Life at the Candidates

By Yevgeny Levanzov

The tournament was hosted at the luxurious five-star Cap St. Georges Hotel & Resort, overlooking the sea. Interestingly, the hotel's entrance floor and lobby are located on the sixth floor, while the guest rooms are situated below, due to the hotel being built on a mountainside. At the entrance level stood the FIDE desk, where spectators, media personnel, and others received their accreditation badges. The third floor served as the main tournament level, housing the playing hall, media and broadcast rooms, and the fan zone, where lectures, simultaneous exhibitions, masterclasses, and other events took place. Notably, an additional fan zone was set up on the entrance level outdoors, offering an impressive sea view.

View from the hotel

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In this video course experts examine the games of Bent Larsen. Let them show you which openings Larsen chose, where his strength in middlegames were, how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame & you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities!
Bent Larsen (1935–2010) was the greatest chess player in Danish history, and for a time, the second-strongest player in the Western world behind Bobby Fischer. Between 1954 and 1971, he won the Danish Championship six times, and achieved numerous international tournament victories throughout his career. 
Free video sample: Introduction to Bent Larsen by Peter Heine Nielsen
Free video sample: Introduction to the Opening Section

The hotel lobby

The playing and living conditions for the participants were perhaps among the best in the entire history of Candidates Tournaments. In particular, the players enjoyed spacious rooms, a rich and diverse selection of food at the various meals, breathtaking sea views, and peaceful natural surroundings for walks. The hotel staff, at every level and in every role, devoted themselves fully to the success of the event, and their dedication was clearly felt. Some of them even took an interest in the tournament format and in how the World Championship cycle is conducted.

Excellent video tours of the hotel and the playing halls were made by the legendary Indian journalist IM Sagar Shah, and they can be viewed here:

FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 venue tour | Video: ChessBase India

Tour of the breakfast spread at the restaurant | Video: ChessBase India

The FIDE team selected to organize and run the tournament was exceptionally professional. All schedules, procedures, and the not-so-simple logistics were executed flawlessly, with continuous explanations provided to visitors about the various events.

All rounds of the tournament began at 15:30, and entry to the playing hall was allowed during three time windows: 15:20–15:30 (before the round), 17:30–17:40, and 19:20–19:30. Once a spectator entered the hall, they could remain there for as long as they wished; however, once they left, they could not re-enter until the next time window. Naturally, upon entering the hall, every spectator was carefully checked with metal detectors, and signal detectors were also used during the tournament, as part of the fair play regulations.

The information board at the entrance to the playing hall

The playing hall was both comfortable and impressive, designed in an L-shape. The dominant colour was green, chosen as the main background theme for this edition of the Candidates Tournament. The boards of the Open and Women's events were arranged alternately, and next to each table, there was a screen displaying the game live.

The spectators' area was set about three meters away from the boards and included a VIP section with elegant seating, as well as a standing area behind it. The young FIDE volunteers were strict in enforcing silence, and the spectators behaved impeccably.

When I first entered the playing hall, just as the games began and the "sacred silence" of chess took hold, it was a magical experience to observe the thought processes and body language of the world’s top players. Some, such as Sindarov and Giri, tended to walk around frequently, while others barely left their seats, maintaining intense concentration as they studied the position.

Each round attracted over 100 spectators, with significantly larger crowds on Saturdays and Sundays compared to weekdays. Naturally, some of the spectators were chess journalists, who followed the games closely and took notes that later became questions at the press conferences. At the start of each round, a ceremonial first move was usually made by a well-known chess figure.

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Every round was fully broadcasted, with commentary by the legendary duo – GMs Peter Svidler and Jan Gustafsson.

The playing hall | Photo: Michal Walusza

Alongside the playing hall, a fan zone operated under the excellent leadership of Angelika Valkova. A wide range of activities for visitors took place there, including lectures, masterclasses, simultaneous exhibitions, and live commentary. During the first part of the tournament, the weather was rainy, so all events were held in the fan zone adjacent to the playing hall. Once the weather turned sunny, the activities moved to the open-air fan zone.

The author of these lines was given the great privilege and honour of delivering several lectures as part of the fan zone program. Originally, two lectures were planned: the first, titled "Chess Mathematics", dealt with natural mathematical problems involving chess pieces and the board - from well-known puzzles such as the eight queens problem to less familiar ones. The second lecture, titled "Chess and Machines", surveyed the history of chess engines and software, and explained the fundamental differences between traditional engines such as Stockfish and Komodo, and machine-learning-based engines such as AlphaZero (or Leela Chess Zero, Lc0).

