| 2026 | |||
Defending champion | Challenger | ||
 | |||
 Gukesh Dommaraju |  | ||
| Born 29 May 2006 | |||
| Winner of the World Chess Championship 2024 | Winner of the Candidates Tournament 2026 | ||
The World Chess Championship 2026 will be a chess match to determine the new World Chess Champion. It will be played between the defending champion Gukesh Dommaraju and a challenger, who will be the winner of the Candidates Tournament 2026.
The challenger will qualify by winning the Candidates Tournament 2026.
The eight players to qualify to the Candidates Tournament will be: [1] [2]
| Qualification method | Player | Age | Rating | World ranking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (January 2025) | ||||
| The winner of the 2024 FIDE Circuit [a] |  Fabiano Caruana | 32 | 2803 | 2 |
| The top two finishers in the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2025 [b] | TBD | |||
| TBD | ||||
| The top three finishers in the Chess World Cup 2025 [c] | TBD | |||
| TBD | ||||
| TBD | ||||
| The winner of the 2025 FIDE Circuit [d] | TBD | |||
| Highest rating averaged from August 2025 to January 2026 [e] | TBD | |||
Unlike any other Candidates Tournaments, and any FIDE World Championship cycle (except 1999–2004 during the split-title period), there is no automatic spot for the runner-up of the previous Championship (Ding Liren). [f] To compensate, the 2024 championship will be considered an eligible tournament for the FIDE Circuit, with the runner-up obtaining special bonus points for the 2025 FIDE Circuit based on the score. [1]
The Candidates Tournament is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The winner of the Candidates earns the right to a match for the World Championship against the incumbent world champion.
The FIDE World Chess Championship 1996 was a chess tournament held by FIDE to determine the World Chess Champion.
Fabiano Luigi Caruana is an Italian and American chess grandmaster who is the reigning four-time United States Chess Champion. With a peak rating of 2844, Caruana is the third-highest-rated player in history.
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The Chess World Cup 2019 was a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament that took place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, from 9 September to 4 October 2019. It was won by Azerbaijani grandmaster Teimour Radjabov. He and the runner-up, Ding Liren, both qualified for the Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship 2021. It was the 8th edition of the Chess World Cup.
The 2019–2021 edition of the FIDE Grand Prix was a series of four chess tournaments exclusively for women which determined two players to play in the Women's Candidates Tournament 2022. The winner of the Candidates Tournament will play a 12-game match against the world champion in the Women's World Chess Championship 2022.
The 2022 Candidates Tournament was an eight-player chess tournament to decide the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2023. The tournament took place at the Palacio de Santoña in Madrid, Spain, from June 16 to July 5, 2022, with the World Championship finishing in April 2023. As with every Candidates tournament since 2013, it was a double round-robin tournament.
The FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2021 was a chess tournament that formed part of the qualification cycle for the World Chess Championship 2022. It was an 11-round Swiss-system tournament, with 108 players competing, running from 25 October to 8 November 2021 in Riga, Latvia, in parallel with the FIDE Women's Grand Swiss Tournament 2021. The tournaments were held while Latvia was in a COVID-19 lockdown, which led to a number of players withdrawing before the tournament began. The event was co-organized by Chess.com and financed by the family of Igal Mark Scheinberg, an Israeli businessman and resident of the Isle of Man.
The 2022–2023 edition of the FIDE Grand Prix was a series of four chess tournaments exclusively for women which determined two players to play in the Women's Candidates Tournament 2023–2024. The winner of the Candidates Tournament would play the reigning world champion in the next Women's World Chess Championship.
The World Rapid Chess Championship 2022 was the 2022 edition of the annual World Rapid Chess Championship held by FIDE to determine the world champion in chess played under rapid time controls. Since 2012, FIDE has held the World Rapid and Blitz Championships at a joint tournament. The tournament was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan from 26–28 December 2022, using a Swiss-system with 13 rounds for the open tournament and 11 rounds for the women's tournament. Players eligible to participate in the open tournament were either be rated at least 2550 Elo in a FIDE rating list during 2022, or reigning national champion.
The 2024 Candidates Tournament was an eight-player chess tournament, held to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2024. The tournament took place at The Great Hall in Toronto, Canada, from April 3–22, 2024. The event was held alongside the Women's Candidates Tournament. The event was won by Gukesh Dommaraju, which made him the youngest ever winner of a Candidates Tournament, and the youngest ever World Chess Championship challenger. Following the event Gukesh went on to become the youngest World Champion by defeating Ding Liren in the 14th round of Classical Chess.
The 2023 FIDE Circuit was a system comprising the top chess tournaments in 2023, which serves as a qualification path for the Candidates Tournament 2024. Players receive points based on their performance and the strength of the tournament. A player's final Circuit score is the sum of their five best results of the year. The winner of the Circuit qualifies for the Candidates Tournament 2024 in Toronto, Canada, the winner of which qualifies for the World Chess Championship 2024.
The FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament 2024 was an eight-player chess tournament held to determine the challenger for the Women's World Chess Championship 2025. It was held from 3 April to 22 April 2024 in Toronto, Canada, alongside the Candidates Tournament 2024.
The World Rapid Chess Championship 2023 was the 2023 edition of the annual World Rapid Chess Championship held by FIDE to determine the world champion in chess played under rapid time controls. Since 2012, FIDE has held the World Rapid and Blitz Championships at a joint tournament. The tournament was held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan from 26 to 28 December 2023, using a Swiss-system with 13 rounds for the open tournament and 11 rounds for the women's tournament. Players eligible to participate in the open tournament were either be rated at least 2550 Elo in a FIDE rating list during 2023, or reigning national champion. The time control was 15 minutes per player with a 10-second per-move increment.
The 2024 FIDE Circuit is a system comprising the top chess tournaments in 2024, which serves as a qualification path for the Candidates Tournament 2026. Players receive points based on their performance and the strength of the tournament. A player's final Circuit score is the sum of their seven best results of the year. Fabiano Caruana scored the most points, and as winner of the 2024 Circuit qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2026.
The Women's World Chess Championship 2025 will take place in 2025 as a match between Ju Wenjun, the current champion, and Tan Zhongyi, the winner of the Women's Candidates Tournament 2024. Both players previously challenged for the world championship in May 2018, with Ju defeating then-world champion Tan 5½–4½ to win the title.
The 2024–2025 edition of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix is a series of six chess tournaments exclusively for women which determined two players to play in the Women's Candidates Tournament 2026. The winner of the Candidates Tournament would play the reigning world champion in the next Women's World Chess Championship.
The 2025 FIDE Circuit is a system comprising the top chess tournaments in 2025, which serves as a qualification path for the Candidates Tournament 2026. Players receive points based on their performance and the strength of the tournament. A player's final Circuit score is the sum of their seven best results of the year. The winner of the Circuit qualifies for the Candidates Tournament 2026.
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| Split title |
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