Candidates Tournament

The Candidates Tournament (or in some periods Candidates Matches) is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The winner of the Candidates earns the right to a match for the World Championship against the incumbent world champion.

Before 1993 it was contested triennially; almost always held every third year from 1950 to 1992 inclusive. After the split of the World Championship in the early 1990s, the cycles were disrupted, even after the reunification of the titles in 2006. Since 2013 it has settled into a 2-year cycle: qualification for Candidates during the odd-numbered year, Candidates played early in the even-numbered year, and the World Championship match played late in the even-numbered year. The latter half of the 2020 Candidates Tournament was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was only played in April 2021. The subsequent tournament, the 2022 Candidates Tournament, took place as scheduled in 2022.

Precursors

Before 1950, the champion had the right to handpick a challenger. However, a number of tournaments acted as de facto candidates tournaments:

The London 1883 chess tournament established Johannes Zukertort and Wilhelm Steinitz as the best two players in the world, and was one of the important events leading to the first official world championship match between the two, in 1886. Steinitz won, making him the first official world champion.
The Saint Petersburg 1895–96 chess tournament, in which world champion Emanuel Lasker finished first and Steinitz finished second, led to Steinitz gaining support for an 1897 rematch, which Lasker won.
The AVRO 1938 chess tournament was held partly to choose a challenger for Alexander Alekhine. Paul Keres won on tie-breaks, but World War II prevented the match from happening.

Organization

thumb|[[Amsterdam 1956 chess tournament|Candidates Tournament 1956 Amsterdam: 10 players]]

The number of players in the tournament varied over the years, between eight and fifteen players. Most of these qualified from Interzonal tournaments, though some gained direct entry without having to play the Interzonal.

The first Interzonal/Candidates World Championship cycle began in 1948. Before 1965, the tournament was organized in a round-robin format. From 1965 on, the tournament was played as knockout matches, spread over several months. In 1995–1996, the defending FIDE champion (Anatoly Karpov) also entered the Candidates, in the third round (Candidates final).

During its 1993 to 2006 split from FIDE, the "Classical" World Championship also held three Candidates Tournaments (in 1994–1995, 1998 and 2002) under a different sponsor and a different format each time. In one of these cases (Alexei Shirov in 1998) no title match eventuated, under disputed circumstances (see Classical World Chess Championship 2000).

After the reunification of titles in 2006, FIDE tried different Candidates formats in 2007, 2009 and 2011, before settling on an 8 player, double round robin Candidates tournament from 2013 onwards.

Winners (since 2011)

{|class="wikitable"

!Edition

!Host city

!Prize fund

!style="background:#ffd700|Winner

!style="background:#c0c0c0|Runner-up

!style="background:#cc9966|Third

| 2011 || Kazan, Russia || € || Boris Gelfand || Alexander Grischuk || –

| 2013 || London, United Kingdom || € || Magnus Carlsen || Vladimir Kramnik || Peter Svidler

| 2014 || Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia || € || Viswanathan Anand || Sergey Karjakin || Vladimir Kramnik

| 2016 || Moscow, Russia || € || Sergey Karjakin || Fabiano Caruana || Viswanathan Anand

| 2018 || Berlin, Germany || € || Fabiano Caruana || Shakhriyar Mamedyarov || Sergey Karjakin

| 2020–21 || Yekaterinburg, Russia || € || Ian Nepomniachtchi || Maxime Vachier-Lagrave || Anish Giri

| 2022 || Madrid, Spain || € || Ian Nepomniachtchi || Ding Liren || Teimour Radjabov

| 2024 || Toronto, Canada || € || Gukesh Dommaraju || Hikaru Nakamura || Ian Nepomniachtchi

| 2026 || Paphos, Cyprus || € || Javokhir Sindarov || Anish Giri || Fabiano Caruana

Results of Candidates Tournaments

The tables below show the qualifiers and results for all interzonal, Candidates and world championship tournaments.

