Missing link
The 2026 FIDÉ Candidates Tournament will take place from March 28 to April 16, 2026, at the Cap St. Georges Hotel & Resort in Paphos, Cyprus. This elite 14-round, double round-robin event will determine the challenger for the next World Chess Championship, featuring a prize fund of at least €700,000. The Women’s Candidates Tournament will run simultaneously at the same venue.
The key details are as follow:
As of the present date, the confirmed participants and those qualified include a strong field consisting of a mix of experienced and new-generation players, currently:
Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2795)(2024 FIDÉ Circuit winner)
Anish Giri (NED, 2760)(2025 Grand Swiss winner)
Matthias Blübaum (GER, 2684)(2025 Grand Swiss runner-up)
Javokhir Sindarov (UZB, 2726)(2025 World Cup winner)
Wei Yi (PRC, 2754)(2025 World Cup runner-up)
Andrey Esipenko (RUS, 2698)(2025 World Cup third place)
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (IND, 2758)(2025 FIDÉ Circuit winner)
Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 2810)(Highest average rating, Aug 2025 – Jan 2026)
A glaring omission is that of Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who moved swiftly on from his convincing victory in the London Chess Classic tournament to a further triumph at the traditional super-tournament at Wijk aan Zee in Holland. The London event was covered in my piece for TheArticle of January 10th .
Following his victory at Wijk aan Zee, Nodirbek’s Elo rating has climbed to over 2770, making him number five in the world. His absence from the Candidates and that of the highest rated player, Magnus Carlsen (Elo rating 2840), from the FIDÉ World Championship means that the two most interesting active players cannot currently contest a match to determine the best classical player in the world. A missing link?
Immediately after Wijk the heretical abomination of Freestyle chess (see my TheArticle column of January 31st ) staged its own World championship. Magnus Carlsen, bored with winning the real world championship, collected another meaningless title, but was fortunate to avoid loss in the final play – off against Fabiano Caruana.
We watch how the hapless Caruana, better for the vast majority of the game, in one single miscalculation on move 31, permits Carlsen an equality his play had hardly merited . With another blunder on move 35, Caruana loses the plot, and must resign three moves later.
The following shows the final positions of the FIDÉ “Freestyle” World Championship and explains the various time controls used for tie-breaks including increments.
Fabiano Caruana vs. Magnus Carlsen
FIDE Freestyle World Championship, Wangels, 2026, playoff game #2
1… f5 2. f4 c6 3. e3 e6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Nf2
Perhaps better were 5. d4 or Ng3.
5… Bh5 6. d4 Nf7 7. h3 a5
7… b5 retained full equality.
8. g4 fxg4 9. hxg4 Nxg4 10. Nxg4 Bxg4 11. Qxh7 Bf6 12. Qd3
Conceding equality, once more. White keeps an edge with 12. Bc2.
12… d5 13. cxd5 cxd5 14. Nh4 14… Bxd1 15. Kxd1 Bxh4?
A serious error that endows White with a considerable advantage. Had Black have continued with, 15… O-O 16. Ng6 Rc8 17. Ne5 Qc7, he would have been no worse off.
16. Rc1+ Kd7 17. Qb5+ Kd6 18. Bxh4 Rc8 19. Kd2 Qa7 20. f5 Qa6 21. Qb3 Rc4 22. fxe6 White is doing absolutely fine, yet 22. Rxc4 Qxc4 23. Bg3+ e5 24. dxe5+ Nxe5 25. Qb6+ Qc6 26. Bxe5+ Ke7 27. Qxc6 bxc6 was even stronger.
22… Kxe6 23. Rxc4 dxc4 24. Qd1 c3+ 25. bxc3 Nd6 26. Qg4+ Kd5 27. Rf4
For the second time, White misses the strongest continuation. This was, 27. Rf5+ Nxf5 28. Qxf5+ Kd6 29. Qe5+ Kd7 30. Qe7+ Kc6 31. Qe6+ Kc7 32. Bg3+ Kd8 33. Qg8+ Ke7, when he retained an iron grip on the game.
27… Qc4 28. Qg2+ Ke6 29. Qh3+ Kd5 30. Qh1+ Ke6 31. Qb1?
This move halts the checks, and lets Black completely off the hook. Necessary was, 31. Qh3+ Kd5 32. Qg2+ Ke6 33. Qg4+ Kd5 34. Qf3+ Ke6 35. Re4+ Nxe4+ 36. Qxe4+ Kf7 37. Qxb7+ Kg6, when White remains much better.
31… Kd7 Re8 33. Bg3 g5 34. Rg4 Rf8 35. Qb3??
