The Candidates Tournaments occupy a central place in the chess calendar, as it determines the challengers for the next World Chess Championships - in the open and women's circuits.
With only a small, elite field competing over a demanding round-robin format, every encounter carries considerable weight, and familiarity between players often plays a role. Examining head-to-head records offers a useful way to contextualise these rivalries ahead of such a decisive event.
The focus here is placed on the direct records between participants, highlighting how individual matchups have developed over time. These statistics can reveal patterns that are not immediately apparent from ratings or recent form alone.
To compile these figures efficiently, the data has been sourced using Mega Database 2026, the leading reference tool for players of all levels. With over 11.7 million games spanning from 1475 to 2026 and more than 114,000 annotated encounters, it offers a comprehensive and reliable foundation for statistical work of this kind.
In each pairing, stats have been separated in 1) classical encounters and 2) all encounters, which include rapid, blitz and chess960 games, played over the board or online.
The premiere chess database with over 11.7 million games
The ChessBase Mega Database 2026 is the premiere chess database with over 11.7 million games from 1475 to 2025 in high quality.
Open - Round five
- Hikaru Nakamura and Javokhir Sindarov have mostly played online except for one classical game, which ended drawn. Nakamura has an advantage over the 20-year-old in their overall record.
- Similarly, Fabiano Caruana and Matthias Bluebaum have only played two classical games, with most of their confrontations taking place online. In their online encounters, most games have finished decisively, with Caruana holding an advantage over the German grandmaster.
- Anish Giri and Wei Yi have faced each other in ten classical games, nine of which ended drawn. Wei scored the one win in their classical games, with the white pieces at the 2016 Bilbao Masters - the game featured a Berlin Defence.
- Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Andrey Esipenko have an even score both in their classical games and in their encounters across all formats.
Hikaru Nakamura v. Javokhir Sindarov
All confrontations
Fabiano Caruana v. Matthias Bluebaum
All confrontations
Anish Giri v. Wei Yi
Classical chess confrontations
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu v. Andrey Esipenko
All confrontations
Women's - Round five
- Aleksandra Goryachkina and Anna Muzychuk have drawn most of their encounters, both in classical chess and in their games across all formats. Goryachkina has a 2-1 advantage over Muzychuk in their decisive classical confrontations - she won both games with the white pieces.
- Kateryna Lagno has a clear advantage over Bibisara Assaubayeva in their confrontations across all formats. In classical games, seven out of their eight encounters finished drawn. Lagno won the remaining game, with white at the 2024 Shymkent Grand Prix.
- Zhu Jiner has defeated Vaishali Rameshbabu in three out of their five classical games. The remaining two games ended drawn.
- All games recorded of Tan Zhongyi facing Divya Deshmukh were played in a classical format. Tan has a 2-1 advantage in the games that featured decisive results.
Aleksandra Goryachkina v. Anna Muzychuk
Classical chess confrontations
Kateryna Lagno v. Bibisara Assaubayeva
Classical chess confrontations
Zhu Jiner v. Vaishali Rameshbabu
Classical chess confrontations
Tan Zhongyi v. Divya Deshmukh
Classical chess confrontations
EXPAND YOUR CHESS HORIZONS
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