FIDE Candidates 2026: India’s Praggnanandhaa, Divya, Vaishali find going tough in opening rounds
India’s R Praggnanandhaa, R Vaishali and Divya Deshmukh have found the going tough in the FIDE Candidates 2026 tournament, happening in Cyprus.
At the end of the fourth round, Praggnanandhaa is the only one of the three to have claimed a win in the tournament so far – an opening-day triumph over Dutch GM Anish Giri.
Despite the strong start, Praggnanandhaa is currently joint-third in the open standings, 1.5 points behind early pacesetter Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov, who bettered the Indian GM in the third round.
ALSO READ | Javokhir Sindarov — the Uzbek jewel taking FIDE Chess Candidates 2026 by storm
Meanwhile, in the women’s section, Vaishali has strung together four draws and sits joint-third and is only 0.5 points behind leaders Anna Muzychuk and Bibisara Assaubayeva.
Candidates debutant Divya Deshmukh has endured a tough initiation and has dropped to the bottom of the standings. The World Cup champion began with three draws before being outplayed by Zhu Jiner in the fourth round.
Thursday’s rest day will allow the Indian trio to regroup and make a case to emerge as World Championship challenger.
But, the road is only likely to get tougher. For Praggnanandhaa, of the 10 remaining games, four will be against pre-tournament favourites and Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura.
For Vaishali, there are four games in store against higher-ranked Chinese players Tan Zhongyi and Zhu. She will also be up against Divya in the ninth round, meaning assured drop points from an Indian perspective.
Remaining FIDE Candidates 2026 fixtures for Indian players
Round 5 (April 3)
R. Praggnanandhaa (White) vs. Andrey Esipenko
R. Vaishali (Black) vs. Zhu Jiner
Divya Deshmukh (Black) vs. Tan Zhongyi
Round 6 (April 4)
R. Praggnanandhaa (Black) vs. Hikaru Nakamura
R. Vaishali (Black) vs. Kateryna Lagno
Divya Deshmukh (Black) vs. Bibisara Assaubayeva
Round 7 (April 5)
R. Praggnanandhaa (White) vs. Fabiano Caruana
R. Vaishali (White) vs. Tan Zhongyi
Divya Deshmukh (White) vs. Kateryna Lagno
Round 8 (April 7)
R. Praggnanandhaa (Black) vs. Anish Giri
R. Vaishali (Black) vs. Bibisara Assaubayeva
Divya Deshmukh (Black) vs. Anna Muzychuk
Round 9 (April 8)
R. Praggnanandhaa (White) vs. Wei Yi
R. Vaishali (White) vs. Divya Deshmukh
Divya Deshmukh (Black) vs. R. Vaishali
Round 10 (April 9)
R. Praggnanandhaa (Black) vs. Javokhir Sindarov
R. Vaishali (Black) vs. Anna Muzychuk
Divya Deshmukh (White) vs. Aleksandra Goryachkina
Round 11 (April 11)
R. Praggnanandhaa (White) vs. Matthias Bluebaum
R. Vaishali (Black) vs. Aleksandra Goryachkina
Divya Deshmukh (Black) vs. Zhu Jiner
Round 12 (April 12)
R. Praggnanandhaa (Black) vs. Andrey Esipenko
R. Vaishali (White) vs. Zhu Jiner
Divya Deshmukh (White) vs. Tan Zhongyi
Round 13 (April 14)
R. Praggnanandhaa (Black) vs. Fabiano Caruana
R. Vaishali (White) vs. Kateryna Lagno
Divya Deshmukh (White) vs. Bibisara Assaubayeva
Round 14 (April 15)
R. Praggnanandhaa (White) vs. Hikaru Nakamura
R. Vaishali (Black) vs. Tan Zhongyi
Divya Deshmukh (Black) vs. Kateryna Lagno
Published on Apr 02, 2026