R Praggnanandhaa earns spot in 2026 Candidates Tournament after winning FIDE Circuit

R Praggnanandhaa won the FIDE Circuit 2025 with 115.17 points.

India’s young chess star R Praggnanandhaa has clinched the FIDE Circuit 2025 title and earned a spot in the 2026 Candidates Tournament, where the winner will challenge India’s own World Champion, D. Gukesh, for the world title.

Praggnanandhaa, the 20-year-old Grandmaster from Chennai finished the year with 115.17 points with a massive lead over second-placed Anish Giri, who scored 81.18 points.

It wasn’t an easy road.

At the recently concluded FIDE Chess World Cup in Goa, playing on home soil, Praggnanandhaa was eliminated in the fourth round after losing a tie-break to Russia’s Daniil Dubov, missing his chance to qualify for the Candidates through the World Cup.

In fact, no other Indian could earn one of the top three spots in Panaji. The last hope Arjun Erigaisi ended his campaign in the quarter-finals losing to the Chinese Grand Master Wei Yi.

Also Read: FIDE Chess World Cup 2025 Payouts: How much did Indian chess players earn in prize money?

However, Praggnanandhaa’s incredible journey through the 2025 season has something special in store, he now stands as the only Indian to qualify for the 2026 Candidates Tournament so far.

From winning the Tata Steel Masters where he edged past D Gukesh in a playoff to claiming the Superbet Chess Classic Romania after tie-breaks with MVL and Alireza Firouzja, he was constantly at the forefront of top-level chess.

June saw him lift the UzChess Cup Masters trophy after a dramatic comeback in the final round, and he shared first place at the London Chess Classic Open. He also finished as runner-up in the Stepan Avagyan Memorial and Sinquefield Cup. He is currently ranked 7th with 2761 FIDE rating.

As of now, seven of the eight players have officially qualified for the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament, which will be held in Cyprus.

Qualified players for Candidates 2026

• R. Praggnanandhaa (India) – Winner of the FIDE Circuit 2025
• Fabiano Caruana (USA) – Winner of the FIDE Circuit 2024
• Anish Giri (Netherlands) – Winner of the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament
• Matthias Blubaum (Germany) – Runner-up of the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament
• Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan) – Winner of the FIDE World Cup 2025
• Wei Yi (China) – Runner-up of the FIDE World Cup 2025
• Andrey Esipenko (FIDE/Russia) – Third-place finisher of the FIDE World Cup 2025

Only one spot remains which can be secured by the player with the highest average rating between August 2025 and January 2026 who hasn’t qualified by other means, which is highly likely to be Hikaru Nakamura. The American is currently second with 2810 FIDE rating.

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