Total Chess World Championship 2026

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

Sources: ^{[4] [5]}

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 stges, Group stage and 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.

Time for each format

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 cere.mony. 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. 4 highest rated players are placed in 4 different groups and lots are drawn to select other 5 players from 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.

Time format of Armageddon game

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.

^[6]

	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 Tournment 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.

^[5]

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)	#1	Magnus Carlsen [9]
8		#2	Hikaru Nakamura
9		#3	Fabiano Caruana
10		#4	Vincent Keymer
(5)		#5	Arjun Erigaisi [11]
11		#6	Anish Giri
12		#7	Alireza Firouzja
13		#8	R. Praggnanandhaa
14		#9	Wei Yi
15		Replacement for Magnus Carlsen	Wesley So
(1)		Replacement #10	Gukesh Dommaraju [7]
(15)		Replacement #11	Wesley So
(6)		Replacement #12	Nodirbek Abdusattorov
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)		June 1, 2026
20
21
22	FIDE Circuit 2026 (with special rankings, including only open tournaments)		To be announced
23
24

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.

References

1. Svensen (TarjeiJS), Tarjei J. (2025-10-15). "Norway Chess Launches New FIDE-Approved 'Total Chess World Championship Tour'". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-12-10.
2. "Norway Chess - Norway Chess Launches New World Championship – Approved by FIDE". norwaychess.no. Retrieved 2025-12-24.
3. Emil Sutovsky, CEO, FIDE (Dec 9, 2025). "EmilChess on X".
4. "Norway Chess - The Format". norwaychess.no. Retrieved 2025-12-24.
5. "World Rapid and Blitz Champions to Qualify for Total Chess World Championship Tour – International Chess Federation" . Retrieved 2025-12-10.
6. "Norway Chess - Regulations". norwaychess.no. Retrieved 2025-12-31.
7. McGourty (Colin_McGourty), Colin (2024-12-12). "18-Year-Old Gukesh Becomes Youngest-Ever Undisputed Chess World Champion". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-12-29.
8. McGourty (Colin_McGourty), Colin (2025-04-16). "Ju Wenjun Wins 5th Women's World Chess Championship". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-12-29.
9. Levin (AnthonyLevin), Anthony (2025-12-28). "Carlsen, Goryachkina Win 2025 World Rapid Championships". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-12-29.
10. "Artemyev became the silver medalist of the World Rapid Chess Championship". Izvestia .
11. "Arjun Erigaisi snatches historic bronze at World Rapid Championship, Magnus Carlsen takes home gold". The Indian Express. 2025-12-29. Retrieved 2025-12-29.