A multi-layered problem: Why no Indians qualified for 2026 Candidates via Chess World Cup in Goa

NEW DELHI: Chess-wise, Wednesday was a day of celebration. Edging toward its final month, the year produced its second 19-year-old, and youngest-ever, World Cup winner. The first, of course, was India’s own Divya Deshmukh, who brought home the women’s title earlier this year. The second is Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov, a name not many would have pencilled in while predicting the line-up for the 2026 Candidates.But with the title in Goa, Sindarov booked the ticket for the 2026 Candidates, where he will attempt to earn a shot at D Gukesh’s World Championship title.Much like Divya, who had entered the fray as the 15th seed during her career-defining triumph in Georgia, Sindarov too was far from the favourites. Remarkably just a day older than Divya, the Uzbek teenager began as the 16th seed and capitalised brilliantly on the knock-out format, stringing together a dream run that ultimately carried him to the title.Yet beneath the celebration lay disappointment and the void of a missed chance.India hosted the World Cup after 23 long years, with a record 24 home players in the field, but not one made the top three qualifying spots for the Candidates. Arjun Erigaisi came the closest before bowing out in the quarterfinals with a defeat to China’s Wei Yi, who finished runner-up.So the question remains: what went wrong for the Indians?Just around a month back, the journey of the World Cup began with 206 players from across the globe. Known for its gruelling 90+30 time control and subsequent rapid tie-breaks, it’s one of the few elite events that works entirely on knockout. In short: one bad day and you’re out."FIDE World Cup is a type of tournament where everybody out of the top 10 or 20 has a 15% chance of winning," GM Levon Aronian had said before the tournament began.The match structure mostly favours the lower-rated player.“It’s just two classical games… quite often the sides that are more or less not as highly rated will make a draw with white and wait for their chance (with black). Everything can happen in one single game,” Levon recently told TimesofIndia.com.Playing with White, a higher-rated player often feels obliged to press, to prove an advantage from the first move. But that freedom can backfire. In a knockout format, the player with Black can simply stay solid, wait for a slip, and suddenly the burden shifts. This year, in both the Women’s and Open World Cups, several matches hinged on a single game where White overreached and paid the price.India’s top seeds weren’t immune. Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, Pentala Harikrishna, Vidit Gujrathi, and Aravindh Chithambaram, all ranked within the top 25, were knocked out by lower-rated opponents, and in every case, the decisive loss came with the White pieces.Who doesn't want to flaunt in front of the home crowd? The FIDE World Cup gave Indian players a chance. But were they ready?Playing at home brings comfort, support, and a very particular kind of pressure. A roaring crowd can uplift but also suffocate. Expectations aren’t spoken so much as felt."Of course, it attracts so much pressure, but I think I would've to get into a mindset where it doesn't affect my chess," GM Pranesh M told TimesofIndia.com ahead of the FIDE World Cup.In a sport where calmness is oxygen, emotional wobble can flip a stable position into disaster. Hosting the event was a milestone for India, but also a weight not everyone carried equally well.Besides the title, branded as the Viswanathan Anand Trophy, three Candidates’ spots were up for grabs. With 206 participants, everyone had a realistic chance of making the Candidates.While the path is wider -- ratings, Grand Swiss, FIDE Circuit -- for top Indians, others saw the FIDE World Cup as their only way into the Candidates.Decades ago, World Championship qualification had one winding but clear pathway: nationals, zonals, inter-zonals, then Candidates "The world was divided into several zones, and if you played well in the interzonal championships, you would thereby qualify for the Candidates Tournament. So there was one single channel through which everybody could qualify," Veteran Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay told this website."Today, if you look at it, there are at least 500 players strong enough to become surprise candidates and emerge into the last eight. At least 500 players are capable of doing that if they perform at their best."But now we have various phases and various seedings. Some top players get seeded by rating, while others get seeded by virtue of playing in Grand Swiss tournaments, which are again restricted only to very strong players."For many top Indians, having multiple routes to Candidates' qualification works as a safety net, whereas there is no such thing for others."So a large number, five out of eight, qualify through these different channels, and only three players qualify through what may be called the proper channel… for a common player, this is the only channel. So one could say that the common player is more motivated in this particular tournament," the veteran Grandmaster added.And it was not as if Indians left the field without a fight; many showed that hunger. Diptayan Ghosh upset Ian Nepomniachtchi early, while Pranav V, SL Narayanan, and Harikrishna pushed deep into the field. But hunger is only one ingredient. Consistency in chaos is another.There is a growing concern in the Indian chess fraternity. With trainers and coaches more inclined towards AI and chess engines, the creativity on the board is somewhat evaporating."Now everybody has the best engines and powerful hardware, so there’s very little that separates one player from another... Earlier, it wasn’t like that -- you had to sit for hours, work through lines, go deeper yourself. There was always a horizon effect; after a few moves, the engine stopped seeing clearly," Vidit Gujhrathi told TimesofIndia.com recently during an exclusive interview."But today, with neural-network-based AI, engines give you answers immediately. So the barrier to learning openings has dropped significantly. And chess, by its nature, is a draw-ish game. If both sides play perfectly, the most likely result is a draw, maybe 51–49 either way.”And once a match enters a tie-break, it's anyone's game."Are we really thinking about chess? Are we playing creative chess ourselves? Do we know where we end our preparation? Do we actually know what is to be done next?" Thipsay asked."Otherwise, this preparation has no value. And you end up playing to get a better position according to the engine. And you do not know what the plan is to be made. Those who are shrewd and intelligent enough to apply this policy of preparing well at the same time find out what is to be done next."Both in the Women's World Cup and the Open section in Goa, those who put creativity over engines had the last laugh. It perhaps leaves a lesson for the future.And even if the Indian challenge faded in the air at the Goa World Cup, all hope is not lost, with R Praggnanandhaa closing in on securing the final Candidates spot available through the FIDE Circuit.For India, that would ensure at least one representation in the Candidates. The number could well have been more than one. But as they say, it's what it is.ALSO READ: From ‘surviving on only rice and water in Russia’ to serious burnout before marriage: Vidit Gujrathi on life as a chess Grandmaster