Ian Nepomniachtchi names Praggnanandhaa among two favourites to win Candidates in tier list

India’s R Praggnanandhaa thinks about his next move during a game in Tata Steel Chess India in Kolkata. (Express photo by Partha Paul)

“The same can be said about Fabiano (Caruana), who is just a very strong chess player. Caruana says there is definitely one more cycle ( in him) when he will definitely try to do his best there. He says, of course, I will try very hard. In the 2024 Circuit, he already qualified for the 2026 Candidates. That is, he achieved this goal in advance. And it would seem that 2025 for him should have been so-so; it would seem that in 2025 he would not try to push himself too hard. But he again played very well. That is, he practically did not lose any rating. Maybe he even added a little. Also, he became, I don’t know, for the 5th or 10th time, the US champion. That is, he won a pretty strong round-robin event again. And he has, let’s say, there is a whole group of like-minded people around him. In St. Louis, all the conditions for his training are provided. And, of course, he will be very seriously preparing for this tournament.”

The American grandmaster has qualified for the world championship once, where Magnus Carlsen prevailed to retain his title. At the last Candidates, Caruana came close, but it was a final round draw with Nepo that helped Gukesh secure a ticket to the world championship against Ding Liren. Nepomniachtchi pointed out what might hamper Caruana’s bid to win the Candidates.

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“The only problem is that Caruana, as we have seen several times previously, can burn out. It obviously happened to him in Madrid Candidates. He was trailing me behind by half a point. I had a plus-4, he had a plus-3 score. But, apparently, he did not take the words of Magnus Carlsen seriously enough about Magnus not intending to defend his title. And, as a result, I think the second place was taken by a person who scored plus 2. I think Ding Liren scored plus 2. Hikaru Nakamura had plus 2 before the last round. Ding had plus 1. And they played against each other. Caruana finished the tournament even in the minus zone. He lost a few games at the finish line. That’s it. Unfortunately, some kind of tilt got him. In the same way, he had all the chances in Toronto. That is, in the last round. I was very ashamed that I finished that game in a draw. Very ashamed, because he played a great game. And somewhere, only before time control, he made a mistake for the first time. And after the control, he could no longer use his chances. That’s it. And, of course, I would have liked him to qualify for the world championship match. For me, personally. Because he has definitely been the second best player, let’s say, over the last 10 years after Magnus. Maybe even over a longer period. To be honest, Fabiano has been at this job for a long time. And, of course, yes, I would like him to become the World Champion personally.”

R Praggnanandhaa, Anish Giri, and Fabiano Caruana will be fighting it out in the eight-man Candidates tournament from March 28 to April 16. (Picture Credit: GCL)

WATCH: Ian Nepomniachtchi ranks Candidates players in Tier List

Nepomniachtchi then graded the rest of the Candidates contenders in a “tier list” with Grade A reserved for players with the best chances of winning the Candidates, players in Grade B having lesser chances and so on.

“My top 2 favorites include Fabiano, probably to a slightly bigger extent, and Pragg, to a slightly lesser extent. I would put them in Tier A, right? In tier B I would put Wei Yi, Hikaru Nakamura and Anish Giri. Giri to a slightly lesser extent. But, again, I think he’s still a very strong chess player. And, of course, he will prepare for the tournament very seriously. Tier C will probably be Javokhir Sindarov and Andrey Esipenko.

“And Tier D, unfortunately, is Matthias Bluebaum. Everyone, I think, expected to see a German grandmaster in the Candidates. I think if it were Vincent Keymer, he would be one of the main contenders for the victory. Because he has shown very steady progress in chess, I have rarely seen such a thing. And, of course, it is clear that Peter Leko deserves much of the credit for this. But, in principle, Vincent himself is also a very thorough young man. But, well, as they say, not this time. As for Bluebaum, he can surprise someone. Yes, he can play a great game, I think, if they come at him too aggressively. That is, if they try to take him down as an outsider. But, again, if they don’t come at him, I don’t quite understand how he will score wins in this event. But, on the other hand, the Candidates kind of precludes that someone wants to win, someone is ambitious, someone is trying to gain points. And therefore, sometimes they will risk a little more than permissible.”