Total Chess World Championship 2026
Series of chess competitions
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Total Chess World Championship 2026 will be the first Total Chess World Championship, announced by Norway Chess on October 15, 2025,[1][2] approved and endorsed by FIDE and to be jointly organized by both of these bodies. The tournament is a new initiative to combine talents of the 3 chess formats of classical, rapid and blitz into one tournament tour. The tournament will also offer the opportunity for a ticket to the prestigious Candidates Tournament 2028[3] though the number of spots it will provide is yet unclear.
The first event will be a pilot event for only a single event and the Total Chess World Championship Tour will be the first championship tour in the true sense.
Format
Tournament
The event will take place for all the three formats in early to mid-October 2026 and finals shall be played by 4 highest point scorers.[1] The tournament will take place in 2 stages, a group stage and a knockout stage
Time control
Fast Classical
Fast Classical is a new term, first used by Norway Chess to describe the time control of the classical leg of the tour. It is made to increase chess audience as a classical game generally takes multiple hours to finish, reducing interest of audience. In this time control, each player gets 45 minutes of time from their first move and gets an increment of 30 seconds after each move made by the player.[5]
Rapid
In this time control, each player gets 15 minutes of time from their first move and gets an increment of 10 seconds after each move made by the player.
Blitz
In this time control, each player gets 3 minutes of time from their first move and gets an increment of 2 seconds after each move made by the player.
| Format | Time at 1st move | Increment each move |
|---|---|---|
| (Fast) Classical | 45 minutes | 30 seconds |
| Rapid | 15 minutes | 10 seconds |
| Blitz | 3 minutes | 2 seconds |
Ranking and Winning Tournament
Each game will make each player earn 1 point for a victory, 0.5 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss in all the three formats. Score of all the three formats will be added and players will be arranged in order of their ratings in descending order. Players Ranked 1 to 4 shall qualify for the finals of the tournament whose winner shall be declared FIDE World Combined Champion. Norway Chess is yet to clarify the method for tie-breaking for 2 or more players having the same score.
Stages
The pilot event consist of two stages, group stage and knockout stage. A blitz tournament played at opening ceremony. The rankings in these games shall act as tie-breaker in group stage.
Opening Ceremony Blitz Games
The tournament is played in opening ceremony. It consist of 9 rounds in swiss format. Rankings in this ceremony shall act as tie-breaker in group stage.
Group Stage
4 groups are made with 6 players each. The 4 highest rated players are placed in 4 different groups and lots are drawn to select other 5 players from the eligible players in each group. Each player should get exactly one group.
Players of the same group compete with each other in double round robin format in fast classical time format. Point system is given in the table below. The players shall be ranked 1 to 6 by the points scored. if two or more players scored equal points, the blitz games played in opening ceremony shall break the tie.
Knockout Stage
Players ranked from 1 to 6 in each group shall participate in 6 different knockout brackets. Players ranked 1 in their respective groups participate in Knockout bracket 1, same with 2 to 6.
Semifinal pairings in each Knockout bracket are determined by their pre‑tournament blitz rank among those four, and paired 1–4 and 2–3. Point system is explained in the table below.
Winner of Knockout Bracket 1 is crowned Combined World Champion.
| Group Stage | Knockout Stage | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fast Classical | Fast Classical | Rapid | Blitz | |
| Win | 3 | 8 | 4 | 1 |
| Draw | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0.5 |
| Loss | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Knockout Daily Winner Structure
In the semi-final, 3rd-place match, and final, the matches will be played over two days, using the “two-day system” described next. Each day includes Fast Classical, Rapid, and Blitz games before a winner is determined. First, four Blitz games will be played, then two Rapid games, and then the Fast Classical game.
The higher-ranked player based on the pre-tournament blitz ranking chooses the color for the first Blitz game on Day 1. Colors for all remaining games on Day 1 and Day 2 then alternate.
Each day produces a day-winner, or a tie occurs.
Scores reset each day, and in case of a tie in one of the days, the other day acts as a tiebreaker. A tie occurs at the end of day 2 if a player wins day 1 and the other player wins day 2, or each day is tied. In this case, an Armageddon game (time format in table below), where Black has the draw odds, is played to determine the winner. The event is always determined on the final day. The player who has the most total points over two days chooses the color. If they have equal points, then an Armageddon bidding takes place.
| Colour | Time at 1st move | Increment each move
(from move 41) |
|---|---|---|
| White | 10 minutes | 1 second |
| Black | 7 minutes |
Players
The players shall qualify for this tournament by holding ex-officio titles, by winning or being ranked in eligible tournaments (as mentioned below), by being on top of classical FIDE rankings or the eligible tournaments in FIDE Circuit. The table below shows seed number accredited to the eligible players. The Players who wish not to play or qualify via more than 1 paths leaving another vacant shall be replaced via replacement rules as shown below.
