Candidates Round 14: Sindarov and Vaishali Are Officially the WCC Challengers

About the Candidates and What's at Stake?

The Candidates tournament is an eight-player double round robin whose winner earns the right to challenge the reigning world champion in a world championship match. Historically, the Candidates was an elimination knockout tournament, but since 2013, it has been conducted as a double round robin with eight players.

Lichess Coverage

Lichess will produce in-depth blog posts with annotations for each round of the 2026 FIDE Candidates. GM Axel Bachmann (@ABachmann) will annotate R1–7 and GM Maksim Chigaev (@Fandorine96) R8–14 + potential tiebreaks from the Open Candidates, while WGM Petra Papp (@cukus) will annotate R1–4, IM / WGM Lilit Mkrtchian (@Lilit-Mkrtchian) R5–7, and IM / WGM Ekaterina Atalik (@EkaterinaAtalik) R8–14 + potential tiebreaks from the Women's Candidates. Lichess will also create videos for each round of the tournament, with interviews and other types of content. Keep an eye on our socials for the videos!

Tournament Schedule

Interviews

Make sure to check out all of our interviews from the Candidates on our YouTube channel! All our round 14 interviews are also embedded throughout this article.

Lichess Broadcast

The Lichess broadcast for the Candidates can be found here:

https://adjva4.dpdns.org/broadcast/fide-candidates-2026/oe4JqS3R

Open Leaderboard

Open Overview

GM Javokhir Sindarov finished his electrifying tournament with a quiet draw against GM Wei Yi, with GM R Praggnanandhaa and GM Hikaru Nakamura also playing an equal, though highly complex, line to quickly draw their game. Meanwhile, GM Anish Giri profited from an uncharacteristic blunder by GM Matthias Blübaum, where the latter played too aggressively, and GM Fabiano Caruana played a model attacking game in the Sicilian Najdorf against GM Andrey Esipenko.

GM Matthias Blübaum vs. GM Anish Giri 0-1

Watch our interview with GM Anish Giri here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-2Ax2HGQvs

GM Matthias Blübaum has shown that despite his solid style, he does not shy away from confrontation. He once again played aggressively, just as he did in round 9. However, similar to that game, long castles was a move that ended up haunting Blübaum — as compared to round 9, it was in fact a game-losing blunder and not the best move in the position which only created a chaotic position. GM Anish Giri capitalized on Blübaum's blunder with alacrity, winning a piece and soon enough, the game.

GM Maksim Chigaev has annotated this game for you to learn from:

GM Andrey Esipenko vs. GM Fabiano Caruana 0-1

GM Andrey Esipenko vs. GM Fabiano Caruana; photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE, FIDE Candidates 2026

GM Fabiano Caruana finished his tournament on a high note, defeating GM Andrey Esipenko in a model Sicilian Najdorf game. Esipenko's rare 6. Qd3 was met with the uncommon 6...g6 response, and soon the players were out of book. Esipenko seemed out of his element in the resulting position, while Caruana was playing the typical plans with flare, sacrificing the exchange on e3 in classic Sicilian fashion. Esipenko was not yet lost, but further inaccurate play on the kingside saw Caruana crash through on the queenside, sealing the deal exactly on the 40th move of the game.

GM Maksim Chigaev has annotated this game for you to learn from:

GM Javokhir Sindarov vs. GM Wei Yi 1/2-1/2

GM Javokhir Sindarov vs. GM Wei Yi; photo: Niki Riga / FIDE, FIDE Candidates 2026

Before the round, GM Javokhir Sindarov indicated that he wanted to finish on +7, but that he was not too focused on said result and was just happy to win the tournament. The Spanish Variation of the Four Knights Game he chose today against GM Wei Yi, which Sindarov has experience in, showed that he was more than happy to finish the tournament without any losses and solidify his incredibly impressive result.

