GM Anish Giri defeated GM Fabiano Caruana in the FIDE Candidates 2026, inching closer to GM Javokhir Sindarov, who is now 1.5 points ahead of Giri. GM Zhu Jiner and GM Vaishali Rameshbabu are the joint leaders of the Women's Candidates after winning against GM Kateryna Lagno and GM Divya Deshmukh, respectively. Read our FIDE Candidates Round 9 Recap and follow all the games in our broadcasts now, .
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GM Javokhir Sindarov extended his lead in the FIDE Candidates 2026 to two points after he drew his game against GM Andrey Esipenko and GM Fabiano Caruana lost to GM Hikaru Nakamura. Meanwhile, in the Women's Candidates, GM Anna Muzychuk lost to GM Divya Deshmukh and the tournament is wide-open with five players on 4.5/8. Read our FIDE Candidates Round 8 Recap!
The first half of the FIDE Candidates 2026 is over! GM Javokhir Sindarov still leads GM Fabiano Caruana by 1.5 points, but his winning streak ended with a draw against GM Anish Giri. In the Women's tournament, GM Vaishali Rameshbabu defeated GM Tan Zhongyi and is now only 0.5 points behind GM Anna Muzychuk. Read our FIDE Candidates Round 7 Recap and follow all the games in our broadcasts, continuing today, .
In a win for open source, Take Take Take will use Lichess as the infrastructure of their new play zone. Read more about it here.
GM Javokhir Sindarov continued the historic run with a win over GM Wei Yi in the FIDE Candidates 2026 and is now 1.5 points ahead of GM Fabiano Caruana. In the Women's tournament, GM Anna Muzychuk beat GM Zhu Jiner to take sole 1st place on 4/6, a full point ahead of the field. Read our FIDE Candidates Round 6 Recap and find out what else happened!
Check out our Round 5 FIDE Candidates Annotations by former top 20 women's player and four-time Armenian Women's Champion IM / WGM Lilit Mkrtchian and four-time Paraguayan Champion GM Axel Bachmann! Follow all the Round 6 games now in our broadcasts.
GM Javokhir Sindarov defeated GM Hikaru Nakamura to retain his lead in the FIDE Candidates 2026 on 4.5/5, with GM Fabiano Caruana close behind on 3.5/5. Three players are tied for 1st place in the Women's tournament: GM Kateryna Lagno, GM Anna Muzychuk, and GM Zhu Jiner, all on 3/5. Find out what happened in our FIDE Candidates Round 5 Recap!
On the first rest day of the FIDE Candidates 2026, GM Javokhir Sindarov is in sole 1st place after defeating GM Fabiano Caruana in Round 4. GM Bibisara Assaubayeva and GM Anna Muzychuk are in the joint lead of the Women's tournament. Read our FIDE Candidates Round 4 Recap and follow all the games in our broadcasts, continuing tomorrow, .
Check out our FIDE Candidates Round 3 Recap! GM Javokhir Sindarov and GM Fabiano Caruana are now tied for 1st place in the Open, while GM Bibisara Assaubayeva and GM Kateryna Lagno are also sharing the lead in the Women's tournament. Sindarov and Caruana will face each other in Round 4. Follow all the games in our broadcasts, starting today, .
We're rolling out Knights of Lichess to keep you safe in-game!
Replay some of the most exciting Candidates Round 2 games in our FIDE Candidates Annotations study by GM Axel Bachmann and WGM Petra Papp, including Wei vs Praggnanandhaa and Lagno vs Zhu. We will update the study throughout the event with two new annotated games per round from each Candidates Tournament.
Read our FIDE Candidates Round 2 Recap and find out what happened on the second day, which ended with eight draws! Round 3 starts today, . Follow all the games in our broadcasts.
Check out our FIDE Candidates Annotations by four-time Paraguayan Champion GM Axel Bachmann and former Hungarian Women's Champion WGM Petra Papp. They have annotated four Round 1 games for you to learn from, including Caruana vs Nakamura and Zhu vs Tan.
Find out what happened on the first day of the FIDE Candidates 2026 in our Round 1 Recap! GM Fabiano Caruana defeated GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Javokhir Sindarov won against GM Andrey Esipenko, and GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa beat GM Anish Giri, as the Women's tournament saw draws on all four boards.
Eight women and girls have qualified for the Queens' Online Chess Festival Finals on Lichess! Watch all the games now in our broadcast and read more about the event organised by the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess in our announcement.
Round 1 of the FIDE Candidates 2026 has started! In the Open, world no. 2 GM Hikaru Nakamura faces GM Fabiano Caruana, and the Women's top seed GM Zhu Jiner takes on former Women's World Champion GM Tan Zhongyi, among others. Follow all the games in our broadcasts.
Congratulations to GM Ediz Gürel for winning our Bullet Titled Arena March 2026, ahead of GM Andy Woodward, GM Emin Ohanyan, GM Nihal Sarin, and IM Yoseph Theolifus Taher!
Watch our next Candidates pre-event interviews with Javokhir Sindarov and Wei Yi! Stay tuned for more interviews throughout the Candidates Tournaments.
The FIDE Candidates Tournaments 2026 will begin tomorrow, in Pegeia, Cyprus! The winners will earn the right to challenge for the World Chess Championship and Women's World Chess Championship titles. Check out our Preview Blog, watch our on-site player interviews, and follow all the games in our broadcasts until .
Our March 1+0 Warm-up Arena starts today, ! Play against some of the titled players before they enter our Bullet Titled Arena at .
Lichess has arrived in Cyprus to cover the Candidates Tournament! Watch our pre-event interviews with Fabiano Caruana, Matthias Blübaum, and Tan Zhongyi.
Join us in celebrating 47 successful Lichess4545 seasons in the faster 15+15 Season 48 Kick-off Arena on ! Lichess4545 has over 800 active members and hundreds of games played on a weekly basis.
Congrats @Boggled_Toggo on winning the Lichess Game of the Month February 2026! Thank you for all your countless submissions!
Got a question for the candidates? Lichess will do pre-event interviews with Fabiano Caruana, Wei Yi, Javokhir Sindarov, Matthias Bluebaum, Tan Zhongyi and Vaishali R! Share your questions in this forum post, and some might make it to the interviews!