The FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 has 116 players, and there are 56 players in the concurrent FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss. The top two finishers in both the Open and the Women’s will earn places in the 2026 Candidates and the 2026 Women’s Candidates, respectively. The two Grand Swisses are being contested in Samarkand, with the first round on September 4.
GM Hikaru Nakamura did not travel to Samarkand at the beginning of September. Instead, he was playing FIDE Standard Rated tournament games to try to qualify for the 2026 Candidates, which will decide the next challenger for the World Championship.
Women in the Open
GM Divya Deshmukh and GM Aleksandra Goryachkina, who have already qualified for the 2026 FIDE Women’s Candidates, requested wild cards for the FIDE Grand Swiss Open Thus, they will play in that Open rather than in the FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss. In Samarkand, Deshmukh and Goryachkina will mostly be playing against high-rated men.
Nakamura in Louisiana
On Labor Day weekend, GM Hikaru Nakamura played in the Louisiana State Championship against seven lower-rated men. Each of them seemed to treasure the experience of playing one-on-one against Nakamura, who won every game. Others at the venue had the opportunity to watch Nakamura play or to have a photo taken with him.
Since Nakamura is not a resident of Louisiana, he couldn’t become state champion. Because Nakamura played, and because two masters from Texas and Ohio finished in second and third places, the top three finishing Louisiana players tied for fourth through sixth places. By tiebreaks among those three players, FIDE Master Nicholas Matta became the 2025 Louisiana Champion.
2025 Louisiana State Championship Winner is reporting in for the first of the newfangled Titled Tuedays on @chesscom . I'm on https://t.co/uIWAvi4vHO as usual. The pic attached here is of the REAL Louisiana State Champ FM Nick Matta. Thank you to Downriver Chess Club!! pic.twitter.com/0v81DnQAbn
— Hikaru Nakamura (@GMHikaru) September 2, 2025
Path to the Candidates
Nakamura’s participation in a state championship was about his goal of qualifying for the 2026 Candidates. According to FIDE’s rules, there are five paths to the Candidates, labeled A, B, C, D, and E in a FIDE document. Nakamura is attempting Path E, which he called his “Mickey Mouse” Road to the Candidates.
We're LIVE streaming my Road to Candidates Mickey Mouse Tournament 1 and they very kindly hooked up a dgt board. My team should have coverage today, tomorrow and Sunday. https://t.co/nfL9CiLrPN @GMJacobAagaard you can come watch what happens when you follow FIDE's rules.
— Hikaru Nakamura (@GMHikaru) August 30, 2025
Path E [From FIDE’s document]
1 spot – the highest-rated player according to the 6-month average rating based on FIDE Standard Rating Lists from August 1st 2025 till January 1st 2026 provided the respective player has played at least 40 games calculated for FIDE Standard Rating Lists from February 1st 2025 till January 1st 2026 (including at least 15 games in any of the 6 consecutive rating lists). If two or more players have equal ratings, the qualifier shall be determined by the higher performance rating based on the same list of rated games.
The seven-round Louisiana State Championship included six FIDE Standard Rated games, in rounds 2–7. The first round’s time control was too fast to be FIDE Standard Rated. At the championship’s end, Nakamura was ranked #2 in the world. Only GM Magnus Carlsen was ahead of him on the FIDE Standard Rating list.
Nakamura still needs to play more FIDE Standard Rated games before January 1, 2026. Look for him at other FIDE-rated events soon, to complete Path E to the 2026 Candidates.
One of Hikaru Nakamura’s wins in the 2025 Louisiana State Championship featured a nice queen maneuver near the end of the game.
