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 seven
- There is no record of Javokhir Sindarov ever getting a win over Anish Giri, though they just played five games agains each other. They recently signed a draw at this year's edition of the Tata Steel Masters.
- Fabiano Caruana has an advantage over Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in their games across all formats. Last year, they drew both at the Sinquefield Cup and the Superbet Classic, while Pragg beat the US grandmaster in Wijk aan Zee.
- Hikaru Nakamura and Matthias Bluebaum have played mostly online, with Nakamura having a big advantage over his German colleague. They have only faced each other once in classical chess - a draw.
- There is no record of Andrey Esipenko ever obtaining a win over Wei Yi. In their last classical encounter, Wei beat Esipenko in the semifinals of the 2025 FIDE World Cup.
Javokhir Sindarov v. Anish Giri
All confrontations
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu v. Fabiano Caruana
Classical chess confrontations
Matthias Bluebaum v. Hikaru Nakamura
All confrontations
Andrey Esipenko v. Wei Yi
All confrontations
Women's - Round seven
- Bibisara Assaubayeva has an edge over Anna Muzychuk in their confrontations across all formats. Muzychuk scored a win in their one decisive classical encounter, though, as she defeated the Kazakhstani GM at the 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss.
- There is no record of Zhu Jiner ever obtaining a win over Aleksandra Goryachkina.
- Divya Deshmukh and Kateryna Lagno have only played seven games across all formats. Only Lagno scored wins in their head-to-head contests.
- Tan Zhongyi holds an advantage over Vaishali Rameshbabu both in their games across all formats and, specifically, in their classical chess confrontations.
Anna Muzychuk v. Bibisara Assaubayeva
All confrontations
Aleksandra Goryachkina v. Zhu Jiner
All confrontations
Divya Deshmukh v. Kateryna Lagno
All confrontations
Vaishali Rameshbabu v. Tan Zhongyi
Classical chess confrontations
EXPAND YOUR CHESS HORIZONS
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