November 23, 2024

Arjun, Caruana, Abdusattorov, Firouzja Battle For FIDE Circuit Candidates Spot

GM Arjun Erigaisi tops the leaderboard to win the 2024 FIDE Circuit and become the first player to qualify for the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament, but things are complicated. The 2023 Circuit winner GM Fabiano Caruana and top-10 stars Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Alireza Firouzja are among the players who could overtake the Indian forerunner before the end of the year.

By December 13 at the latest, we’ll know the winner of the 2024 FIDE Chess World Championship match in Singapore between reigning champion GM Ding Liren and challenger GM Gukesh Dommaraju, while a couple of weeks later we’ll also learn who will be the first player to qualify for the eight-player FIDE Candidates Tournament to decide the next challenger in 2026.
What Is The FIDE Circuit?