A quick rundown of the players

The Candidates (Open)

• Ian Nepomniachtchi - the lone Russian in the tournament. He won the last two Canididates tournaments but failed to in the Championship. As Russia's hope he has financial backing from a number of sponsors to ensure he has a strong team.
• Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa -- Pragg as he is sometimes called is one of 4 Indian predigies who have become among the worlds top players. Having only recently turned 18 he is also one of the youngest players n the tournaments.
• Fabiano Caruana -- Fabi as he is know is the highest rated player not named Magnus Carlsen. He is considered America's best hope to win the World Championship since Bobby Fischer. A previous World Champion challenger who lost a tough WC match to Magnus Carlsen, Fabi is currently the favorite to win the Candidates. He also hosts a popular chess podcast C-Squareed
• Nijat Abasov. -- Abasov is the wild card in this tournament. He qualified by being the top alternate when Magnus Carlsen refused to play. He is considered the weakest player in the tournament but because he's a bit of an unknown he has some chances to surprise his opponents.
• Vidit Santosh Gujrathi ( (YouTube)) (chess.com) -- Vidit is one of two players who have been able to establish a substantial presence in live streaming on the internet. He is also one of the three Indian players in the tournament.
• Hikaru Nakamura (YouTube) (chess.com) -- Naka is the other player in the tournament who has been able to build a huge presence in streaming on both Twitch and Kick. He is also the other American in the tournament.
• Alireza Firouzja -- the oldest of the young guns in the tournament. Firouzja is an occasional twitch streamer, part time fashion designer who has been seen as less focused on chess than necessary to become World Champion. Even though many considered him the next Magnus Carlsen, including Magnus
• Dommaraju Gukesh -- Gukesh, or Gukesh D as he is sometimes known is another promising young Indian player. GM Ben Finegold described him as a Great Player of the Present

The Women's Candidates

• Lei Tingjie the winner of the last Candidates who lost to her fellow countrywoman Ju Wenjun. She has previously won the Chinese National Championship and will be looking for another shot at the World Championship.
• Kateryna Lagno -- Ukrainian by birth but residing in Russia. A strong player for the last 20 years she has previously played for the World Championship. As one of the older players this may be her last decent shot at getting back to the World Championship match.
• Aleksandra Goryachkina --a favorite and a strong player. She was the first woman to qualify for the Open section of the Russian Championship.
• Nurgyul Salimova -- despite only being an International Master and not yet a Grandmaster from Bulgaria she has some impressive results and is seen as a player on the rise.
• Anna Muzychuk -- as the lone player in the candidates playing under the Ukrainian expect drama when she plays the Russian players (who will be playing under the FIDE flag due to international sanctions).
• Vaishali Rameshbabu -- Vaishali is Praggnanandhaa's younger sister. There is a possibility that brother and sister could both become World Champions.

On the sidelines

Magnus Carlsen -- the retired world Champion qualified for the Candidates but decided not to play as he has no interest in the title any longer. Magnus remains the highest rated active player.

Hou Yifan -- the highest rated female player has elected to focus on things other than chess in recent years.

Honorable Mentions

Judit Polgár is the only woman to play in the Open Candidates Tournament and is still considered the strongest female player ever.


Vishy Anand the former World Champion from India is responsible for the enormous popularity of modern Chess in India. The generation of children he inspired are now playing in the Candidates.

Stories to know
If you are more into the drama around sports than the game here are a few of the human interest stories to follow:

• Ding Liren has struggled as a champion and hasn't been playing much. Unlike his predecessor, Magnus Carlsen, he is considered very beatable. The winner of the open will have a much bigger than normal shot to win the World Championship.
• HIikaru Nakarmura and Fabiano Caurana have been among the strongest players not named Magnus for a decade now, but with so many young players qualifying for the event this year, this might be the last chance for either of them to play for the World Championship.
• While many may not think of Chess as an authentic sport, these top level matches are often not just tests of mental prowess, but of physical stamina and endurance. In 2021 Ian Neponatchi and Magnus Carlson famously played a 7 hour and 45 minute game that ended with Magnus winning. Nepo never physically recovered from the game and went on to lose the match as a result.
• There may be some drama when the lone Ukrainian Anna Muzychuk faces off against Aleksandra Goryachkina. Goryachkina is seen as the more Russian of the two players from Russia in the event.
• If Pragg and Vaishali get off to a strong start people will start speculating about a brother sister becoming World Champions.
• Some see this as an endangered event. In recent years fans have been more interested in Chess played under shorter time controls. Online chess and the faster, more exciting pace of these events has lead to a decline in interest in the longer time controls of classical chess where games take hours.
• FIDE remains a corrupt organization and a complete mess. Chess.com as the dominant chess site with a huge revenue stream was rebuffed by its efforts to play a bigger role in the World Championship. It is unclear what this means for the future of FIDE as it struggles to attract large commercial sponsors. Of course an American or Indian champion might change those fortunes.