FIDE Candidates 2026 R1: Praggnanandhaa outwits Giri

By admin March 30, 2026 Updated: May 13, 2026 0 comments

FIDE Candidates 2026 is off to an explosive start. Three out of four games ended decisively. Javokhir Sindarov (UZB), R Praggnanandhaa and Fabiano Caruana (USA) scored a win each against Andrey Esipenko, Anish Giri (NED) and Hikaru Nakamura (USA) respectively. The sole draw was between Matthias Bluebaum (GER) and Wei Yi (CHN).

An exciting start

Very few would have predicted that the first round would have three decisive results out of four and that also White pieces winning them all.

Sindarov – Esipenko: 1-0

This is the first time FIDE World Cup 2025 winner, GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB, 2745) faced the second runner-up of the same event, Andrey Esipenko (2698) in a Classical rated game.

Position after 30.Qh5

Esipenko made the necessary exchange sacrifice 30…Rxe5! 31.Rxe5 Qc6?? instead 31…Bc7 is what Black needed to play. The game continued 32.bxc4+- bxc4 33.Ba4 Qc5 34.Qg6 Ba7 35.Re8 Rxe8 36.Qxe8+ Kh7 37.Qg6+ Kg8 38.Bd7 c3 39.Qe8+ Kh7 40.Qg6+ Kg8 41.Re6! a beautiful finish as checkmate is unstoppable irrespective of Black taking the rook.

Javokhir Sindarov (UZB) scored an emphatic victory over Andrey Esipenko | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Press Conference with Javokhir Sindarov and Andrey Esipenko | Video: FIDE

Matthias Bluebaum (GER) – Wei Yi (CHN): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Press Conference with Wei Yi and Matthias Bluebaum | Video: FIDE

Praggnanandhaa – Giri: 1-0

R Praggnanandhaa (2741) and Anish Giri (NED, 2753) played nine Classical rated games against each other. Giri won two, Praggnanandhaa two and the remaining six ended in draws. All three decisive games ended in favor of the player with the white pieces. This time, it was no different. Praggnanandhaa opted for the Grand Prix attack in Sicilian Defence. In the endgame, Giri cracked.

Position after 36…Nf6??

Despite the knight finding a good square on e3, Giri maneuevered it back to f6 36…Nf6?? 37.Re6+- Rxg5 38.Rxf6 Rg4 39.h5 Ne5 40.h6 Nf3+ 41.Kf1 Nxe1 42.Kxe1 Rxg2 43.Rxf4 and White won the game in eight more moves.

R Praggnanandhaa scored his second ever Classical win over Anish Giri | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Caruana – Nakamura: 1-0

The last time Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2795) defeated Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 2810) in a Classical rated tournament was the first round of Candidates in 2022. Almost four years later, Caruana repeated the same result with the white pieces again. Caruana won a long queen, rook and opposite color bishop endgame.

Fabiano Caruana (USA) ended his near four-year long Classical win drought against Hikaru Nakamura (USA) | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Interview with Fabiano Caruana | Video: FIDE

Fabiano Caruana (USA) signing autographs for his fans | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Criton Tomaritis, President, Cyprus Chess Federation, made the inaugural first move on Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura’s board | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Round 1 in progress | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

GM Peter Svidler and GM Jan Gustafsson are the official commentators | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Replay Round 1 live stream

Replay Round 1 live commentary by GM Peter Svidler and GM Jan Gustafsson | Video: FIDE

Replay Round 1 games

Round 1 results

Round 1 witnessed three decisive games | Graphic: FIDE

Round 2 pairings

Andrey Esipenko — Hikaru Nakamura
Anish Giri — Fabiano Caruana
Wei Yi — Praggnanandhaa R
Javokhir Sindarov — Matthias Bluebaum

Schedule

FIDE Candidates Open and Women will take place from 29th March to 15th April. Tie-breaks, if needed, will be played on 16th April. Rest days are on 2nd, 6th, 10th and 13th April 2026.