Players shown bracketed in italics (Bondarevsky, Euwe, Fine and Reshevsky in 1950, Botvinnik in 1965, Fischer in 1977, Carlsen in 2011 and 2024, and Radjabov in 2020) qualified for the Candidates or were seeded in the Candidates, but did not play.
Players shown in italics with an asterisk (Stein* in 1962 and again in 1965, and Bronstein* in 1965) were excluded from the Candidates by a rule limiting the number of players from one country.
Karjakin* in 2022 was disqualified by FIDE after his qualification for the Candidates: the FIDE Ethics and Disciplinary Commission ruled that he breached Article 2.2.10 of the FIDE Code of Ethics after he made public comments approving of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. He is shown bracketed, in italics, and with an asterisk.
Players listed after players in italics (Flohr in 1950, Benko in 1962, Geller, Ivkov and Portisch in 1965, Spassky in 1977, Grischuk in 2011, Vachier-Lagrave in 2020, Ding in 2022, and Abasov in 2024) only qualified due to the non-participation (withdrawal) of the bracketed players or players with an asterisk.
Incumbent champions' names are struck through when they refused to defend their title (Fischer in 1975 and Carlsen in 2023).

Normally, the incumbent champion is seeded directly into the final against the challenger (who had to pass through the Candidates qualification), but there have been exceptions:

The World Chess Championship 1948, in which five players were seeded into the championship tournament (the previous champion, Alexander Alekhine, having died in 1946). A sixth player, Fine, was also seeded into the championship tournament but chose not to play; he is shown in brackets.
The FIDE World Chess Championship 1996, in which the FIDE World Champion Anatoly Karpov was seeded in the Candidates final.
The Classical World Chess Championship 2000, in which two players were seeded into the championship final (one of them being incumbent champion Kasparov), and there were no previous qualifying stages. In this way, it resembled the pre-1946 events, in which the champion could handpick a challenger.
The FIDE championships of 1999–2004 (during the split-title period), in which the incumbent champion had no special privileges.
The FIDE World Chess Championship 2005, in which eight players (including incumbent FIDE champion Kasimdzhanov) were seeded into the final championship tournament.
The FIDE World Chess Championship 2007, in which four players (including incumbent champion Kramnik) were seeded into the final championship tournament.

The incumbent champion Bobby Fischer refused to defend his title at the World Chess Championship 1975, and his challenger Anatoly Karpov won by forfeit. (At the time, the Candidates was a knock-out event, so the 1974 Karpov–Korchnoi Candidates final match – a best of 24 games, like world championships in the period 1951–1972 and 1985–1993 – arguably became a de facto world championship in retrospect.) Magnus Carlsen refused to defend his title at the World Chess Championship 2023 and was replaced by the runner-up of the Candidates Tournament, Ding Liren.

Interzonal and Candidates tournaments (1948–1996)

{| class=wikitable style="white-space;"

|+ World Championship selection cycles from 1948 to 1996

! Year

!colspan=3 | Selection of participants

!colspan=2 | Championship

|rowspan=5| 1948

| 1938 AVRO winners

|colspan=2| Paul Keres <s> Reuben Fine</s>

|rowspan=5 colspan=2| The Hague/Moscow 1948 Quintuple round robin: 1 Botvinnik 14/20 2 Smyslov 11 3-4 Keres 10½ 3-4 Reshevsky 10½ 5 Euwe 4

| Multiple US Champion

|colspan=2| Samuel Reshevsky

| Former World Champion

|colspan=2| Max Euwe

| Soviet Champion

|colspan=2| Mikhail Botvinnik

| Soviet grandmaster

|colspan=2| Vasily Smyslov

!rowspan=2| Year

!colspan=2| Interzonal tournaments

!colspan=2| Candidates tournaments

!colspan=2| Championship

! Format

! Qualifiers

! Results

! Contestants

! Results

|rowspan=2| 1948–51

| 1948 participants

| Smyslov Keres <s> Euwe</s> <s> Fine</s> <s> Reshevsky</s>

|rowspan=2| Budapest 1950 Double round robin 10 players 1-2 Boleslavsky 1-2 Bronstein 3 Smyslov 4 Keres Playoff: Bronstein beat Boleslavsky