Replacement Rules
The following replacement rules are to be followed in the order of preference if a person, by the eligibility criteria, is eligible for 2 or more paths or the player declines to participate. When a player qualifies from two or more paths, he is considered for the path he qualified the earliest, the replacement rules shall be followed for the other path(s). Below are the replacement rules for the paths or titles.
| Replacement rules (in order of Priority) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Path | Player already qualified | Player denies or withdraws, or no eligible replacement left for player already qualified |
| World Chess Champion | Not possible
First ones to qualify |
1) Silver Medalist of the Candidates 2026 |
| 2) Bronze Medalist of the Candidates 2026 | ||
| 3) Highest-ranked player not yet qualified according to the FIDE Circuit as of September 1, 2026 | ||
| Women's World Chess Champion | 1) Silver Medalist of the Women's Candidates 2026 | |
| 2) Bronze Medalist of the Women's Candidates 2026 | ||
| 3) Highest-ranked player not yet qualified according to the FIDE Circuit as of September 1, 2026 | ||
| World Rapid Championship 2025
(3 Medalists) |
4th ranked player in World Rapid Championship 2025 | Highest-ranked player not yet qualified according to the FIDE Circuit as of September 1, 2026 |
| World Blitz Championship 2025
(2 Finishers) |
non-qualified player with lowest sum of places in World Rapid Championship 2025 and World Blitz Championship 2025 | |
| FIDE Rating
(top 9) |
1) non-qualified player with lowest sum of places in World Rapid Championship 2025 and World Blitz Championship 2025
(only first non-qualified) | |
| 2) Next in Classical Open FIDE Rating list | ||
| Candidates Tournament 2026
(Winner) |
1) Silver Medalist of Candidates Tournament 2026 | |
| 2) Bronze Medalist of Candidates Tournament 2026 | ||
| 3) Highest-ranked player not yet qualified according to the FIDE Circuit as of September 1, 2026 | ||
| Women's Candidates Tournament 2026
(Winner) |
1) Silver Medalist of Women's Candidates Tournament 2026 | |
| 2) Bronze Medalist of Women's Candidates Tournament 2026 | ||
| 3) Highest-ranked player not yet qualified according to the FIDE Circuit as of September 1, 2026 | ||
| FIDE Circuit 2026
(with special rankings) |
Highest-ranked player(s) not yet qualified according to the FIDE Circuit as of September 1, 2026 | |
Qualified players
The table below lists all the qualified players for the pilot event.
| Seed | Path/Title | Player | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reigning World Chess Champion |  Gukesh Dommaraju[7] | |
| 2 | Reigning Women's World Chess Champion |  Ju Wenjun[8] | |
| 3 | All the 3 medalists of World Rapid Championship 2025 | Gold |  Magnus Carlsen[9] |
| 4 | Silver |  Vladislav Artemiev[10] | |
| 5 | Bronze | Arjun Erigaisi[11] | |
| (3) | Both finalists of World Blitz Championship 2025 | Gold | Magnus Carlsen[9] |
| 6 | Silver |  Nodirbek Abdusattorov | |
| 7 | Replacement for
Magnus Carlsen |
 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | |
| (3) | Top 9 Players in Classical FIDE Rating list
(as on January 1, 2026) |
Magnus Carlsen[9] | |
| 8 | #2 |  | |
| 9 | #3 | | |
| 10 | #4 |  | |
| (5) | | ||
| 11 | #6 |  | |
| 12 | #7 | Alireza Firouzja | |
| 13 | #8 | R. Praggnanandhaa | |
| 14 | #9 | | |
| 15 | Replacement for
Magnus Carlsen |
| |
| (1) | | ||
| (15) | | ||
| (6) | | ||
| 16 | Replacement #13 | Viswanathan Anand | |
| 17 | Winner of Candidates Tournament 2026
(or World Champion Challenger) |
To be declared on | 15/16 April 2026 |
| 18 | Winner of Women's Candidates Tournament 2026
(or Women's World Champion Challenger) | ||
| 19 | Top 3 Players in Classical FIDE Rating list
(as on June 1, 2026) |
1 June 2026 | |
| 20 | |||
| 21 | |||
| 22 | FIDE Circuit 2026-2027
(Open circuit, including only open tournaments) | ||
| 23 | |||
| 24 | |||
FIDE Open Circuit Leaderboard
Top 3 players leading in the FIDE Circuit not yet qualified for the championship shall qualify for the Total Chess World Championship 2026
Current top 3 leaders set to qualify for Total Chess World Championship 2026 (Next top leader(s) if the current top player(s) has/have already qualified through other route)
Players qualified for the Total Chess World Championship 2026 via another path.
