R Praggnanandhaa gears up for 2026 Candidates, Indian GM wary of ‘difficult’ and ‘extremely strong’ line-up
Indian GM R Praggnanandhaa won the London Chess Classic to qualify for the 2026 Candidates Tournament.
R Praggnanandhaa secured a berth for the 2026 Candidates Tournament on Monday. He is the sole Indian in next year's Candidates, and he qualified after winning the FIDE Circuit 2025. Praggnanandhaa secured his qualification after his performance in the eight-player London Chess Classic. He came joint-first, along with Velimir Ivic and Ameet K Ghasi, and then ended in third position after tie-breaks.
At the FIDE Circuit 2025, Praggnanandhaa registered 115.17 points, 34 points ahead of Dutch GM Anish Giri. Giri has also already secured his spot at the Candidates.
Also Read: R Praggnanandhaa qualifies for 2026 Candidates Tournament, wins FIDE Circuit
Speaking to ChessBase India, Praggnanandhaa said, "First of all, I want to be there 100 per cent. But overall, any candidates will be a tough tournament. If someone is there at the Candidates, that means they have showed what it takes to be there. It will be a difficult tournament for everyone."
"In terms of ratings, I think it’s similar to last year. Maybe there was one below 2700 player last year. So it’s going to be extremely strong, and there’s no one that’s like a target.
"It’s good to have such experience. Assuming I make it, there will be short time to prepare. Not long time to prepare like have camps or something. I’ll just try to rest and see how to prepare," he added.
Praggnanandhaa won the Tata Chess Masters this year, beating D Gukesh in the title-deciding tie-breaker round. He also won the Grand Chess Tour Superbet Chess Classic Romania and emerged victorious at the 2nd UzChess Cup 2025 in blitz tiebreaks.
He had a poor campaign at the World Cup this year. He is the only Indian in the men's category of the Candidates. Meanwhile, Divya Deshmukh, Koneru Humpy and R Vaishali will be in action at the Women's Candidates.