|rowspan=2| Candidates winner: Bronstein Defending champion: Botvinnik

|rowspan=2| Moscow 1951 24-game match Drawn 12–12 Botvinnik retained title

| Saltsjöbaden (Stockholm) 1948: Single round robin 20 players 8 qualified

| 1 Bronstein 2 Szabo 3 Boleslavsky 4 Kotov 5 Lilienthal 6-9 Najdorf 6-9 Ståhlberg 6-9 <s> Bondarevsky</s> 6-9 Flohr

|rowspan=4| 1952–54

| 1951 runner up

| Bronstein

|rowspan=4| Zürich 1953 Double round robin 15 players 1 Smyslov 2-4 Bronstein 2-4 Keres 2-4 Reshevsky

|rowspan=4| Candidates winner: Smyslov Defending champion: Botvinnik

|rowspan=4| Moscow 1954 24-game match Drawn 12–12 Botvinnik retained title

| Candidates 2nd-5th

| Boleslavsky Smyslov Keres Najdorf

| 1948 participants

| Reshevsky Euwe

| Saltsjöbaden (Stockholm) 1952 Single round robin 21 players 8 qualified

| 1 Kotov 2-3 Taimanov 2-3 Petrosian 4 Geller 5-8 Averbakh 5-8 Ståhlberg 5-8 Szabo 5-8 Gligorić

|rowspan=2| 1955–57

| 1954 runner up

| Smyslov

|rowspan=2| Amsterdam 1956 Double round robin 10 players 1 Smyslov 2 Keres

|rowspan=2| Candidates winner: Smyslov Defending champion: Botvinnik

|rowspan=2| Moscow 1957 24-game match Smyslov won 12½–9½

| Gothenburg 1955 Single round robin 21 players 9 qualified

| 1 Bronstein 2 Keres 3 Panno 4 Petrosian 5-6 Geller 5-6 Szabo 7–9 Filip 7–9 Pilnik 7–9 Spassky

| 1958

|colspan=3| Rematch

| Botvinnik Smyslov

| Moscow 1958 24-game match Botvinnik won 12½–10½

|rowspan=3| 1958–60

| 1958 runner up

| Smyslov

|rowspan=3| Yugoslavia 1959 Quadruple round robin 8 players 1 Tal 2 Keres 3 Petrosian 4 Smyslov

|rowspan=3| Candidates winner: Tal Defending champion: Botvinnik

|rowspan=3| Moscow 1960 24-game match Tal won 12½–8½

| 1956 Candidates runner up

| Keres

| Portorož 1958 Single round robin 21 players 6 qualified

| 1 Tal 2 Gligorić 3-4 Petrosian 3-4 Benko 5-6 Friðrik 5-6 Fischer

| 1961

|colspan=3| Rematch

| Botvinnik Tal

| Moscow 1961 24-game match Botvinnik won 13–8

|rowspan=3| 1962–63

| 1961 runner up

| Tal

|rowspan=3| Curaçao 1962 Quadruple round robin 8 players 1 Petrosian; 2 Keres 3 Geller 4 Fischer

|rowspan=3| Candidates winner: Petrosian Defending champion: Botvinnik

|rowspan=3| Moscow 1963 24-game match Petrosian won 12½–9½

| 1959 Candidates runner up

| Keres

| Stockholm 1962 Single round robin 23 players 6 qualified

| 1 Fischer 2-3 Geller 2-3 Petrosian 4-5 Korchnoi 4-5 Filip 6-8 Stein* 6-8 Benko

|rowspan=3| 1964–66

| 1963 runner up

| <s> Botvinnik</s>

|rowspan=3| 1965: 8 players, matches Semi-finals: Spassky beat Geller Tal beat Larsen Final: Spassky beat Tal

|rowspan=3| Candidates winner: Spassky Defending champion: Petrosian

|rowspan=3| Moscow 1966 24-game match Petrosian won 12½–11½

| 1962 Candidates

| Keres Geller

| Amsterdam 1964 Single round robin 24 players 6 qualified

| 1-4 Smyslov 1-4 Larsen 1-4 Spassky 1-4 Tal 5 Stein* 6 Bronstein* 7 Ivkov 8-9 Portisch

