From being the youngest to breach the 2800 Elo mark to being hailed as the next Magnus Carlsen, Alireza Firouzja experienced it all quite early in his chess career. One moment, you rule your world, and the next, you risk being forgotten. The Iranian-born player who moved to France can attest to how quickly things can change in the world of chess.
Yet, sadly for Firouzja, he could not leave a lasting impression in either of his two Candidates appearances. And in the years since, the landscape has shifted as well. Firouzja is no longer the dominant force he once was, at least not in classical chess. From qualifying for two consecutive Candidates tournaments and entering them as one of the top contenders, Firouzja’s stock has gradually declined. The mantle of most talented prodigy has since danced away, first to D. Gukesh, then to Nodirbek Abdusattorov-Vincent Keymer, later to Abhimanyu Mishra, and now to emerging names like Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş and Faustino Oro.
Has this affected Firouzja? Not in the least, by his own account.
For him, ratings and titles hold little weight. “I believe my goal is to be the best chess player in the world. It doesn’t matter the title or rating. I think the fact that you acknowledge yourself, and then everybody acknowledges you as the best player in the world, that should be the goal,” he says to The Indian Express.
“And I am trying… my priorities are to reach that level, And if I reach that level, of course, everything else will fall into place,” he adds.
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This time, Firouzja won’t be fighting in the Candidates to play the reigning World Champion, Gukesh. The eight-player lineup for the all-important 2026 Candidates Tournament is now complete, with India’s R. Praggnanandhaa and the USA’s Hikaru Nakamura securing the final two spots.
Firouzja’s bid for a Candidates place fell short. He admits he did not push hard enough. “I would not say I tried my best to qualify for the Candidates. I didn’t try hard enough for the circuit as well, and I also didn’t play the World Cup. For the Grand Swiss, I simply like the event. I’m a fan of these Swiss tournaments, 11 rounds. I felt it was a good tournament in itself, rather than just a path to the Candidates.”
After qualifying for the last two Candidates, he missed out on qualification this time. (PHOTO: Saint Louis Chess/Lennart Ootes)
An event of the highest calibre, the Grand Swiss tests a player as rigorously as any super-elite tournament in the cycle. Hosted in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, it saw Dutchman Anish Giri and Germany’s Matthias Bluebaum take the top two places, earning their qualification for the 2026 Candidates event in Cyprus. Firouzja himself had an impressive run, tying for second place with Bluebaum and fellow German Vincent Keymer, only missing out on a Candidates berth due to an inferior tiebreak score.
Why skip Goa’s World Cup?
What surprised many was Firouzja’s decision to skip the Chess World Cup in Goa. That event was the last genuine opportunity for him to qualify for his third Candidates, but for him, the choice was straightforward. “The World Cup is too long a tournament. Playing chess every day for a month is not something I like. Whichever tournament I like… I play. I’m not the biggest fan of the World Cup’s knockout format. If another tournament with a Candidates spot had a format I liked, I would have participated. It’s just that I don’t like such a long tournament. Very simple.”
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After forgoing the Goa event – which ultimately awarded Candidates spots to Javokhir Sindarov, Wei Yi, and Andrey Esipenko – Firouzja chose instead to play in the prestigious London Chess Classic Masters. Here, only a handful of Circuit rating points were at stake, insufficient to change the leaderboard where Praggnanandhaa held a comfortable lead.
“The London Classic had nothing to do with the Circuit. I didn’t have a chance in the Circuit anyway. It was simply a tournament I wanted to play,” the 22-year-old says.
Firouzja also expressed enthusiasm for a new initiative by FIDE and Norway Chess: the Total Chess World Championship Tour. This tournament is an amalgamation of three formats: fast classical, rapid, and blitz. Asked whether this new tour and the increasingly packed calendar, including events like the Freestyle Grand Slam, might negatively impact players, Firouzja disagrees.
“I think it’s great for chess players that there are many options to show yourself, to get as many opportunities to prove you’re one of the best. As for the Total Championship, I really look forward to the initiative. I think when it happens, it will be a very big tournament in my eyes, because it can crown a complete winner. The format sounds very interesting, and I’m really happy something like this is happening,” he says.
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Regardless of his current form, Firouzja still remains the man to beat in the Global Chess League. After leading the Triveni Continental Kings to the championship in the league’s first two seasons, he spearheaded their charge for a third title, guiding TCK to the summit clash in dominant fashion in 2025. Ultimately, they were overshadowed in the final by the star-studded SG Pipers, featuring the likes of Fabiano Caruana, Praggnanandhaa, Anish and Hou Yifan.
Nevertheless, Firouzja enjoyed a phenomenal tournament in Mumbai. When asked the secret to his performance, he says, “I was trying to take extra risks for the team and it was working.”
