The first day of the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 in Cyprus has concluded. After 1 round, 3 players share the lead with 1 point each, with Fabiano Caruana leading on tiebreaks.

Fabiano Caruana sacrificed a rook on move 49 against Hikaru Nakamura, winning the game in result. Caruana played the game with 85.8 accuracy, while Nakamura’s was 83.5.

The current standings are:

Place Player Score
1. 🇺🇸 GM Fabiano Caruana 1
2. 🇺🇿 GM Javokhir Sindarov 1
3. 🇮🇳 GM Praggnanandhaa R 1
4. 🇨🇳 GM Wei Yi 0.5
5. 🇩🇪 GM Matthias Bluebaum 0.5
6. 🇺🇸 GM Hikaru Nakamura 0
7. 🇳🇱 GM Anish Giri 0
8. 🇷🇺 GM Andrey Esipenko 0

The FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 takes place from March 28 to April 16, at the Cap St Georges Hotel and Resort in Pegeia, Cyprus. The event features a 120+0 time control for the first 40 moves and 30+30 for the rest of the game over double Round-Robin between 8 players.

Credit: Yoav Nis / FIDE