Chinese GM Wei Yi made his tier list for the Candidates Tournament participants. Wei noted that Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura have high chances of winning due to their experience in this tournament, and shared his opinion on Andrey Esipenko, Matthias Blubaum, and himself.

Wei Yi

Wei Yi

China's No. 1

“Honestly, I don’t think I have a great chance of winning the Candidates. Winning this tournament requires specific experience.

That’s why I think Fabi, Hikaru, and Anish have great chances to win. Pragg also has excellent chances because he’s a versatile chess player, he even has experience playing in this tournament two years ago.

Overall, I think Fabi and Hikaru are in the Tier-1. Pragg and Anish are in the Tier-2. As for the rest of the players, I don’t think they have any experience playing in the Candidates, which is very important.

Me? Probably in the Tier-3. The same goes for everyone else. Even Esipenko and Bluebaum — I don’t think they’re weak, their recent results are pretty good, but it’s still not enough.”

The FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 will take place from March 28 to April 16, at the Cap St Georges Hotel and Resort in Pegeia, Cyprus. Chinese GM Wei Yi (2754) qualified for the Candidates 2026 for the first time, finishing second at the FIDE World Chess Cup 2025.

Credit: Michal Walusza