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R Praggnanandhaa qualifies for 2026 Candidates Tournament, wins FIDE Circuit
Indian GM R Praggnanandhaa won the FIDE Circuit 2025, to qualify for the 2026 Candidates Tournament.
R Praggnanandhaa qualified for the 2026 Candidates Tournament after winning the FIDE Circuit 2025. The Indian GM took the lead in the circuit in May by going past Ding Liren, and then went on to keep his position throughout the season. Then by the end of May, his main rivals (Anish Giri, Fabiano Caruana, Matthias Bluebaum and Javokhir Sindarov) had already qualified for the tournament via other paths, and Vincent Keymer didn't have any classical events for the rest of this year.
But Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who was in action at the London Chess Classic Elite, had a small chance to catch up.
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The Indian GM made a late entry to the London Chess Classic, and bagged a 7/9 score in a strong field, tying for first place, and taking 8.17 circuit points.
Although Abdusattorov had a sensational performance in London, getting one of the best TPRs in history, and getting 19.62 circuit points.
Praggnanandhaa is the sole Indian in the men's section of the Candidates. Meanwhile, the women's section will feature Divya Deshmukh, Koneru Humpy, and R. Vaishali.
Praggnanandhaa also had a poor campaign at the World Cup in Goa this year. His biggest high point in 2025 was winning the Tata Chess Masters, where he beat Gukesh in the tie-breaker deciding round. He also became the only Indian to do so, after Viswanathan Anand.
This year, he also finished fourth in the Prague Chess Festival 2025, and came third in the Grand Chess Tour Superbet Poland Rapid and Blitz 2025. He won the Grand Chess Tour Superbet Chess Classic Romania, and came second in the Stepan Avagyan Memorial. He even won the 2nd UzChess Cup 2025 in blitz tiebreaks.
