NEW DELHI: It was in December last year when an 18-year-old boy from Chennai, Gukesh Dommaraju, stunned China’s Ding Liren to become the youngest-ever World Chess Champion.
The victory sent a wave of euphoria across the global chess fraternity. Even those in the opposition camp could not help but admire the moment. And one such individual was Hungary No. 1 Richárd Rapport, who worked as Ding's second (an assistant who helps a player prepare by analysing opponents’ openings, middlegame ideas and endgame structures) during the World Championship match.
Rapport, himself one of the most creative minds in elite chess and the youngest-ever Hungarian grandmaster at just 13, knows how it feels to be in the position when something as big as the Candidates Tournament is approaching.
As the 2025–26 World Championship cycle reaches its boiling point with the Candidates Tournament scheduled to be held in Cyprus between March 28 and April 16, 2026, Rapport feels this time would be different to his 2022 Candidates, where Jan-Krzysztof Duda, the 2021 World Cup winner, was the lowest-seeded player with a rating of 2750. In the current cycle, Javokhir Sindarov is the lowest-rated player in the field with an Elo of 2726, as per the December ratings list.
“The likes of Hikaru (Nakamura), Fabiano (Caruana) and Anish (Giri), they are very experienced. And Pragg, you know, very young and up and coming, and he’s proven himself over and over and over. So yeah, these guys are really good," Rapport told TimesofIndia.com.
“It’s more like these guys have been around. It’s not a big shock. When I played my Candidates, we had a very strong lineup. I think young Jan-Krzysztof Duda was seeded last. He was still like 2750 or something.”
That memory tells his understanding of how round-robin Candidates tournaments are often decided.
“Very often it comes down to beating the guys who are struggling the most with a very big score,” Rapport explained. “That’s usually the key to success. You play tight games with the guys who are doing well, and you leverage the fact that you beat someone to zero while the other guy made two draws. Suddenly, it’s one point difference, and then he has to take more risks.”
The 2021–22 cycle, however, unfolded with a subplot never seen before in chess.
Richárd Rapport in Candidates 2022 (Photo Credit: FIDE/Stev Bonhage)
After repeatedly praising the Russian invasion of Ukraine in public, Sergey Karjakin was found by FIDE in March 2022 to have breached its Code of Ethics and was handed a six-month ban, ruling him out of the Candidates Tournament. His appeal, filed by the Russian Chess Federation, was rejected in May.
Under the replacement rules, the spot passed to the highest-rated eligible player who had not already qualified, Ding Liren.
But Ding initially lacked the required 30 rated games due to COVID-related travel restrictions, forcing the Chinese Chess Association to hastily organise tournaments so he could meet the criteria.
Once Karjakin’s ban was upheld, Ding officially qualified, and what followed became one of the most ironic twists in recent chess history.
“After the first half of the Candidates cycle that we were playing, the only player with absolutely no mathematical chance of qualifying was Ding,” Rapport recalled. “And then at the end of the cycle, he became the champion. It’s a bit ironic.”
Rapport is a believer that similar dynamics can emerge for lower-seeded players in any Candidates.
“It kind of gives possibilities for them as well,” he added. “People will try more against them, so things can happen.
"If you look at some games like Fabiano versus Hikaru, they’ve played so many times already. They know each other so well. I would expect to see some very tight games.”
Preparation gaps, he feels, will be more visible against the less experienced players, while clashes between veterans may yield fewer decisive results.
That brings the conversation inevitably to R Praggnanandhaa, often described as young and inexperienced by casual observers. Rapport strongly disagrees.
“You cannot call him inexperienced,” he said with some visible firmness. “Even though, you know, by age. He’s kind of been around the blocks. Pragg’s second Candidates comes at roughly the same age, or even younger, than some of these guys. It’s just insane.”
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“Because it’s one event, even though it’s a long event, it’s still one event at the end of the day,” he said. “Anything can happen. I would normally predict some of the guys you mentioned, the top-rated, the experienced ones, to take the spot.”
As Cyprus prepares to host the next chapter in chess history, Rapport puts his money on the experienced shoulders.
But as recent cycles have shown, today’s underdog can very quickly become tomorrow’s world champion. All we can say is time will tell.
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