A disastrous blunder which although good a few moves earlier, nor conspires to lose the game. At least either, 35. Rxg5 or e5 permit White to continue with parity.
35… Qf1 36. Qd5 Qg2+ 37. Kd1 Rf1+ White resigns 0-1
Mate follows in seven moves at most.
I now invite readers to compare and contrast the quality of our two games this week: the nonsensical Farago of the “Freestyle” effort and the elegant grace of Nodirbek’s win, with its overtones of Fischer’s magisterial demolition of Spassky from game 6 of their immortal match at Reykjavik in 1972.
Tata Steel Master tournament – Cross-table
| Player | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Abdusattorov | X | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| 2. Sindarov | ½ | X | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 8½ |
| 3. van Foreest | ½ | ½ | X | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 7½ |
| 4. Niemann | ½ | ½ | ½ | X | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 7½ |
| 5. Keymer | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | X | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7½ |
| 6. Bluebaum | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | X | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 7 |
| 7. Erdogmus | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | X | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| 8. Giri | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 6½ |
| 9. Fedoseev | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | X | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 6½ |
| 10. Gukesh | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | X | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 6½ |
| 11. Praggnanandhaa | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | X | 1 | 0 | ½ | 5½ |
| 12. Aravindh | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | X | ½ | 1 | 4½ |
| 13. Erigaisi | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | X | ½ | 4½ |
| 14. Van Nguyen | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | X | 3 |
Nodirbek Abdusattorov vs. Matthias Bluebaum
Tata Steel Masters, Wijk aan Zee, 2026, round 12
1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 O-O 8. Bd3 Re8 9. Nge2 c6 10. Qc2 Nbd7 11. h3 Nf8 12. Bg3 Ne6 13. O-O Bd6 14. Be5 Bxe5?!
Perhaps it pays Black to be more coy, with 14… Bf8 or …Ng5.
15. dxe5 Nd7 16. f4 Nec5 17. Bh7+!?
White has emerged from the opening the better of the players, but no advantage is gained by moving the king, and it may be more circumspect to place the bishop on the f5-outpost.
17… Kh8 18. b4 Nf8 19. bxc5 Nxh7 20. e4 Qa5 21. exd5 Qxc5+ 22. Kh1
More resolute is 22. Kh2, overprotecting possible sacrifices on h3 and removing the king from back rank checks.
22… cxd5 23. Qd2 Bd7 24. Rac1 Qa5 25. Qb2 Qb6 26. Qd2 Qa5 27. Nd4 f6 28. Qb2 fxe5 29. fxe5 Rxe5 30. Rf7 Nf6 31. Rf1 Qc7?
Black clearly takes his eye off the ball with this oversight. White is threatening to capture the f6-knight, and Black must seek some countermeasure, like pressure on White’s d4-knight with, 31… Qc5 32. R1xf6 Re1+ 33. Kh2 Qxd4 34. Rf8+ Rxf8 35. Rxf8+ Kh7 36. Qc2+ g6 37. Rf7+ Kh8 38. Rxd7 Qg1+; or against the c3-knight with, 31… Rc8 32. Nce2 Qd8 33. Qb1 Ne4 34. Qa1 Qe8 35. Nf3 Qxf7 36. Nxe5 Qe6 37. Rf7 Be8 38. Nf4 Ng3+. Both offer up the possibility of salvaging a draw. But after the move played, Black is in enormous trouble and White exercises the tactical options available with considerable style and panache.
32. Ncb5 Qc4 33. R1xf6 gxf6
Perhaps Black can slightly improve after the intermezzo, 33… Re1+ 34. Kh2 gxf6 35. Rxd7 Rg8 36. Qd2 Qc1 37. Qxc1 Rxc1 38. Nd6 Rg6 39. N6f5, but it’s marginal. Black’s material lead is tenuous and his king has nowhere safe to shelter.
34. Qf2 Qc1+ 35. Kh2
As anticipated in the note to White’s 22nd move, but it matters nowt. Black will have a few spite checks as the only respite from an ignominious end.
35… Qg5 36. Rxd7 Re4 37. Nd6 Qe5+ 38. g3 Qxd4 39. Nxe4 Qxf2+ 40. Nxf2 Rc8 41. Rxb7 Rc2 42. Kg1 Rxa2 43. Ng4 Black resigns 1-0
Ray’s 206th book, “ Chess in the Year of the King ”, written in collaboration with Adam Black, and his 207th, “ Napoleon and Goethe: The Touchstone of Genius ” (which discusses their relationship with chess) can be ordered from both Amazon and Blackwell’s. His 208th, written jointly with the late Barry Martin, the chess playing artist, is Chess through the Looking Glass , now also available from Amazon.
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