GM R Praggnanandhaa vs. GM Hikaru Nakamura 1/2-1/2

Watch our interview with GM R Praggnanandhaa here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO_CiZYeYHI

GM R Praggnanandhaa's draw against GM Hikaru Nakamura was a quick one in terms of number of moves, but it was highly intriguing from a chess perspective as those who are unfamiliar with this particular line can enjoy analyzing it deeply. For Nakamura, though, he clearly belonged to the second group, or those who have worked out this line to a forced draw; Nakamura had only spent about 14 minutes of his game clock for the first 27 moves, while Praggnanandhaa too was playing relatively quickly, with about 40 minutes spent at the same juncture. The players spent some more time ensuring they played accurately in the endgame and found a way to draw by repetition on move 33.

Women's Leaderboard

Women's Overview

GM Vaishali Rameshbabu is the 2026 Women's Candidates winner after defeating GM Kateryna Lagno in a one-sided game in the Sicilian Dragon. Meanwhile, GM Bibisara Assaubayeva finished half a point behind Vaishali after narrowly drawing GM Divya Deshmukh. GM Anna Muzychuk played a somewhat calm, positional game against GM Zhu Jiner, where she had an advantage but could not convert said edge, while GM Aleksandra Goryachkina won an outstanding, technical game against GM Tan Zhongyi.

GM Vaishali Rameshbabu vs. GM Kateryna Lagno 1-0

Watch our interview with GM Vaishali Rameshbabu here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-T3x6sj5g8

GM Kateryna Lagno had chosen to play, just as in almost all her other games, a rare opening at the top levels of chess: this time, it was the Sicilian Dragon. Despite the tournament situation, GM Vaishali Rameshbabu showed tremendous courage, playing the very dangerous, but theoretically sound, Yugoslav Attack. Her decision paid off splendidly as Lagno mixed up her preparation, playing 11...Be6? instead of the correct 11...e6!. From there, Vaishali won a pawn, but the position was always very tricky to convert as Lagno's attack on the queenside raged on. Vaishali was up to the task, however, defending with extreme precision and thus clinching her ticket to the 2026 Women's World Chess Championship.

IM / WGM Ekaterina Atalik has annotated this game for you to learn from:

GM Divya Deshmukh vs. GM Bibisara Assaubayeva 1/2-1/2

GM Divya Deshmukh vs. GM Bibisara Assaubayeva; photo: Niki Riga / FIDE, FIDE Candidates 2026

GM Divya Deshmukh's rare Tartakower Attack eventually reached a position that resembled some sort of highly unusual Fianchetto Benoni Defense, which GM Bibisara Assaubayeva had essayed in an effort to win the game so that she could at the very least force tiebreaks. Unfortunately for Assaubayeva, Divya had kept the position under control and was better for most of the game. After Assaubayeva's 25...Nxf2??, Divya even missed a chance to win the game on move 27, where 27. Nd6!! instead of 27. Rxb7?? would have been a pleasant find for Divya. As it stood following Divya's blunder, the game was equal and Assaubayeva ultimately forced a draw by perpetual check.

IM / WGM Ekaterina Atalik has annotated this game for you to learn from:

GM Anna Muzychuk vs. GM Zhu Jiner 1/2-1/2

GM Anna Muzychuk vs. GM Zhu Jiner; photo: Niki Riga / FIDE, FIDE Candidates 2026

GM Anna Muzychuk had already gained a space advantage from the opening in round 8, and in today's game, the Hedgehog pawn formation employed by GM Zhu Jiner also offered Muzychuk crushing freedom for her pieces. Muzychuk gradually improved her pieces, aiming to further increase her advantage, but as the round 8 game and countless others in chess history show, commanding technique is required to convert space-up positions. After some inaccurate exchanges, Muzychuk was no longer better and actually had to play for equality in the endgame.

GM Aleksandra Goryachkina vs. GM Tan Zhongyi 1-0

GM Aleksandra Goryachkina vs. Tan Zhongyi; photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE, FIDE Candidates 2026

From a typically quite dry line of the Petrov Defense, GM Aleksandra Goryachkina played a technically remarkable game, squeezing every inch of the position in Karpovian-like fashion. GM Tan Zhongyi had some chances to equalize in the endgame, but many of Tan's options looked similar to each other, so it was very difficult to imagine how she could choose the correct move over the others. After achieving a two-pawn advantage, Goryachkina was able to finish her game in style with 63. Ne7!.