Almost 169K Peak Viewers watched GM Javokhir Sindarov win his world championship ticket at the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026, which also concluded with GM Vaishali Rameshbabu qualifying to her respective championship.
How many viewers watched the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026?
FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026: basic viewership stats and top broadcasting channels
Eight players battled it out at the overall qualification to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2026.. It peaked at 168,874 viewers as Sindarov won to continue Uzbekistan's rise in the global scene.
The event accumulated over 6.7 million Hours Watched (HW), with Sindarov effectively ending the tournament in the first half. At this point, he had raced to a 6/7 score, setting a new record for the Candidates series in its current format, bettering GM Ian Nepomniachtchi's score in Madrid in 2022 by 0.5 points.
What happened at the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026?
On the men's side in Cyprus, Uzbekistan's Sindarov won the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 with a round to spare to take home the €70,000 prize. More importantly, the 20-year-old became the next challenger to GM Gukesh Dommaraju for the world title.
Javokhir Sindarov will become one of the youngest challengers for the world chess championship (Image via Chess.com)
Intriguingly, the upcoming clash between Gukesh and Sindarov will be the youngest-ever chess world championship match. It will ease past the previous record, set at the previous game when the Indian beat GM Ding Liren in an encounter where the combined age of the participants was 50 years, by a decade. Both Gukesh and Sindarov will be 20 at the time it begins.
Among women, Vaishali clinched the 2026 FIDE Women's Candidates with a final-round win, ensuring there will be an Indian on both the overall and women's sides of the world championship match. The 24-year-old star will play Chinese GM Ju Wenjun for the women's world championship title, while also pocketing €65,400.
Details such as dates and host city are yet to be announced for both the World Chess Championship 2026 and the Women's World Chess Championship 2026.
With both FIDE Candidates Tournaments done, the mystery as to who will clash at the next set of world championship matches is over. Chesswatch will keep readers updated on details regarding these games as and when the world body reveals more information.