| No. | Player | Points | Events | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ian Nepomniachtchi |
13.58 | 1 |  Aeroflot Open
1st – 13.58 |
Optional | ||||||||||
| 2 | Mikhail Antipov |
11.28 | 1 | St. Louis Masters
1st – 11.28 |
Optional | ||||||||||
| 3 | Fabiano Caruana |
8.20 | 1 | St. Louis Masters
2nd – 8.20 |
Optional | ||||||||||
| 4 |  Lorenzo Lodici |
7.18 | 1 | St. Louis Masters
3rd – 7.18 |
Optional | ||||||||||
| 5 | David Paravyan |
6.38 | 1 | Aeroflot Open
2nd – 6.38 |
Optional | ||||||||||
| 6 | Rudik Makarian |
5.75 | 1 | Aeroflot Open
3rd – 5.75 |
Optional | ||||||||||
| 7 | Xu Xiangyu |
5.62 | 1 |  Rilton Cup
1st – 5.62 |
Optional | ||||||||||
| 8 |  André Diamant |
5.42 | 1 | Floripa Open
1st – 5.42 |
Optional | ||||||||||
| 9 |  Haik Martirosyan |
5.14 | 1 | Aeroflot Open
4th – 5.14 |
Optional | ||||||||||
| 10 | Aryan Tari |
4.81 | 1 | Floripa Open
2nd – 4.81 |
Optional | ||||||||||
| 11 | Luis Paulo Supi |
4.50 | 1 | Floripa Open
3rd – 4.50 |
Optional | ||||||||||
| 12-13 | Aleksandr Shimanov |
4.22 | 1 | Aeroflot Open
T 5th-6th – 4.22 |
Optional | ||||||||||
 Bardiya Daneshvar |
4.22 | 1 | Aeroflot Open
T 5th-6th – 4.22 |
Optional | |||||||||||
| 14 |  Neuris Delgado |
4.20 | 1 | Floripa Open
4th – 4.20 |
Optional | ||||||||||
| 15-19 | Pranav V |
4.10 | 1 | St. Louis Masters
T 4th-8th – 4.10 |
Optional | ||||||||||
| Aryan Chopra |
4.10 | 1 | St. Louis Masters
T 4th-8th – 4.10 |
Optional | |||||||||||
| Andrew Hong |
4.10 | 1 | St. Louis Masters
T 4th-8th – 4.10 |
Optional | |||||||||||
| Francesco Sonis |
4.10 | 1 | St. Louis Masters
T 4th-8th – 4.10 |
Optional | |||||||||||
| Tanitoluwa Adewumi |
4.10 | 1 | St. Louis Masters
T 4th-8th – 4.10 |
Optional | |||||||||||
| 20 |  Anton Demchenko |
3.83 | 1 | Rilton Cup
2nd – 3.83 |
Optional | ||||||||||
Prize fund and Qualification for winners and top scorers
Apart from the FIDE World Combined Champion title, there are other qualifications and prize money for winners and top scorers as mentioned below.
Qualification for the Candidates Tournament 2028
Highest rank-holder(s) of the tournament who have not already qualified for the candidates shall be offered a ticket to the Candidates Tournament 2028. Details about replacement and number of spots were to be published no later than December 22, 2025 though it is not published yet.[3]
Qualification for the Total Chess World Championship 2027
World Combined Champion shall qualify for the Total Chess World Championship Tour.
Prize Pool
The Tournament shall feature a minimum $2,700,000 prize pool, including at least $750,000 for each of the first three events and $450,000 for the Finals. Players shall also receive money for each half point scored, which is not included in the event specific prize pools. The specific Prize money based on position and points scored are yet to be decided.