Candidates News
Caruana the first 2026 Candidates Qualifier.
If you’ve been around chess for very long, you may have had a puzzled look when you read the post’s subtitle. Didn’t Ding Liren qualify by virtue of being a World Championship finalist? That has been the case since FIDE took over the World Championship after the death of Alexander Alekhine back in 1946, but no longer. Every Candidates spot must be earned from scratch, and the first person to do is Fabiano Caruana, who has won his spot by winning the 2024 FIDE Circuit.
Dennis, do you have any insight about when and why the decision was made to no longer give the loser of the previous match a spot in the candidates? I don't have a good sense of whether this was something FIDE was always planning to do or whether they were specifically trying to make a clean break with the 17th world champ.