The Great Bluebaum Sweep begins at Candidates 2026
Have you ever heard of “The Great Bluebaum Sweep”? It’s a playful, ironic meme that pops up in the chess community, centered around German Grandmaster Matthias Blübaum. “The Great Bluebaum Sweep” imagines Blübaum absolutely steamrolling the Candidates Tournament, not just winning it, but doing so in absurdly dominant fashion. Fans exaggerate this idea to the extreme, joking that he’ll go a flawless 14/14 in the double round-robin format, defeating every top contender without dropping a single point.
The hashtag #GreatBluebaumSweep is popular on X, with fans pushing the agenda. But guess who joined the party today? It was Matthias Bluebaum himself! Here is the viral video by IndieChess.
Candidates Chess 2026 live / Matthias Bluebaum vs Wei Yi, Candidates Chess 2026 R1 live