Upon my arrival at the tournament, I was asked whether I could give an additional lecture. I gladly agreed and suggested a talk on the lives and games of the American genius Paul Morphy and the 8^th World Champion, the "Magician from Riga", Mikhail Tal, two figures whose influence on the development of the game has been immense. Needless to say, each lecture was thoroughly rehearsed.

The lectures attracted considerable interest, and the audiences were diverse: local children and teenagers, adult spectators from several countries, GMs who were visiting the tournament or assisting one of the players, and more. One attendee was even a Catholic priest!

"Chess and Machines" lecture | Photo: Eugene Nisenbaum

After finishing my role as a lecturer, I had the privilege of attending fascinating talks by several legends of the game: an excellent lecture by British chess legend Nigel Short, former World Championship challenger (and currently responsible within FIDE for developing chess in emerging countries), on building an attack against a king stuck in the centre; a Q&A session with the 15^th World Champion, Vishy Anand; a simultaneous exhibition with grandmaster Boris Gelfand, who attended together with his son Avner; live game analysis by former Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk; an excellent lecture by the renowned grandmaster, coach, and author Jacob Aagaard on the importance of analysing without the use of a computer; an enlightening talk by the well-known grandmaster Maurice Ashley, in which he presented remarkable studies of his own; solving brilliant tactical puzzles with the legendary IM Sagar Shah and his wife Amruta.

GM Nigel Short's lecture (hosted by Angelika Valkova)

GM Boris Gelfand's simul

It is worth noting that some of the players came to the fan zone after finishing their games, where they met enthusiastic fans who were waiting to get autographs and take photos with them.

Sindarov poses for photos with fans | Photo: Michal Walusza

The fan zone hall was named after the Scheinberg family, which has been making significant contributions to FIDE and to the development of chess for the past eight years. The head of the family, Isai Scheinberg, visited on one of the days and was given the honour of making the ceremonial first move in one of the games.

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Free sample video: Introduction
Free sample video: Colour Reversed Banoni - Game 1

Interview with Isai Sсheinberg, chess supporter and awardee of the FIDE Medal of Merit | Video: FIDE

You can find the full schedule of fan zone events here.

The human side

We will conclude the first part of this review with a few touching human stories.

I had the privilege of speaking with perhaps two of the greatest chess journalists in history, both of whom visited the tournament: The Dutch journalist Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, editor-in-chief for over a decade of the world's leading chess magazine New In Chess, and a member of its editorial team since 1985 (a year after it was founded by the late legendary Jan Timman). He has spoken with and interviewed nearly all of the Soviet chess giants, and in our conversation, he shared some stories about his encounters with Mikhail Tal and David Bronstein. Dirk Jan also has a unique and remarkable chess library in his home in The Hague, containing rare and antique books. On the rest day, he interviewed Boris Gelfand.

The Spanish journalist and chess master Leontxo García, who has been covering chess for over 40 years for the leading Spanish newspaper El País, and has attended nearly every World Championship match and Candidates Tournament. His passion for the game remains extraordinary even after so many years. García spoke about his great excitement when, early in his career, he was sent to cover the second match between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov in Moscow in 1985.

Interview with Leontxo García | Video: ChessBase

In addition, I had the privilege of meeting and speaking with the founder and driving force behind ChessBase India, the legendary IM Sagar Shah. It is hard to find enough praise for this remarkable person, whose passion for chess is truly unparalleled. His tremendous dedication to covering chess events from every possible angle, conducting interviews with both famous players and lesser-known but fascinating figures, and his journalistic innovation are all worthy of the highest praise. It is also worth noting that Sagar is a very humble, kind, and good-humoured person.

Also present at the tournament was the excellent ChessBase journalist Arne Kaehler, known for his colourful interviews and original questions.

Finally, during one of my visits to the playing hall, I was watching Anish Giri pacing back and forth while his opponent, Fabiano Caruana, was thinking over his move. At one point, a small cute child entered the VIP seating area, holding a hand-drawn sign that read "Go Hikaru!" The child waved the sign, Giri noticed it, and broke into a sly smile that he couldn't quite hide for several seconds. Even elite GMs, at the peak of tension and pressure, are still human.

In a similar vein, it was a truly interesting and unique experience to see the world's top players dining in the hotel restaurant together with their seconds, just like ordinary people. That said, after a while, one does get used to it.

Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam

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Leontxo García | Photo: El País

Sagar Shah

Note: You can explore the presentations delivered by Yevgeny Levanzov during the FIDE Candidates Tournament here.

The Candidates Tournament

And now, to the professional review of the two tournaments. As you all know, the Open section was won by the 20-year-old Uzbek grandmaster Javokhir Sindarov, the 2025 World Cup winner, in a display of dominance the likes of which have not been seen in Candidates Tournaments - at least not in the modern era. He broke into the elite only recently, and his form in the six months leading up to the event was excellent. However, not many believed he was capable of winning, given his lack of experience, and certainly no one anticipated such a commanding performance.

