Due to Koneru Humpy's late withdrawal from the upcoming Women's Candidates 2026, FIDE have announced Anna Muzychuk as her replacement. Humpy withdrew from the tournament on Sunday due to growing concerns about the ongoing Gulf conflict. The tournament will be held in Cyprus, and on March 1, a British air base in the country was hit.
The pairings will remain the same, with Muzychuk taking Humpy's place. A FIDE statement confirmed, "Humpy Koneru (India) has officially withdrawn from the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2026, scheduled to take place in Cyprus from March 28 to April 16."
Also Read: Koneru Humpy withdraws from Candidates due to safety fears
"In accordance with Article 2.2. of the Tournament Regulations, her place has been offered to the next highest finisher in the Women’s Events Series 2024–25 not securing qualification. As a result, Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine) will join the tournament as her replacement," the statement further added.
The winner of the tournament will take on reigning women's world champion Ju Wenjun. Other than Muzychuk, India's Divya Deshmukh and R Vaishali will be participating, along with Zhu Jiner and Aleksandra Goryachkina (top two finishers in the Women's Grand Prix 2024-25), Tan Zhongyi (third-place at the World Cup 2025), Kateryna Lagna (runner-up at Women's Grand Swiss 2025), and Bibisara Assaubayeva (highest place in FIDE Women's Events 2024-25).
Even other players have expressed concerns, including American GM Hikaru Nakamura, who pointed out the recent power outages in Cyprus. But FIDE have clarified that the venue remains unchanged. Speaking to ChessBase India, FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky said, "Our plans have not changed. We are in the final stages of preparing the Candidates’ Tournament. Of course, we are monitoring the situation. Cyprus is not too far from, let’s say, the war zone or conflict zone, but at the same time, it is not directly involved in any way and is not in a state of war."
{{/usCountry}}Even other players have expressed concerns, including American GM Hikaru Nakamura, who pointed out the recent power outages in Cyprus. But FIDE have clarified that the venue remains unchanged. Speaking to ChessBase India, FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky said, "Our plans have not changed. We are in the final stages of preparing the Candidates’ Tournament. Of course, we are monitoring the situation. Cyprus is not too far from, let’s say, the war zone or conflict zone, but at the same time, it is not directly involved in any way and is not in a state of war."
{{/usCountry}}"There is no emergency situation or anything like that. Of course, about ten days ago there were some worrying news, but since then the situation has appeared quite calm."