|rowspan=3| 1967–69

| 1966 runner up

| Spassky

|rowspan=3| 1968: 8 players, matches Semi-finals: Korchnoi beat Tal Spassky beat Larsen Final: Spassky beat Korchnoi

|rowspan=3| Candidates winner: Spassky Defending champion: Petrosian

|rowspan=3| Moscow 1969 24-game match Spassky won 12½–10½

| 1965 Candidates runner up

| Tal

| Sousse 1967 Single round robin 23 players 6 qualified

| 1 Larsen 2-4 Korchnoi 2-4 Geller 2-4 Gligorić 5 Portisch 6-8 Reshevsky

|rowspan=3| 1970–72

| 1969 runner up

| Petrosian

|rowspan=3| 1971: 8 players, matches Semi-finals: Petrosian beat Korchnoi Fischer beat Larsen Final: Fischer beat Petrosian

|rowspan=3| Candidates winner: Fischer Defending champion: Spassky

|rowspan=3| Reykjavík 1972 24-game match Fischer won 12½–8½

| 1968 Candidates runner up

| Korchnoi

| Palma de Mallorca 1970 Single round robin 24 players 6 qualified

| 1 Fischer 2-4 Larsen 2-4 Geller 2-4 Hübner 5-6 Taimanov 5-6 Uhlmann

|rowspan=4| 1973–75

| 1972 runner up

| Spassky

|rowspan=4| 1974: 8 players, matches Semi-finals: Korchnoi beat Petrosian Karpov beat Spassky Final: Karpov beat Korchnoi

|rowspan=4| Candidates winner: Karpov Defending champion: <s> Fischer</s>

|rowspan=4| 1975: Karpov won on forfeit

| 1971 Candidates runner up

| Petrosian

|rowspan=2| 1973: Two single round robins 18 players each 3 qualified from each

| Leningrad 1973: 1-2 Korchnoi 1-2 Karpov 3 Byrne

| Petropolis 1973: 1 Mecking 2-4 Portisch 2-4 Polugaevsky

|rowspan=4| 1976–78

| 1975 runner up

| <s> Fischer</s>

|rowspan=4| 1977: 8 players, matches Semi-finals: Korchnoi beat Polugaevsky Spassky beat Portisch Final: Korchnoi beat Spassky

|rowspan=4| Candidates winner: Korchnoi Defending champion: Karpov

|rowspan=4| Baguio 1978 First to 6 wins Karpov won 6–5 after 32 games (draws not counting)

| 1974 Candidates

| Korchnoi Spassky

|rowspan=2| 1976: Two single round robins 20 players each 3 qualified from each

| Biel 1976: 1 Larsen 2-4 Petrosian 2-4 Portisch

|Manila 1976: 1 Mecking 2-3 Polugaevsky 2-3 Hort

|rowspan=4| 1979–81

| 1978 runner up

| Korchnoi

|rowspan=4| 1980: 8 players, matches Semi-finals: Korchnoi beat Polugaevsky Hübner beat Portisch Final: Korchnoi beat Hübner

|rowspan=4| Candidates winner: Korchnoi Defending champion: Karpov

|rowspan=4| Meran 1981 First to 6 wins Karpov won 6–2 after 18 games (draws not counting)

| 1977 Candidates runner up

| Spassky

|rowspan=2| 1979: Two single round robins 18 players each 3 qualified from each

| Riga 1979: 1-2 Tal 1-2 Polugaevsky 3-4 Adorján

| Rio de Janeiro 1979: 1-3 Portisch 1-3 Petrosian 1-3 Hübner

|rowspan=5| 1982–85

| 1981 runner up

| Korchnoi

|rowspan=5| 1983–84: 8 players, matches Semi-finals, 1983: Kasparov beat Korchnoi Smyslov beat Ribli Final, 1984: Kasparov beat Smyslov

|rowspan=5| Candidates winner: Kasparov Defending champion: Karpov

|rowspan=5| Moscow 1984–85 First to 6 wins Abandoned after 48 games ( Karpov led 5–3, draws not counting)

