3 min readUpdated: Mar 17, 2026 11:50 PM IST
When asked for his favourite for the upcoming Candidates at Cyprus starting March 26, Viswanathan Anand had said, “I think Fabi (Fabiano), Hikaru (Nakamura), Anish (Giri)… you know this is got to be their time, so they will have that feeling going into it that this is a chance to grab… and a lot of wildcards.”
While World No 2 Hikaru Nakamura and No 3 Fabiano Caruana start favourites by ranking, the Dutchman Anish Giri was delirious and took to Twitter late Monday night to post, “Call me a weirdo, but I feel so proud, having a chess hero of mine even just mention my name when giving an interview.”
The candidate, with his wry takes on all things chess, has been happily posting alongside his preparations. To Chess.com’s prediction attributed to Magnus Carlsen that proclaimed, “The old Americans are the favourites”, Giri would say, “Oof more spicy stuff.”
Call me a weirdo, but I feel so proud, having a chess hero of mine even just mention my name when giving an interview. https://t.co/P8n53YzPvP
— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) March 16, 2026
When Chessbase India asked GM Nodirbek Abdusattatov to pick a favourite, he would go with Fabiano Caruana. “He has a good chance,” he would say. When quizzed on a potential faceoff with Gukesh, he would put it at 60-40 for Caruana. “If Fabi wins Candidates, he will get confidence,” he would opine.
Hans Nieman told Chessbase India Caruana was straight favourite to win, but of the rest he rated Praggnanandhaa and Sindarov higher than the rest. “70-30 to Fabi against Gukesh,” he would say.
Speaking to FIDE, GM Peter Svidler too would lean on Fabi, but not as “clear favourite. If i absolutely must pick one, then Fabi.” Pragg was a close second for him in an interesting field where “pretty much everyone has a shot.”
Speaking on the LevitovChess podcast, Ian Nepomniachtchi stirred up a bit of hornets nest. “Nakamura’s chances at the Candidates? I think zero chances. Zero. How long can one refute everything the Soviet chess school taught – that you need to constantly study chess, not play it occasionally. Not overdo blitz, and so on,” his words were translated from Russian.
Nepo would pick Caruana, Pragg and Wei Yi as his three favourites in that order. “The dark horse is Wei Yi. I really like how he plays. He competes rarely but in every tournament Wei Yi has played in, he has played well,” he said.
