After Divya, Humpy & Vaishali, who’s next? The race for remaining Candidates 2026 spots across categories

This also means India will have three players featuring in the Women’s Candidates for the first time in history.

The Candidates Tournament is a challenger event where eight players qualify through different paths; the winner earns the right to challenge the reigning World Champion. The winner of the 2026 Women’s Candidates will play in the World Championship match against China’s Ju Wenjun, who has won the ultimate title five times.

Seven of the eight spots for the upcoming Women’s Candidates have been confirmed. While Divya, Humpy, and Tan Zhongyi qualified by being the top three finishers in the FIDE Women’s World Cup 2025, Zhu Jiner and Aleksandra Goryachkina qualified as the winner and runner-up, respectively, of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2024–25 cycle.

Lagno also qualified for the eight-player event by placing second in the 2025 Grand Swiss.

The final spot has been reserved for a player through the FIDE Women’s Events 2024–25, which will be decided later based on performance in various tournaments.

Confirmed Player’s List for Women’s Candidates 2026

After three Indians — D. Gukesh, R. Praggnanandhaa, and Vidit Gujrathi — qualified for the Toronto Candidates in 2024, this time not a single male player from India has yet confirmed a spot for the Candidates 2026. However, there are still five more spots up for grabs in the Open Section, as only Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, and Matthias Blübaum have qualified for the event.

Caruana finished on top of the 2024 FIDE Circuit leaderboard to confirm his qualification, while Giri and Blübaum finished first and second, respectively, in the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss Open Section to secure their berths.

Praggnanandhaa is in a very comfortable position on the 2025 FIDE Circuit leaderboard and currently enjoys a healthy lead of over 50 points against his closest competitor, Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Although Anish Giri is currently placed above Abdusattorov in second behind Praggnanandhaa, he has already qualified through other means, effectively making it a direct competition between the Uzbek prodigy Abdusattorov and Praggnanandhaa.

If things remain as they are and no dramatic changes occur before the end of the year, Praggnanandhaa, like his sister Vaishali, will also qualify for his second Candidates. The highest average rating spot is all but certain to go to USA’s Hikaru Nakamura, who is playing many lower-rated events to maintain his overall rating while staying active enough to remain eligible through this path.

The remaining three spots will be determined at the upcoming FIDE World Cup, set to take place in Goa later this year. Players like Arjun Erigaisi — who has experienced several near misses over the last two years that have kept him out of the Candidates — will have a genuine shot at qualifying. Other Indians, such as Pranav V, Vidit Gujrathi, and Nihal Sarin, will also be in contention to secure a Candidates spot through the World Cup.

Confirmed Player’s List for Candidates 2026