| 1980 Candidates runner up

| Hübner

|rowspan=3| 1982: Three single round robins 14 players each 2 qualified from each

| Las Palmas 1982: 1 Ribli 2 Smyslov

| Toluca 1982: 1-2 Portisch 1-2 Torre

| Moscow 1982: 1 Kasparov 2 Beliavsky

| 1985

|colspan=3| Replay

| Karpov Kasparov

| Moscow 1985 24-game match Kasparov won 13–11

| 1986

|colspan=3| Rematch

| Karpov Kasparov

| London/Leningrad 1986 24-game match Kasparov won 12½–11½

|rowspan=6| 1985–87

| 1986 runner up (seeded into Candidates final)

| Karpov

|rowspan=6| Montpellier 1985: Single round robin tournament 16 players, top 4 qualify 1-3 Yusupov 1-3 Sokolov 1-3 Vaganian 4-5 Timman 1986: Two rounds of matches Semi-finals: Yusupov beat Timman Sokolov beat Vaganian Final: Sokolov beat Yusupov Challenger Match Linares, 1987: Karpov beat Sokolov

|rowspan=6| Candidates winner: Karpov Defending champion: Kasparov

|rowspan=6| Seville 1987 24-game match Drawn 12–12 Kasparov retained title

| 1983–84 Candidates semi-finalists

| Korchnoi Ribli Smyslov

| Organiser's wildcard

| Spassky

|rowspan=3| 1985: 3 single round robins 16–18 players each 4 qualified from each

| Biel 1985: 1 Vaganian 2 Seirawan 3 Sokolov 4-6 Short

| Taxco 1985: 1 Timman 2 Nogueiras 3 Tal 4 Spraggett

| Tunis 1985: 1 Yusupov 2 Beliavsky 3 Portisch 4-5 Chernin

|rowspan=6| 1987–90

| 1987 runner-up (seeded into quarter-finals)

| Karpov

|rowspan=6| 1988–89: 15 players, matches Semi-finals (1989): Karpov beat Yusupov Timman beat Speelman Final (1990): Karpov beat Timman

|rowspan=6| Candidates winner: Karpov Defending champion: Kasparov

|rowspan=6| New York City/Lyon 1990 24-game match Kasparov won 12½–11½

| 1986 semi-finalists

| Sokolov Timman Vaganian Yusupov

| Organiser's wildcard

| Spraggett

|rowspan=3| 1987: Three single round robins 17–18 players each 3 qualified from each

| Subotica 1987: 1-3 Sax 1-3 Short 1-3 Speelman

| Szirák 1987: 1-2 Salov 1-2 Hjartarson 3-4 Portisch

| Zagreb 1987: 1 Korchnoi 2-3 Seirawan 2-3 Ehlvest

|rowspan=3| 1990–93

| 1990 runner up (seeded into quarter-finals)

| Karpov

|rowspan=3| 1991–92: 15 players, matches Semi-finals (1992): Short beat Karpov Timman beat Yusupov Final (1993): Short beat Timman

|rowspan=2| Candidates winner: Short Defending champion: Kasparov

|rowspan=2| London September–October 1993 24-game match Kasparov defeated Short 12½–7½ under the auspices of the PCA

| 1989 Candidates semi-finalists

| Timman Yusupov Speelman

| Manila 1990 64 players Swiss 11 qualified

| 1-2 Gelfand 1-2 Ivanchuk 3-4 Anand 3-4 Short 5-11 Sax 5-11 Korchnoi 5-11 Hübner 5-11 Nikolić 5-11 Yudasin 5-11 Dolmatov 5-11 Dreev

| Candidates finalist: Timman Former world champion: Karpov

| Netherlands /Jakarta September–November 1993 24-game match Karpov defeated Timman 12½–8½ under the auspices of FIDE

|rowspan=2| 1993–95 (PCA)

| 1993 PCA runner-up

| Short

|rowspan=2| 1994–95: 8 players, matches Semi-finals: Kamsky beat Short Anand beat Adams Final (1995): Anand beat Kamsky

