The battle to pick the challengers for the open and women’s world championship title moves into high gear this month as top chess players gather in Paphos, Cyprus, at the end of the month for the FIDE Candidates and FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournaments.
The two eight-player, double round-robin events will run through April 16, but U.S. chess fans will not have to wait long for the first clash between two Americans with real hopes of earning the right to take on young Indian world champ GM Dommaraju Gukesh. Based on pairings announced by FIDE last week, U.S. top seeds Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura will meet in the very first round, with a second encounter in Round 8.
The two are the ratings favorites to emerge as this year’s challenger, though Indian GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Dutch veteran Anish Giri and China’s Wei Yi are also considered contenders.
There are no Americans in the women’s Candidates event, which features three Indian stars, including “Pragg’s” sister Vaishali, two Russians and two Chinese entrants, including former women’s world champ Tan Zhongyi and rising star Zhu Jiner. Awaiting the winner is women’s world champion GM Ju Wenjun of China, who has held the title since 2018.
Caruana got a nice tune-up but a mixed result last week at the 2026 St. Louis Masters event. He went undefeated against a quality field but failed to convert a won ending in the final round against Italian GM Francisco Solis and wound up a half-point behind tournament winner GM Mikhail Antipov.
—-
Losing stinks.
When this column debuted more than three decades ago, I made a point of running a couple of my own over-the-board losses early on — a personal reminder that every brilliancy and fabulous combination celebrated here was also a source of pain, public embarrassment and sleepless nights for the unfortunate player on the wrong end of the result.
Just by chance, columns in just the last three weeks have featured spectacular losses by two great players — Russian former world champ Anatoly Karpov and three-time American champion GM Nick de Firmian. To restore a little balance to the Force, today we offer in recompense examples of both players at their attacking best.
Karpov is considered one of the greatest positional players of all time, but he could hunt down a king when the situation called for it. In a 1977 game. Italian GM Stefano Tatai repeatedly passes up the chance to castle his king away from danger in this Symmetrical English, and Black makes him pay. An early pawn sacrifice with 11…0-0! 12. Nxb6 axb6 13. Qxc4 e5 opens up lines for Black’s pieces, while White’s knight and queen — his only developed pieces — are driven all the way back to the first rank.
Karpov’s relentless precision is on full display in the critical sequence: 21. Bxd4 (Bxe4? Rxe4! 22. Qxe4 Bf5 23. Qh4 Nc2+ 24. Kf1 Qxh4 25. gxh4 Bh3+ 26. Kg1 Nxa1 27. f3 Rxa2, and Black is winning) Qxd4 22. a3 Bg4 23. Qc2 (see diagram; 23. 0-0 won’t save White after 23…Bxe2 24. Re1 Qd2 25. Ne3  Bd3 26. Qa2+ Kh8 27. Rad1 Qxb2) Qd3!! 24. exd3! (we’ll give White an exclamation point for sportingly taking the queen; it’s bleak but still a fight after the tougher 24. Qd2! Qxd2+ 25. Kxd2 Rac8 26. bxa4 Red8+ 27. Ke1 Rc2) exd3+ 25. Kd2 Re2+! (dxc2 was also good, but Black’s choice is a lot more satisfying) 26. Kxd3 Rd8+!; note that the desperate 27. Bd5+ Rxd5+ 28. Kc4 Rxc2+ 29. Kxd5 comes up short because of 29…Bf3+.
One last Karpovian finesse (24…Rcd2!) paralyzes White’s game, and Tatai’s forlorn king won’t survive long against Black’s rooks and bishops. White resigns after 29. f3 Bf8+ 30. Ka5 Bd7!, as mate on the a-file can only be put off so long in lines like 31. Rc1 Rd6 32. Bf1 Re6.
De Firmian conducted his own flawless mating attack in a snappy win over the fine Yugoslav GM Predrag Nikolic at the 1985 Tunis Interzonal tournament. It’s a Closed Ruy Lopez line often used by Karpov, and Black gets in early trouble with 15. Rxa8 Qxa8?! (bxa8 was indicated), when his queen will be badly missed in the center and on the kingside.
