Next World Chess Championship match could be all-Indian affair as Pragg qualifies for Candidates

The next World Chess Championship match could be an all-Indian contest for the first time ever. Reigning champion D Gukesh could face compatriot R Praggnanandhaa in next year's title match.

There is still a long way to go for that to become a reality, but the first big door in that direction has been opened after FIDE confirmed on Monday that Praggnanandhaa has qualified for the Candidates Tournament, which decides the challenger for the World Champion.

Praggnanandhaa sealed his qualification by topping the FIDE circuit leaderboard ahead of Dutch GM Anish Giri and Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Abdusattorov. The FIDE Circuit consisted of a series of top tournaments, and Praggnanandhaa finished with 115.17 points, a healthy lead over Giri (81.18).

Seven of the eight slots in the Candidates Tournament had already been decided, with Fabiano Caruana qualifying as the 2024 FIDE Circuit winner, Giri and Matthias Blubaum making it as FIDE Grand Swiss finalists, Javokhir Sindarov, Wei Yi and Andrey Esipenko qualifying as the top-three from the FIDE World Cup and Hikaru Nakamura claiming the highest average rating quota, a spot left vacant by World No 1 Magnus Carlsen's refusal to play the event.

The Candidates' Tournament will take place in Cyprus in March-April next year. Gukesh had won the 2024 Candidates Tournament to become the challenger for Wei Yi before beating the Chinese in the World Championship match in Singapore last December.

Should Praggnanandhaa win the Candidates, he will set up the World Chess Championship title match with his good friend and fellow-Chennai resident Gukesh, in the process, ensuring the World Champion remains an Indian.