This… is Today in Chess.

Your brief roundup of the biggest results, key games, and defining moments from the world’s top chess competitions.

Today, the 15th April 2026 was the final round number 14 of 14 of the 2026 Candidates tournament to choose the next contender to face Gukesh to battle it out to be the next world champion.

The pairings were:

Esipenko v Caruana – win for Caruana

Pragg v Nakamura – draw

Bluebaum v Giri - win for Giri

Sindarov v Wei Yi – draw

So the final standings were:

Sindarov 10/14

Giri 8.5

Caruana 7.5

Wei Yi 7 Nakamura 6.5

Bluebaum, Pragg 6

Esipenko 4.5

And in the Women's Candidates we had a lot of excitement in the final round. Anna Muzychuk drew with Zhu Juner and Vaishali beat Kateryna Lagno, which meant that the final standings were Vaishali with 8.5 out of 14 beating Bibisara Assaubayeva into second place with 8 out of 14 and Zhu Jiner and Aleksandra Goryachkina level 3rd on 7.5. So many congratulations to Vaishali Rameshbabu.

This week's Titled Tuesday was won by Haik Martirosyan, a GM from Armenia.

Thanks for following me through these tournaments, any feedback hit me up at[email protected]Until the next day in chess – be lucky, and may all your gambits be accepted and give you a winning position!

This… is Today in Chess.

Your brief roundup of the biggest results, key games, and defining moments from the world’s top chess competitions.

Today, the 14th April 2026 was the penultimate round - 13 of 14 of the 2026 Candidates tournament to choose the next contender to face Gukesh to battle it out to be the next world champion.

The pairings were:

Wei Yi v Esipenko WIN FOR WEI YI

Giri v Sindarov DRAW

Nakamura v Bluebaum DRAW

Caruana v Pragg DRAW

The standings now, after 13 rounds are:

Sindarov 9.5

Giri 7.5

Caruana, Wei Yi 6.5

Bluebaum, Nakamura 6

Pragg 5.5

Esipenko 4.5

And this is it – with one round to go, Sindarov has sealed the win. The 20 year old Uzbek wunderkind has won the tournament and earned the right to face off against Gukesh for the world championship later this year.

What a tournament he has played, he grabbed it by the proverbials early on and never let go, never looked in doubt, continued to ease away.

And frankly, with Gukesh's performance being pretty poor since he won the world title, dropping down to an Elo of 2732 in the live ratings at number 16 in the world, and Sindarov having rising to number 5 in the world with an Elo of 2775, I think we are looking at the strong favourite for the world championship.

In the Women's Candidates we have a lot of excitement leading into the final round. The standings are: Bibisara Assaubayeva and Vaishali Rameshbabu on 7.5 of 13, and Zhu Jiner on 7. Any one of those three could win it. Tomorrow Assaubayeva plays black against Deshmukh who is currently in last place. Vaishali has the white pieces against Kataryna Lagno and Zhu Jiner has black against Ana Muzychuk. Slightadvantage to Assaubayeva!

Thanks for following me through these tournaments, any feedback hit me up at [email protected]

Until the next day in chess – be lucky, and may all your gambits be accepted and give you a winning position!

This… is Today in Chess.

Your brief roundup of the biggest results, key games, and defining moments from the world’s top chess competitions.

Today, the 12th April 2026 was round 12 of 14 of the 2026Candidates tournament to choose the next contender to face Gukesh to battle it out to be the next world champion.

The pairings were:

Esipenko v Pragg

Bluebaum v Caruana

Sindarov v Nakamura Wei Yi v Giri

And just like round 11, they were all draws!

The standings now, after 12 rounds are:

Sindarov 9

Giri 7

Caruana 6 Bluebaum, Nakamura, Wei Yi 5.5

Pragg 5

Esipenko 4.5

Surely Sindarov has won now? Let me know at

[email protected]

Until the next day in chess – be lucky, and may all your gambits be accepted and give you a winning position!

This… is Today in Chess.

Your brief roundup of the biggest results, key games, and defining moments from the world’s top chess competitions.

Candidates Round 11 - 11th April 2026

Giri v Esipenko Nakamura v Wei Yi Caruana v Sindarov

Pragg v Bluebaum All draws!