Like Karpov, de Firmian uses an aggressive pawn sacrifice (19. e6! fxe6 20. Ne5) to open up the position, and soon his knights are running wild around Black’s vulnerable kingside. After gaining a little time on the clock, operations begin in earnest with 26. Nd7! Nb4 (Kh8 27. Qg3 Qd8 28. Qg6, with the nasty threat of 29. Nef6! gxf6 30. Qxh6+ Kg8 31. Qg6+ Kh8 32. Qh5+ Kg8 33. Re3 f5 34. Rg3+ and mate to come) 27. Nef6+!.
Black’s king will find no rest after 27…Kf7 (27…Bxf6 [gxf6 28. Qg6+ Kh8 29. Nxf6 Bxf6 30. Rxe8+] allows 28. Nxf6+! gxf6 29. Qg6+ Kh8 30. Qxh6+ Kh7 31. Qf7+ Kh8 32. Rxe8+) 28. Ne5+! Ke6 (Kf8 29. Qg6; or 28…Kxf6 29. Qg6 mate) 29. Neg4+ Kf7 30. Ne5+ Ke6 31. Neg4+ Kf7 32. Nxh6+!.
White generates a cornucopia of mate threats in chasing down the enemy king: 32…gxh6 (Kxf6 33. Qf5 mate; or 32…Kf8 33. Nd7 mate) 33. Qh7+ Kxf6 (Kf8 34. Bxh6 mate) 34. Qxh6+ Kf7 (yet another mating motif is 34…Kf5 35. g4 mate) 35. Qh7+ Kf6 36. Bg5+! Kxg5 37. Qg7+, and Black resigns as de Firmian’s third piece sacrifice ends all resistance; e.g. 37…Kh5 (Kf5 38. Re5+ Kf4 39. Qg3 mate; 37…Kf4 38. Qg4 mate) 38. g4+ Kh4 39. Qh6 mate.
(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)
Tatai-Karpov, Las Palmas Tournament, Las Palmas, Spain, May 1977
1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. g3 g6 6. Bg2 Bg7 7. Qa4+ Nc6 8. Ng5 e6 9. Nge4 Nb6 10. Qb5 c4 11. Na4 O-O 12. Nxb6 axb6 13. Qxc4 e5 14. Qc2 Nd4 15. Qb1 f5 16. Nc3 e4 17. d3 b5 18. Be3 b4 19. Nd1 Re8 20. dxe4 fxe4 21. Bxd4 Qxd4 22. a3 Bg4 23. Qc2 Qd3 24. exd3 exd3+ 25. Kd2 Re2+ 26. Kxd3 Rd8+ 27. Kc4 Rxc2+ 28. Kxb4 Rcd2 29. f3 Bf8+ 30. Ka5 Bd7 White resigns.
De Firmian-Nikolic, Tuns Interzonal, Gammarth, Tunisia, April 1985
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 O-O 9.h3 Bb7 10.d4 Re8 11.a4 h6 12.Nbd2 exd4 13.cxd4 Nb4 14.axb5 axb5 15.Rxa8 Qxa8 16.e5 dxe5 17.dxe5 Nfd5 18.Ne4 c5 19.e6 fxe6 20.Ne5 Nc6 21.Bxd5 exd5 22.Qxd5+ Kh7 23.Qd3 Kg8 24.Qd5+ Kh7 25.Qd3 Kg8 26.Nd7 Nb4 27.Nef6+ Kf7 28.Ne5+ Ke6 29.Neg4 Kf7 30.Ne5+ Ke6 31.Neg4 Kf7 32.Nxh6+ gxh6 33.Qh7+ Kxf6 34.Qxh6+ Kf7 35.Qh7+ Kf6 36.Bg5+ Kxg5 37.Qg7+ Black resigns.
• Got a hot tip or a cool game to share? David R. Sands can be reached at davidrsands18@gmail.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.