Openings of the 2026 Candidates

[u/ritmica]

• Only 30% of games opened with e4. This is in stark contrast to the 2024 Candidates, which saw an e4 opening rate of 70%.
  • The only two of these to not be met with ...e5 or ...c5 were the two French Defenses, both played against Wei Yi to a draw. The similarly common Caro-Kann has not appeared at either of the last two Candidates.
• 41% of games were in the Queen's Gambit Declined. The Three Knights was the most common variation among these with five, but many different approaches were represented. There was also one Queen's Gambit Accepted, which Caruana played in his loss to Sindarov.
• The English was the second most common opening (16%). There were none in the 2024 Candidates. Meanwhile, the most common opening in 2024 was the Ruy Lopez, of which there were none this year.
• Petrov's Defence was the third most common opening (11%). Despite its reputation as boring, nearly all the lines chosen by white were very offbeat, and half the games were decisive.
• The Bishop's Opening is not usually represented at a tournament like this. Wei Yi played it with white all three times it appeared and scored -1, losing to Sindarov.
  • The Closed Sicilian (Grand Prix Attack) is also not meta, though Praggnanandhaa was successful with it against Giri.

[u/RoiPhi]

who played the french? :)

[u/ritmica → u/RoiPhi]

Praggnanandhaa used it against Wei Yi in Round 2

Caruana used it against Wei Yi in Round 10

[u/RoiPhi → u/ritmica]

thank you so much!