He finished the first half of the tournament with a score of 6/7, with only Matthias Bluebaum and Anish Giri managing to stop him. Interestingly, it all began with a rather poor game on his part against Andrey Esipenko in the first round, in which he was worse with the white pieces and struggled for most of the game. In their encounter, the following critical position arose after White's 27^th move:

Sindarov had only six minutes on the clock, compared to Esipenko's half hour. Black has a clear advantage, thanks to the protected passed pawn and White's bad light-squared bishop. However, at this point, Esipenko made a poor decision, playing 27...Bxf3?, which threw away his entire advantage. Moves like ...Ra8 or ...Bb6 would have maintained the pressure on White's position.

Subsequently, Esipenko collapsed under time pressure, and Sindarov won with the beautiful finishing move 41.Re6!, leading to either checkmate or the loss of significant material.

This game had a major impact on the course of the tournament for both players. It is worth noting that in the first round, three out of the four games were decisive, including a win by Fabiano Caruana over Hikaru Nakamura in the all-American derby.

Round two was almost entirely uneventful. In round three, Javokhir Sindarov, playing Black, defeated his peer Praggnanandhaa in an excellent dynamic game, despite Praggnanandhaa traditionally being a very uncomfortable opponent for him.

At the same time, the main favourite to win the tournament, Fabiano Caruana, crushed Wei Yi in just 19 moves, in a highly unusual and sharp opening line. After White's 17^th move, the following position was reached.

White is completely undeveloped, his king stuck in the centre, and earlier he had wasted several moves with the queen and was even forced to play Rg1 to prevent Bg2. However, as GM Jacob Aagaard likes to say: "Chess is both a game of principles and of specifics". The bishop on h3 is in serious danger, and Black's position is not easy to handle.

Wei Yi went wrong immediately with 17...Ne5? 18.Nxe5 Rxe5 19.Nd1! (a move that was likely overlooked), and there is no way to save the bishop on h3. Wei Yi resigned.

The game that perhaps decided the tournament was Sindarov's win with White against Fabiano Caruana in round four. With excellent preparation, Sindarov managed to catch Caruana in a sideline of the Queen's Gambit Accepted, something quite rare, given Caruana's reputation as a great theoretician. After 18.Bc4, the following complex position arose.

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Earlier, Caruana had already come to terms with the fact that his king would remain in the centre, since castling kingside was extremely dangerous. He played ...Rg8 and ...f5, probably intending ...Be7 and ...Kf8. Now, Bxe6 is a very strong threat (of course, Sindarov never seriously considered capturing on a6, given the position of Black's king).

In this extremely difficult-to-calculate position, Caruana chose the wrong defensive plan: 18...Rg4? (Bxe6?? would be met now with ...Re4). The critical and correct move was 18...Qxd4, and after Bxe6 to continue with ...Qe4. Even so, this would have been very hard to play even for a top-GM, since the d-file would open with the king stuck in the centre. Sindarov converted his advantage with remarkable dynamic understanding. The way Fabi lost this game clearly affected him deeply.

In round five, Sindarov continued his winning streak, defeating Hikaru Nakamura with Black in an extremely complex line of the Marshall Gambit in the Slav Defence. Nakamura forgot his preparation and spent 67 (!) minutes thinking on move 13, surely a record in the modern era of Candidates Tournaments.

After round seven, at the halfway mark, Sindarov had 6 points, while his closest pursuer, Caruana, trailed by 1½ points. Given Sindarov's form, level of preparation, and immense confidence (also reflected in his rapid play), first place already seemed decided.

At the start of the second half, Caruana suffered two consecutive losses, to Nakamura (who avenged his earlier defeat) and to Anish Giri, losing all chances of winning the tournament. Meanwhile, Giri scored two straight victories, reached +2, and became the only player still capable of catching Sindarov.

In round nine, Sindarov obtained a winning position against Matthias Bluebaum, who had demonstrated outstanding defensive skills throughout the tournament, but miscalculated and missed an opportunity to virtually secure overall victory. However, in the following round he again defeated Praggnanandhaa, increasing his lead over Giri to 2 points, with their head-to-head encounter scheduled for the penultimate round. In round twelve, Giri missed a win against Wei Yi, which could have added some late intrigue to the tournament.

Sindarov did not falter in the ending phase, drawing against both Caruana and Giri, and completed the tournament undefeated with an outstanding score of 10/14. Giri finished second with 8½ points, while Caruana placed third with 7½. Sindarov qualified for the World Championship match against Gukesh Dommaraju later this year, a match that will be the youngest in history, with both players aged just 20.

