Candidates Chess 2026: Why are Indians not starting as favourites?

NEW DELHI: Two years ago, erstwhile Dommaraju Gukesh stormed the Candidates successful Toronto, the chess satellite called it a miracle. By the clip helium dismantled Ding Liren successful Singapore to go the youngest-ever World Champion, that "miracle" had go thing other entirely, much similar a seismic shift.Yet, arsenic the marathon to find his adjacent challenger begins this Saturday successful Cyprus, a funny soundlessness hangs implicit the Indian camp.Despite Gukesh’s ain caller admittance that helium would not caput an all-Indian matchup against R Praggnanandhaa for the title, the pre-tournament buzz indicates that Indians are not the starring favourites successful some unfastened and women's categories.The American wall: Why Nakamura and Caruana leadThe superior crushed for the tempered expectations lies successful the sheer mathematical dominance of the American duo, World No.

2 Hikaru Nakamura and World No. 3 Fabiano Caruana.In an epoch of teenage phenoms, the veterans person recalibrated. Nakamura, astatine 38, remains a freak of nature, maintaining a 2800-plus standing portion balancing a full-time streaming career.

"One cannot regularisation retired Nakamura’s champion chances," seasoned Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay told TimesofIndia.com. "He is the lone subordinate keeping supra 2800 each these years. Nakamura is simply a superior contender chiefly due to the fact that of his cleverness successful circumstantial opening preparations against circumstantial players."

Caruana, 33, presents a antithetic benignant of hurdle with his "unbeatable" factor."He is precise solid," Thipsay noted. "He doesn’t needfully privation to triumph successful the opening itself, but he’s ever connected coagulated ground. It’s imaginable Caruana ends up unbeaten successful the event. The lone occupation helium faces is being capable to people heavy enough."The Pragg puzzleWhile the satellite has been waiting for Praggnanandhaa to instrumentality the last leap, caller months person represented a play of consolidation alternatively than conquest.

After a blistering tally successful the archetypal fractional of 2025, the Chennai prodigy recovered the aerial somewhat thinner astatine the precise apical during the second fractional of the year. And his commencement to 2026 hasn't carried overmuch positivity either."Praggnanandhaa had precise bully years, but recently, helium has not been truly good," Thipsay observed. To triumph the Candidates, Pragg indispensable revert to his roots arsenic a cold-blooded attacker.

"He indispensable ore connected getting the inaugural with the achromatic pieces.

His spot is chiefly onslaught against the force king... he’s bully astatine tactics and combinations," the seasoned GM added.The situation for the 20-year-old Indian is tactical bravery. In a tract that includes Wei Yi and the unpredictable Javokhir Sindarov, who Thipsay warns "may origin upsets but has a wont of making elemental mistakes", Praggnanandhaa cannot spend to play for harmless draws if helium wants to acceptable up that imagination all-Indian World Championship match.The Women’s field: Divya Deshmukh’s edgeIf the Open conception feels similar a climb, the Women’s Candidates offers a brighter metallic lining. With the withdrawal of the legendary Koneru Humpy owed to information concerns successful West Asia, the spotlight has shifted wholly to the 20-year-old World Cup winner, Divya Deshmukh, and 24-year-old Vaishali Rameshbabu, victor of the 2025 Women's Grand Swiss.Despite being rated little than apical effect Zhu Jiner, Divya carries a intelligence borderline that astir pistillate players lack, arsenic she regularly hunts successful the Open (dominated by men) circuit.

"The contented Divya shows successful playing men’s events has made her precise beardown against the champion defence," Thipsay remarked. "When you're playing a beardown field, you should beryllium capable to tackle bully defence. In the past, nary Indian but Humpy had ever beaten Chinese players successful a match, but 2025 was different. Divya and Humpy defeated 4 Chinese players among themselves."Thipsay believes the rubric is simply a consecutive shootout: "I would accidental the apical presumption is expecting to spell to either Zhu Jiner oregon Divya.

Vaishali has an extracurricular chance, but astir apt lone for 2nd oregon third," helium added.As the clocks commencement connected Saturday, the communicative is clear. The "Gukesh effect" has made the satellite wary of Indian prodigies, but it has besides forced the aged defender to sharpen their steel.For Nakamura and Caruana, this is apt their last realistic changeable astatine a World Championship lucifer earlier the doorway is bolted unopen by the adjacent generation.For India, the task is to beryllium that Gukesh wasn't a standalone miracle, but the archetypal of many.Whether Praggnanandhaa tin find his attacking inaugural oregon Divya tin dismantle the Chinese wall, the adjacent 3 weeks successful Cyprus volition determine if the World Championship remains an interior Indian matter oregon a planetary tug-of-war.