Overview
- FIDE and R Praggnanandhaa confirmed his qualification on December 8, capping a season-long lead in the circuit standings.
- A last‑minute entry in London delivered a 7/9 score and 8.17 circuit points, removing any reliance on remaining Rapid and Blitz events.
- Nodirbek Abdusattorov posted a standout London Elite performance worth 19.62 circuit points yet could not overhaul Praggnanandhaa’s total.
- Praggnanandhaa’s 2025 results included titles at Tata Steel Masters, Superbet Chess Classic Romania and the UzChess Cup, rebounding from a World Cup round‑four exit to Daniil Dubov.
- Seven of eight Candidates places are now set with Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Matthias Blübaum, Javokhir Sindarov, Wei Yi and Andrey Esipenko among the qualifiers, with Praggnanandhaa the only Indian male entrant and the winner to challenge world champion D Gukesh.