Praggnanandhaa secures Candidates spot as last-gasp entry at London Classic’s open section pays off

Chess

Praggnanandhaa secured his spot via the FIDE Circuit route which could have been in some peril if he had not played in London, because the other contender for the spot, Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Abdusattorov, had entered the elite event at London Classic.

After a last-gasp scramble and a dash to London to play in the open section of the London Classic tournament, India’s R Praggnanandhaa secured his spot in the eight-man Candidates tournament, thus making him the sole Indian in the prestigious tournament that is held to finalise the challenger to the world champion.

The fact that there will be just one Indian at the Open Candidates event in 2026 will be a disappointment for Indian chess fans considering there were three—Pragg, Gukesh and Vidit Gujrathi—in the last Candidates in Toronto in 2024. However, in the Women’s Candidates event which will be held along with the Open Candidates in Cyprus from March 28 and April 16 next year, there will be three women from India: Divya Deshmukh, Koneru Humpy and Vaishali Rameshbabu.

Praggnanandhaa secured his spot via the FIDE Circuit route which could have been in some peril if he had not played in London, because the other contender for the spot, Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov, had entered the elite event at London Classic. But Pragg tied for first place at the London event by scoring 7/9 in a strong field, which helped him add 8.17 circuit points and put him out of the Uzbek grandmaster’s reach. Abdusattorov’s win at London in the elite invitational section earned him 19.62 circuit points. Praggnanandhaa now has 115.17 points while Abdusattorov is third in the FIDE Circuit leaderboard race with 71.61 points. Anish Giri, who is second in the race, has already qualified via the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament. Pragg winning the title in London means that even if Abdusattorov wins both the year-ending FIDE World Rapid Championship and the FIDE Blitz Championship, he cannot catch the Indian prodigy.

Pragg was not slotted to play in the London event, but entered it at the last minute after his fourth-round exit from the FIDE World Cup in Goa at the hands of Daniil Dubov. With all slots in the elite invitational event already booked by the time Pragg decided to play, he could only play in the open event, which was a risk in itself since even a draw against a lesser rated opponent would claw away at his points. But it was a risk that he had to take.

“A long year on the FIDE Circuit, and I’m grateful to earn a place in the 2026 Candidates. Thank you for all the constant support,” Pragg wrote on his X account.