|rowspan=2| Candidates winner: Anand Defending PCA champion: Kasparov

|rowspan=2| New York City September–October 1995 20-game match Kasparov won 10½–7½

| Groningen December 1993 54 player Swiss 7 qualified

| 1-2 Adams 1-2 Anand 3-7 Kamsky 3-7 Kramnik 3-7 Tiviakov 3-7 Gulko 3-7 Romanishin

|rowspan=3| 1993–96 (FIDE)

| 1993 FIDE World Champion (seeded into Candidates final)

| Karpov

|rowspan=3| 1994: Two rounds of matches 12 players Finals, 1995: Karpov beat Gelfand Kamsky beat Salov

|rowspan=3| Candidates final match winners: Karpov Kamsky

|rowspan=3| Elista 1996 20-game match Karpov won 10½–7½

| 1993 FIDE Candidates semi-finalists

| Timman Yusupov

| Biel July 1993 73 players Swiss 10 qualified

| 1 Gelfand 2-9 Van der Sterren 2-9 Kamsky 2-9 Khalifman 2-9 Adams 2-9 Yudasin 2-9 Salov 2-9 Lautier 2-9 Kramnik 10-15 Anand

Split titles (1997–2005)

After 1996, interzonals ceased to exist, but FIDE continued to organize qualifying zonal tournaments.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="border:1px solid #aaa; border-collapse:collapse"

|- style="background:#DDDDDD;"

!colspan="7" align="center"| Classical championships (1998–2004)

|- style="background:#cccccc;"

! Years

! Candidates format

!colspan="2" align="center"| Seeded into Candidates

!Candidates Winner(s)

!width=11%|Seeded in Final

!Championship Final

| 1998 (Classical)

| Cazorla, May–June 1998 10-game match

|colspan="2"| Kramnik Shirov (on rating)

| Shirov won 5½–3½

| Kasparov (1995 champion)

| Match never took place

| 2000 (Classical)

|colspan="4"| None

| Kasparov (1995 champion) Kramnik (on rating)

| London, October–November 2000 16-game match Kramnik won 8½–6½

| 2002–2004 (Classical)

| Dortmund, July 2002 Two double round-robins, top two in each group advanced to knockout matches

| Preliminaries:

Group 1: 1. Shirov 2. Topalov 3. Gelfand 4. Lutz

Group 2: 1. Bareev 2. Leko 3. Adams 4. Morozevich

| Semi-finals: Leko beat Shirov Topalov beat Bareev

| Leko (beat Topalov in the final)

| Kramnik (2000 Classical champion)

| Brissago, September–October 2004 14-game match Drawn 7–7, Kramnik retained title

|- style="background:#DDDDDD;"

!colspan="7" align="center"| FIDE championships (1997–2005)

|- style="background:#cccccc;"

! Years

! Candidates format

!colspan="2" align="center"| Seeded into Candidates

!colspan=2|Finalists

!Championship Final

| 1997–1998 (FIDE)

|Groningen December 1997, 7 round, mini-match, knockout tournament Winner plays 6-game championship match against Karpov

|colspan="2"|97 players, Quarter-finalists: Adams, Van Wely, Short, Krasenkov, Gelfand, Dreev, Anand, Shirov.

|colspan=2| Anand (beat Adams in candidates final) Karpov (1996 FIDE champion)

| Lausanne: January 1998 6-game match Drawn 3–3; Karpov won rapid playoff 2–0

| 1999 (FIDE)

|Las Vegas July–August 1999, 7 round, mini-match, knockout tournament

|colspan="2"|100 players, Quarter-finalists: Kramnik, Adams, Movsesian, Akopian, Shirov, Nisipeanu, Khalifman and

|colspan="2"|Semi-finals (4-game matches): Khalifman beat Nisipeanu Akopian beat Adams

| Las Vegas 1999 6-game match Khalifman won 3½–2½

| 2000 (FIDE)

|New Delhi (6 rounds)/final in Tehran November–December 2000 7 round, mini-match, knockout tournament with final match played in Tehran

|colspan="2"|100 players, Quarter-finalists: Anand, Khalifman, Adams, Topalov, Tkachiev, Grischuk, Shirov and Bareev

