The FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2026 will be the first Freestyle Chess World Championship and third official World Chess960 Championship, organized by FIDE and Freestyle Chess Operations.[1][2] The competition will follow a format similar to the previous editions held in 2019 and 2022; an online play-in open to all titled players will determine one player to join seven invited players in the over-the-board final, which will take place at the Schloss Weissenhaus resort in Wangels, Germany from 13 to 15 February 2026.[3]
Hikaru Nakamura, the 2022 Fischer Random World Champion, declined his invitation to the event, citing the changes in the format, rushed arrangement, reduced prize fund, and his focus on the upcoming Candidates Tournament 2026. He said he had been invited to the first leg of the 2026 Freestyle Tour, with the same format and prize fund as the 2025 tour; however, a few days before the announcement of the world championship, he was informed there would be no year-long tour. Instead, only a three-day event with rapid time controls would be held, and it would be called a World Championship. He called it a "hastily arranged tournament with less than 1/3rd the prize fund it originally had", and lamented that the classical length format from the first event in 2025 wasn't continued.[4]
Organization
Eight players will face each other in the group stage. The format is a single round-robin tournament, meaning seven rounds. The format for matches in the knockout stage is a best-of-four series.
Regulations
The time control for the Group stage will be 10 minutes per player and an increment of 5 seconds per move starting from move 1 and in the Knockout stage will be 25 minutes per player with an increment of 10 seconds per move starting from move 1.
In the knockout stage, it will be best of four games.
Prize money
The total prize pool for the tournament is $300,000, with $100,000 awarded to the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Champion.
Schedule
Date
Day
Event
11 February 2026
Wednesday
Arrivals
12 February 2026
Thursday
Media day
13 February 2026
Friday
Group Stage
14 February 2026
Saturday
Semifinals
15 February 2026
Sunday
Finals
16 February 2026
Monday
Departures
Play-in
All FIDE-titled players can participate in the Play-in. On day 1, players compete in a nine-round Swiss tournament with a 10+2 time control, and the top-four finishers advance to the knockout stage. On day 2, the knockout will be a single-elimination competition, with each match consisting of two games played at a 15+3 time control. In the event of a tie, players will contest two 5+2 games, followed, if necessary, by a bidding Armageddon with a base time of five minutes, in which the bid winner receives the black pieces.[6]
4 players who advanced for the knockout stage are listed below.
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Magnus Carlsen 
Levon Aronian 
Vincent Keymer 
Javokhir Sindarov 
Arjun Erigaisi 
