Mumbai, Dec 8 (NationPress) India's Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa was officially announced as the champion of the FIDE Circuit 2025 on Monday, thereby guaranteeing his qualification as the sole male representative from India in the upcoming Candidates tournament set for next year.

The FIDE, the international governing body for chess, shared this significant news through a social media update, highlighting that the talented Grandmaster from Chennai has been the most accomplished male chess player from India this year, clinching titles at prestigious events such as the Tata Steel Masters, Superbet Chess Classic Romania, UzChess Cup Masters, and the London Chess Classic Open.

“Praggnanandhaa R. has triumphed in the FIDE Circuit 2025, earning a coveted spot in the 2026 Candidates Tournament! Congratulations to @rpraggnachess, who rightly secured one of the eight positions available for the 2026 Candidates,” FIDE stated in a post on X, previously known as Twitter.

“This young Indian has been the standout player on the FIDE Circuit throughout the year, with victories in the Tata Steel Masters, Superbet Chess Classic Romania, UzChess Cup Masters, and London Chess Classic Open. He also finished second in the Stepan Avagyan Memorial and 12th in the Sinquefield Cup,” FIDE elaborated in their announcement.

In the overall standings of the FIDE Circuit 2025, Praggnanandhaa concluded with a score of 115.17, while Anish Giri from the Netherlands placed second with 81.18, and Nodirbek Abdusattorov came in third with a score of 71.61. Fabiano Caruana from the USA scored 65.55 and Matthias Bluebaum finished in fifth with 83.94.

Praggnanandhaa becomes the seventh participant to qualify for the eight-player lineup in the Candidates 2026, joining renowned players like Anish Giri from the Netherlands, Fabiano Caruana from the USA, Matthias Bluebaum from Germany, Javokhir Sindarov from Uzbekistan, Wei Yi from China, and Andrey Esipenko from Russia.

The eighth position will be determined based on FIDE ratings. As per FIDE's qualification guidelines for the Candidates, this spot will go to the player with the highest six-month average rating calculated from the FIDE Standard Rating Lists between August 1, 2025, and January 1, 2026, provided that the player has participated in a minimum of 40 games counted towards the FIDE Standard Rating Lists during the period from February 1, 2025, to January 1, 2026, including at least 15 games in any of the six consecutive rating lists.

The Candidates 2026 tournament is scheduled to take place between March and April 2026, with the victor set to challenge the reigning World Champion Dommaraju Gukesh in the World Chess Championship Final Match later in 2026. The specific dates and venues for both the Candidates and the Final Match will be announced subsequently.

In the meantime, while Praggnanandhaa will represent India as the only male participant, three Indian women — Divya Deshmukh, Koneru Humpy, and R. Vaishali — have also qualified for next year’s Women’s Candidates.