From Mumbai to Cyprus - 20 hours of travel to reach FIDE Candidates 2026
The road to the FIDE Candidates is long, not just for the players, but also for those bringing the action to the chess lovers worldwide. Sagar and Amruta recently completed a grueling 20-hour journey from Mumbai to the island of Cyprus to cover the prestigious event. In this article Sagar chronicles this journey.
20 Hours, 3 Flights, and a Dash of Thepla: Sagar and Amruta’s Journey to the FIDE Candidates 2026
A 4:00 a.m. start and a business class surprise
The adventure began at 4.00 a.m. in Mumbai, as we headed to the airport with two massive suitcases (almost 25 kgs each) and two laptop bags. It's natural to carry a bit more luggage as the FIDE Candidates is a long event spanning over nearly 20 days. Due to the current war situation affecting flight routes, the costs of economy and business class tickets had reached parity. Because the flights from Dubai and Doha have become erratic, the prices have risen drastically. Thanks to the planning of our friend Yogesh Gautam, we were able to travel in business class.
The Istanbul Squeeze
Because our flight took off 2 hours late from Mumbai, we arrived 2 hours late in Istanbul. This meant that we had very little time for our next flight to Athens. We not only had to do our immigration, but also pick up the luggage and then check-in again. We were just in time to make it to our flight from Istanbul to Athens.
Amruta was very smart to make me spend 2 Euros to get a trolley. We placed all 4 of the luggage pieces and made a dash for our Athens flight. I was against this decision of getting a trolley as I thought it would take away our precious couple of minutes! But, Amruta was right - the time spent in getting the trolley proved invaluable as we saved more than 5 minutes because the trolley eased out many things! :)
The Final Leg: Athens to Larnaca
From the airport to the venue of the tournament was roughly 150 kms which took us just an hour and a half. The roads were just so smooth with absolutely no traffic!
As I wake up on the 28th of March, a day before the action begins, I cannot say how thrilled I am to be in Cyprus for the FIDE Candidates 2026! I remember two years ago when I traveled to Toronto in Canada, the FIDE Candidates turned out to be one of the most exciting events that I had ever covered. While I was covering stuff on the ground, Amruta held fort from home doing live commentaries that went well past midnight back then.
But this time, we are both here in Cyprus, and we will be streaming from our room in the hotel itself. This means that we are closer to the venue, and perhaps some of the players could also join us in our live stream. Today is the day of the opening ceremony. And the action will begin from tomorrow for Round 1, that is, the 29th of March.
The timing for India is perfect as the rounds start at 3 p.m local time, which means roughly around 6 p.m in India, and the games will end before midnight. With Pragg, Vaishali and Divya playing this is going to be absolutely epic. All the Indian fans are surely going to miss Humpy in action.
We hope to cover this event to the best of our abilities! Thank you all for your support.
Related News