|colspan="2"|Semi-finals (4-game matches): Anand beat Adams, Shirov beat Grischuk

| Tehran December 2000 6-game match Anand won 3½–½

| 2001–2002 (FIDE)

| Moscow 7 round, mini-match, knockout tournament with relatively quick time controls first part (6 rounds): 25 November – 14 December 2001 final: 16–24 January 2002

|colspan="2"| 128 players, Quarter-finalists: Anand, Shirov, Ivanchuk, Lautier, Svidler, Gelfand, Ponomariov and Bareev

|colspan="2"|Semi-finals (4-game matches): Ponomariov beat Svidler, Ivanchuk beat Anand

| Moscow, January 2002 8-game match Ponomariov won 4½–2½

|2004 (FIDE)

|Tripoli June–July 2004 7 round, mini-match, knockout tournament with relatively quick time controls

|colspan="2"| 128 players, Quarter-finalists: Topalov, Kharlov, Kasimdzhanov, Grischuk, Radjabov, Dominguez, Adams, Akopian

|colspan="2"|Semi-finals (4-game matches): Adams beat Radjabov Kasimdzhanov beat Topalov

| Tripoli, July 2004 6-game match Drawn 3–3; Kasimdzhanov won rapid playoff 1½–½ Morozevich (on rating) Topalov (on rating), Anand (on rating), J. Polgár (on rating) Svidler (on rating)

|San Luis: 8 players, double round robin, September–October 2005 1 Topalov: 10/14 2-3 Anand 8½/14 2-3 Svidler 8½/14 4 Morozevich 7/14

|- style="background:#DDDDDD;"

Reunified title (since 2006)

After the reunification of the FIDE and "classical" titles, the Chess World Cup and FIDE Grand Prix series were introduced as qualification for the Candidates Tournament. The Swiss-system FIDE Grand Swiss was introduced in the latter half of 2019, acting as another qualification path for the 2020 Candidates Tournament.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="border:1px solid #aaa; border-collapse:collapse"

|-style="background:#DDDDDD;"

!colspan=7| Reunification Match

|- style="background:#cccccc;"

! Year

!colspan=2|

!colspan=2| Seeded in Final

!colspan=2| Championship Match

| 2006

|colspan=2| Reunification match

|colspan=2| Topalov (FIDE champion) Kramnik (Classical champion)

|colspan=2| Elista, October 2006 12-game match Drawn 6–6 Kramnik won rapid playoff 2½–1½

|- style="background:#DDDDDD;"

!colspan=7| World Chess Championships after the Reunification

|- style="background:#cccccc;"

! Years

! Qualification format

! Qualifiers

! Candidates Format

! Candidates Winner(s)

! Seeded in Final

! Championship Final

|rowspan=3| 2005–2007

| FIDE World Chess Championship 2004 Champion

| Kasimdzhanov

|rowspan=3| Candidates Matches 2007 Elista, May–June 2007 16 players, two rounds of matches 4 players qualify for championship tournament

|rowspan=3| Aronian Gelfand Grischuk Leko

|rowspan=3| Kramnik (2006 Champion) 2nd-4th in 2005: Anand Svidler Morozevich

|rowspan=3| Mexico City, September 2007 8 player double round robin tournament 1. Anand, 9.0/14 2-3 Kramnik 8.0/14 2-3 Gelfand 8.0/14

| Rating lists

| Leko Adams Polgár Shirov Bacrot

| Chess World Cup 2005 Top 10 qualified (excluding rating qualifiers)

| Ponomariov Aronian Grischuk Bareev Gelfand Rublevsky Gurevich Kamsky Carlsen Malakhov

| 2008

|colspan=3| Rematch

|colspan=2| Anand (2007 Champion) Kramnik (2006 Champion)

| Bonn, October 2008 12-game match Anand won 6½–4½ to retain the title.

|rowspan=2| 2007–2010

| World Chess Championship 2006 Runner-up

| Topalov

|rowspan=2| Candidates Match 2009 Sofia, February 2009 8-game match

|rowspan=2| Topalov (won 4½–2½)

|rowspan=2| Anand (2008 champion)

|rowspan=2| Sofia, April–May 2010 12-game match Anand won 6½–5½ to retain the title.

