Divya Deshmukh, Koneru Humpy and R Vaishali have qualified for the Women’s Candidates while R Praggnanandhaa is the only Indian in the ‘Open’ Candidates.
Four Indians will be in action in the Candidates Tournament that will be taking place in Cyprus in the months of March and April next year and will be determining the challenger to D Gukesh and Ju Wenjun, the reigning world champion in the open and women’s categories respectively.
Three of those Indians – Grandmasters Koneru Humpy, Divya Deshmukh and R Vaishali – will be competing in the Women’s Candidates. The ‘Open’ Candidates, on the other hand, has R Praggnanandhaa as the only Indian among eight competitors – down from three in the previous edition last year, in which Gukesh had become the youngest champion in the tournament’s history.
The latest edition of the prestigious tournament will be taking place at the Cap St Georges Hotel & Resort near Paphos, on the south-western coast of the Mediterranean island nation, from 28 March to 16 April.
How the four Indians qualified for the 2026 Candidates
Divya and Humpy had qualified for the Women’s Candidates after securing a top-three finish in the Women’s World Cup in July by setting up a historic all-Indian final – which the
former ended up winning. Vaishali would then join them by
winning the FIDE Grand Swiss for the second consecutive year.
Praggnanandhaa became the only Indian to qualify for the ‘Open’ Candidates earlier this week after winning the 2025 FIDE Circuit. ‘Pragg’ enjoyed a solid run this year, winning the Tata Steel Chess in February as well as Superbet Chess Classic Romania and UzChess Cup Masters later this year.
The 20-year-old had most recently competed in the London Chess Classic, where he had finished joint-first with 7 points after nine rounds and eventually finished third after the tie-breaks.
The upcoming Candidates will be the second on the trot featuring siblings Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali. Praggnanandhaa had finished fifth in the previous edition in Toronto, while Vaishali finished fourth in the women’s event.
Veteran GM Humpy, meanwhile, will be making her third consecutive appearance – having bowed out in the quarter-finals in 2022-23 and finished runner-up in Toronto last year.
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