The Women's Candidates Tournament

In the Women's Candidates Tournament, there was a great deal of intrigue until the very end, with major ups and downs and, unfortunately, also a high number of blunders, due to the immense pressure. It is worth noting that the field was very evenly matched.

The tournament was ultimately won, in a dramatic final round, by GM Vaishali Rameshbabu, Pragg's sister and the winner of the 2025 Grand Swiss, who had been seeded last. However, she did not start the event well, scoring just 2 points from the first 5 rounds, but in the second half she played extremely impressively.

In the first two rounds, all games ended in draws, without any notable events. The ice was broken in round three, when Bibisara Assaubayeva and Kateryna Lagno defeated their Chinese opponents, Zhu Jiner and Tan Zhongyi, respectively.

After wins in rounds four and six, the lead was taken by Ukraine's Anna Muzychuk, who had joined the tournament at the last moment, following the withdrawal of Humpy Koneru for security reasons. In round four, Muzychuk defeated Lagno in a principled game.

In round six, Vaishali scored her first win, capitalizing on a serious mistake by Lagno, who had been in a winning position.

In the above position, Lagno is a piece up, and Black's attack should not work. However, under time pressure, she blundered with 38.Qf1?? (a natural move, but a losing one). After 38...Rxg3+ 39.fxg3 Qxg3+ 40.Qg2 Qe3+ 41.Kh2 Rg5, Black has a mating net.

In round seven, Vaishali won again, this time also due to a terrible mistake by her opponent Tan Zhongyi, perhaps the most serious blunder of the entire tournament. In the following endgame, Tan had an extra pawn, but White should be able to draw without difficulty.

Here, Tan Zhongyi played 37...Ra1??, missing a basic tactical idea: 38.Rxf6 Rf1+ (if 38...Kxf6 then 39.Bd4+) 39.Ke2 is winning.

After seven rounds, Anna Muzychuk was leading with 4½ points, while Vaishali had 4.

The second half of the tournament featured many dramatic twists at the top, with no fewer than six players in contention at one stage. In round eight, Kateryna Lagno defeated her compatriot Aleksandra Goryachkina. Meanwhile, Muzychuk reached a winning position against Divya Deshmukh after an impressive positional game, but collapsed under time pressure, failed to find the winning continuation, and in a tragic turn of events even transitioned into a lost endgame and was defeated. In round twelve, another tragedy struck Muzychuk. In the following theoretically winning endgame against Goryachkina, after many hours of play, Anna erred with 65.Ra2+??

The winning move is 65.Kg4, after which, following 65...Kh2, White must find 66.Rh5.

After three wins in the middle of the second half, Bibisara Assaubayeva climbed into a shared first place.

Before the final round, Vaishali and Assaubayeva were jointly leading with 7½ points, while Zhu Jiner was just behind them with 7 points. In case of a tie for first place, a tiebreak would have been played the following day.

In the final round, Assaubayeva drew her game, but Vaishali fought against the Dragon Sicilian chosen by her opponent, Kateryna Lagno. In a dramatic game, she managed to win and finish in clear first place. Assaubayeva finished second, while Zhu Jiner took third.

Vaishali qualifies for the World Championship match against China's Ju Wenjun, who has held the title since 2018, later this year.

The winners of the Candidates Tournaments: Javokhir Sindarov and Vaishali Rameshbabu | Photos: Niki Riga & Michal Walusza

Master Class Vol.20 - Bent Larsen

In this video course experts examine the games of Bent Larsen. Let them show you which openings Larsen chose, where his strength in middlegames were, how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame & you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities!
Bent Larsen (1935–2010) was the greatest chess player in Danish history, and for a time, the second-strongest player in the Western world behind Bobby Fischer. Between 1954 and 1971, he won the Danish Championship six times, and achieved numerous international tournament victories throughout his career. 
Free video sample: Introduction to Bent Larsen by Peter Heine Nielsen
Free video sample: Introduction to the Opening Section

At the end of the tournament, a spectacular closing ceremony was held, which can be viewed here:

Closing and Award Ceremony of the FIDE Candidates 2026 | Video: FIDE

About the author

Yevgeny Levanzov is a mathematician and lecturer specializing in combinatorics and graph theory, who earned his PhD in 2024. Alongside his academic work, he is a passionate chess enthusiast, player, and international arbiter, with a deep love for chess history.

Links

• Coach Roman Vidonyak: Javokhir Sindarov's secret weapon
• Unmissable: Caruana on Sindarov, Nakamura and the Candidates
• Javokhir Sindarov: "The quarantine changed my life"
• Vaishali's incredible Candidates journey