| Chess World Cup 2007 1st qualified

| Kamsky

|rowspan=6| 2008–2012

| 2009 Challenger Match Runner-up

| Kamsky

|rowspan=6| Candidates Tournament 2011 Kazan, May 2011, 8 players, matches

|rowspan=6| Gelfand

|rowspan=6| Anand (2010 champion)

|rowspan=6| Moscow, May 2012 12-game match drawn 6–6 Anand won rapid playoff 2½–1½ to retain the title

| Chess World Cup 2009 1st qualified

| Gelfand

| 2010 World Championship Runner-up

| Topalov

| FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010 Top 2 qualified

| Aronian Radjabov Grischuk

| Rating lists Top two not yet qualified

| <s> Carlsen</s> Kramnik

| Organiser's wildcard

| Mamedyarov

|rowspan=4| 2011–2013

| 2010 World Championship Runner-up

| Gelfand

|rowspan=4| Candidates Tournament 2013 London, March 2013 8 player double round-robin tournament

|rowspan=4| Carlsen

|rowspan=4| Anand (2012 champion)

|rowspan=4| Chennai, November 2013 12-game match Carlsen won 6½–3½

| Chess World Cup 2011 Top 3 qualified

| Svidler Grischuk Ivanchuk

| Rating lists

| Carlsen Aronian Kramnik

| Organiser's wildcard

| Radjabov

|rowspan=5| 2012–2014

| 2013 World Championship Runner-up

| Anand

|rowspan=5| Candidates Tournament 2014 Khanty-Mansiysk,, March 2014 8 player double round-robin tournament

|rowspan=5| Anand

|rowspan=5| Carlsen (2013 champion)

|rowspan=5| Sochi, November 2014 12-game match Carlsen won 6½-4½ to retain the title

| Chess World Cup 2013 Top 2 qualified

| Kramnik Andreikin

| FIDE Grand Prix 2012–2013 Top 2 qualified

| Topalov Mamedyarov

| Rating lists

| Aronian Karjakin

| Organiser's wildcard

| Svidler

|rowspan=5| 2017–2018

| 2016 World Championship Runner-up

| Karjakin

|rowspan=5| Candidates Tournament 2018 Berlin, March 2018 8 player double round-robin tournament

|rowspan=5| Caruana

|rowspan=5| Carlsen (2016 champion)

|rowspan=5| London, November 2018 12-game match drawn 6–6 Carlsen won rapid playoff 3–0 to retain the title

| Chess World Cup 2017 Top 2 qualified

| Aronian Ding

| FIDE Grand Prix 2017 Top 2 qualified

| Mamedyarov Grischuk

| Rating lists

| Caruana So

|rowspan=6| 2019–2021

| 2018 World Championship Runner-up

| Caruana

|rowspan=6| Candidates Tournament 2020–21 Yekaterinburg, Mar-Apr 2020 & Apr 2021 8 player double round-robin tournament

|rowspan=6| Nepomniachtchi

|rowspan=6| Carlsen (2018 champion)

|rowspan=6| Dubai, November–December 2021 14-game match Carlsen won to retain title, 7½–3½

| Chess World Cup 2019 Top 2 qualified

| <s> Radjabov</s> Ding

| FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2019 1st qualified

|rowspan=6| Astana, April–May 2023 14-game match drawn 7–7 Ding won rapid playoff 2½–1½

| Wildcard

| Radjabov

| Chess World Cup 2021 Top 2 qualified

| Duda <s> Karjakin</s>

| FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2021 Top 2 qualified 8 player double round-robin tournament

|rowspan=5| Gukesh

|rowspan=5| Ding (2023 champion)

|rowspan=5| Singapore, November–December 2024 14-game match Gukesh won 7½–6½

| Chess World Cup 2023 Top 3 qualified

| <s> Carlsen</s> Praggnanandhaa Caruana Abasov

| FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2023 Top 2 qualified

| Sindarov Wei Esipenko

| FIDE Circuit 2025 1st qualified