What can we say? Sindarov continues to absolutely nail it. The standings now, after 11 rounds are:

Sindarov 8.5

Giri 6.5

Caruana 5.5 Bluebaum, Nakamura, Wei Yi 5

Pragg 4.5

Esipenko 4

Surely Sindarov has won now? Let me know at

[email protected]

Until the next day in chess – be lucky, and may all your gambits be accepted and give you a winning position!

This… is Today in Chess.

Your brief roundup of the biggest results, key games, and defining moments from the world’s top chess competitions.

Candidates Round 10 - 9th April 2026

Esipenko v Bluebaum DRAW

Wei Yi v Caruana DRAW

Giri v Nakamura DRAW

Sindarov v Pragg WIN FOR SINDAROV

What can we say? Sindarov continues to absolutely nail it. The standings now, after 10 rounds are:

Sindarov 8

Giri 6

Caruana 5 Bluebaum, Nakamura, Wei Yi 4.5

Pragg 4

Esipenko 3.5

Surely Sindarov has won now? Let me know at

[email protected]

Until the next day in chess – be lucky, and may all your gambits be accepted and give you a winning position!

This…is Today in Chess. Your brief roundup of the biggest results, key games, and defining moments from the world’s top chess competitions.

Candidates Round 9 - 8th April 2026

Nakamura v Esipenko DRAW

Pragg v Wei Yi DRAW

Bluebaum v Sindarov DRAW

Caruana v Giri WIN FOR GIRI

Standings, after 9 rounds we have:

Sindarov 7

Giri 5.5

Caruana 4.5

Bluebaum, Pragg, Nakamura, Wei Yi 4

Esipenko 3

Quick notes: In the Women's Candidates we have Zhu Jiner and Vaishali now sharing the lead with 5.5 out of 9 with Anna Muzychuk half a point behind. Great tournament.

In Titled Tuesday we have the following: Sina Mohaved from Iran won, with Alexsei Sarana in 2nd and Minh Le from Vietnam in 3rd.

And we had the new Take Take Take arena. More than 5000 players took part with GM Hooligan64 taking the prize – can anyone let me know who that is? GM Knight King 96 was 2nd and IM yoseph2013 3rd.

Can Giri stop Sindarov? Let me know at[email protected]

Until the next day in chess – be lucky, and may all your gambits be accepted and give you a winning position!

This…is Today in Chess. Your brief roundup of the biggest results, key games, and defining moments from the world’s top chess competitions.

Candidates Round 8 - 7th April 2026

Esipenko v Sindarov – draw

Wei Yi vs Bluebaum – draw Giri vs Pragg – win for Giri. Nakamura vs Caruana – win for Nakamura. Standings are now, after 8 rounds: Sindarov 6.5

Giri, Caruana 4.5 Bluebaum, Pragg, Nakamura, Wei Yi 3.5

Esipenko 2.5

Quick notes: In the women's candidates we have a 5-way tie with 4.5 out of 8 we have Anna Muzychuk, Divya Deshmuk,Zhu Jiner, Vaishali and Kateryna Lagno.

Quick notes: We had the Grenke Freestyle Classic, where Keymer continued his excellent form in freestyle 960 and won ahead of MVL and Magnus Carlsen.

Will Caruana bust back? Will Hikaru stop Sindarov? let me know at [email protected]Until the next day in chess – be lucky, and may all your gambits be accepted and give you a winning position!

Sindarov v Giri - draw

Pragg v Caruana - draw

Bluebaum v Nakamura - draw

Esipenko v Wei Yi - win for Wei Yi

Standings after round 7:

Sindarov 6

Caruana 4.5

Giri 3.5

Pragg 3.5

Wei Yi 3

BBluebaum 3

Nakamura 2.5

Esipenko 2

Another amazing day for Sindarov. He beat Wei Yi and everyone else drew.

He now has 5.5/6, 2nd place is Fabiano Caruana with 4/6.

Is It over? Are we already seeing the next world champion?

Maybe....

This…is Today in Chess.

Your brief roundup of the biggest results, key games, and defining moments from the world’s top chess competitions.

Round 5 - 3rd April 2026.

Pragg v Esipenko. Draw.

Caruana v Bluebaum. Win Caruana.

Nakamura v Sindarov. Win Sundarov.

Giri v Wei Yi. Draw.

Who do you think will win? Can anyone stop Sindarov?

Let me know at⁠ [email protected]⁠Until the next day in chess – be lucky, and may all your gambits be accepted and give you a winning position!