candidates Tournament, whose winner will face the World Chess Champion.