Wei Yi downplays his FIDE Candidates chances, says R Praggnanandhaa has great chance to win: 'All-round player'

Chinese Grandmaster Wei Yi has called R Praggnanandhaa an all-round player and backed the Indian Grandmaster to win the FIDE Candidates chess tournament that begins March 28 in Cyprus. He also said that he is far behind in the race to win the event.

FIDE Candidates 2026 takes place at the Cap St Georges Hotel and Resort in Pegeia, Cyprus, between 28 March and 16 April, with the winner of the eight-team tournament getting the chance to challenge world champion D Gukesh later this year for his title.

'Pragg has experience'

Yi said that he was far behind in the list of favourites for the tournament. He put the American duo of Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura as the top contenders. Apart from Caruana, Nakamura, Praggnanandhaa and Yi, Javokhir Sindarov, Andrey Esipenko and Matthias Blubaum are the others who will be competing to get a shot at the world title.

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“To be honest, I don’t think I have great chances to win the Candidates because if you want to win the Candidates, you need extensive experience. So yeah, that’s why I think Fabi (Fabiano Caruana) and Hikaru (Nakamura), also Anish Giri, have great chances to win the Candidates,” Yi said at the Chess with Mustreader channel on YouTube.

Talking about Praggnanandhaa, the Chinese Grandmaster said that he is an all-round player and his experience at the Candidates also matters.

“Pragg has great chances to win Candidates because I think he’s an all-around chess player. He also has experience of playing in the Candidates from two years ago. That’s also very important,” Yi said.

“Overall, I think Fabi and Hikaru, they’re in tier one, and Praggnanandhaa and Anish are in tier two. For the other players, I think they don’t have experience in Candidates, so that’s very important.”

“Players like Esipenko and Bluebaum have a lower rating (than the rest of us), but I don’t think they are weak because their performance in the previous year was quite good. So I think all of us are in tier three,” Yi added.