2026 Women's Candidates - Preview!

Introduction
The Women's Candidates tournament is arguably one of the strongest and most important all-female tournaments of all time. The contenders of this tournament will compete for the right to challenge the reigning 5-time world champion, Ju Wenjun in addition to the generous prize fund of over 300,000 euros. The 2026 edition will take place in Pegeia, Cyprus from the 28th of March to the 16th of April. The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the remainder of the game, with a 30-second increment from move one. This year's field is stacked and extremely competitive - Zhu Jiner, Alexandra Goryachkina, Divya Deshmukh, Koneru Humpy, Tan Zhongyi, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Kateryna Lagno, and Bibisara Assaubayeva. We will be breaking down everything you need to know about these competitors before watching the candidates!

Qualification Routes

Zhu Jiner
Zhu Jiner enters the Cyprus tournament as the highest-rated participant. At only 23, she is one of the strongest contenders for the candidates tournament. 2025 was a fantastic year for her - she ended it as the world number two, trailing only Hou Yifan (who is mostly inactive) in the standard rating lists. In addition, she reached her all-time peak FIDE rating of 2579. This will be her first Candidates tournament.

Koneru Humpy
Koneru Humpy has been a long-standing dominant figure in women’s chess. At 38 years old, she is the oldest player in the field. Her career spans over 3 decades and many world championship cycles. 2025 proved that she can still pull fantastic results, evident with her 2nd place in the Women’s World Cup. In the 2024 edition of this tournament, she scored 7.5/14 and finished second.

Tan Zhongyi
Tan Zhongyi is the defending champion of this tournament, with a fantastic, dominant run in the 2024 edition that secured her first place. She is already a World Champion, a feat she achieved in 2017. Despite her tough 2025 match against reigning world champion Ju Wenjun, she proved that she can bounce back by finishing 3rd in the 2025 Women’s World Cup just months after.

Aleksandra Goryachkina
Aleksandra Goryachkina has always been a formidable force in women’s chess. She is one of the youngest ever WGMs and a 3-time Russian Women’s Champion. She has already won the candidates before in 2019, where she achieved a 2666 performance rating. She has been playing well through 2025 and ended the year by winning the Women’s World Rapid Championship in Doha.

Bibisara Assaubayeva
Bibisara Assaubayeva had a great run in 2025. She crossed the 2500 mark and achieved her GM title, a historic achievement. She ended the year by winning the Women’s World Blitz Championship, making it her third title (2021, 2022, 2025). In early 2026, she broke into the top 10 women in the world with a live rating over 2500. At 22, this will be her first candidates tournament.

Kateryna Lagno
Kateryna Lagno is another veteran of the field. She has stacked up a laundry list of impressive titles over her career: she became a WGM at age 12, she is a two-time European Women's Champion (2005, 2008), she has won three world blitz titles (2010, 2018, 2019) and a world rapid title in 2014. In the previous Candidates cycle (2024), she finished in sixth place.

Divya Deshmukh
Divya Deshmukh is the youngest player in the field - she’s only 19 years old. She earned her GM last year, which she gained from her win at the Women’s World Cup, an amazing tournament for her. Although this is her first candidates and she is the second lowest rated player, she heads into this year’s candidates with a lot of momentum.

Vaishali Rameshbabu
Vaishali Rameshbabu qualified for this tournament through her second Grand Swiss win last year (after her 2023 win). She has proven her resilience in tournaments over and over again. This is especially evident in last year’s candidates, where she was dead last in the middle of the tournament but won 5 games straight to tie for second. This will be her 2nd candidates tournament.

Chances for the Tournament
Taking into account rating and tournament performances in tournaments with similar formats, here are the chances of the competitors:

• Zhu Jiner has a high probability due to her high rating, but also has more volatility
• Tan Zhongyi and Goryachkina are very stable and are likely to win if the tournament stays tightly contested
• Assaubayeva and Divya have a strong chance to win if they can gain early momentum
• Humpy, Lagno, and Vaishali are more long shots, but they still have chances

All in all, it’s looking to be a very exciting candidates tournament. Good luck to all the competitors!