D Gukesh asked to name favourite for FIDE Candidates 2026; world champion gives smart reply: 'I don't...'

Just as eight of the best chess players gathered in Cyprus to become the world champion D Gukesh's next challenger, the Indian Grandmaster's prediction picked his favourite, or rather refused to. The winner of the Fide Candidates 2026, which starts from 29 March (Sunday) at the St Georges Hotel & Resort in Pegeia, Cyprus, will face 19-year-old Gukesh in the World Chess Championship later this year.

R Praggnanandhaa is the only Indian in the fray besides Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Anish Giri, Javokhir Sindarov, Andrey Esipenko, Matthias Blubaum and Wei Yi. Besides world No 3 Fabiano Caruana in 2018, none of the players have ever won the Candidates.

Gukesh picks Fide Candidates 2026 winner

Many see world No 2 Nakamura and Caruana as the favourite to win the Fide Candidates chess tournament, including five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen, but who is world chess champion Gukesh backing?

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Gukesh was asked to pick his favourite to win the Fide Candidates 2026 in a video that was published by Saint Louis Chess Club on X on Saturday. Gukesh, interestingly, refused to pick a winner as he said that he is looking forward to an exciting World Chess Championship match against whoever wins the Candidates 2026.

"I don't like to make predictions, but whoever it is, it would be a great match," Gukesh said.

It appears that the video was shot at the Clutch Chess Champions Showdown exhibition event in December 2025 at the Saint Louis Chess Club.

In February 2025, before the start of the Prague International Chess Masters, Gukesh had said that he would not mind facing his fellow compatriot Praggnanandhaa, who is also from Chennai, the same as the world champion.

“Personally, I would like to face Pragg. It would be an Indian clash, and it would be great for the Indian fans,” Gukesh said.

The Women's Candidates 2026 will also take place in Cyprus concurrently. While Koneru Humpy has pulled out, Divya Deshmukh and R Vaishali will represent India at the tournament.