An early cull of the favourites at the Chess World Cup in Goa has resulted in 15 of the top 20 seeds heading for home early. The effect on the eight-man Candidates tournament, to be played in Cyprus in March-April 2026, is that at least one of its three qualifiers from the World Cup will be an unfamiliar name. View image in fullscreen 3998 Aryan Tari (Norway) v Pranav Venkatesh (India), World Cup, Goa 2025. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (India) was knocked out of the World Cup by Dubov on Thursday, but leads the 2025 Fide circuit rankings and is almost sure of that place. The final three Candidates spots will be decided by the World Cup final and third-place match.

Source: The Guardian November 14, 2025 08:08 UTC