World number-one GM Magnus Carlsen and GM Fabiano Caruana headline the primary 18 confirmed gamers for the Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot, November 10-21, in Budapest, which is able to check a brand new format combining quick classical, speedy, and blitz chess.
Eight of the world’s high 10 and 14 of the highest 30 seem within the preliminary lineup announced by the organizers on Tuesday. The 24-player occasion will happen on the five-star Anantara New York Palace Budapest Lodge. The remaining six contributors are set to be introduced in September.
The event in Budapest is a check for the FIDE-approved Total Chess World Championship Tour, a four-event annual circuit scheduled to launch in 2027 and crown the primary mixed champion in all three codecs. The occasion was initially scheduled for October however has now been moved to November to keep away from a conflict with the U.S. Chess Championships.
“I stay up for enjoying the Whole Chess World Championship in Budapest this yr,” Carlsen stated. “It’s all the time fascinating to check out new codecs.”
It’s all the time fascinating to check out new codecs.
—Magnus Carlsen
Norway Chess/Whole Chess CEO Kjell Madland is happy for the occasion: “The Budapest Pilot represents way over one other elite event. It is step one in direction of creating a very international championship ecosystem.”
The sector additionally contains GMs Vincent Keymer, Wesley So, Anish Giri, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Arjun Erigaisi, and Alireza Firouzja, which suggests solely two gamers from the August high 10 are lacking.
Two of the world’s main girls are additionally competing: GM Vaishali Rameshbabu, who won the 2026 FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament, can be joined by the participant who completed half a degree behind her, three-time Ladies’s World Blitz Champion GM Bibisara Assaubayeva.
| # | Participant | Federation | Age | Score | World Rank |
| 1 | Magnus Carlsen | 35 | 2823 | 1 | |
| 2 | Fabiano Caruana | 34 | 2792 | 2 | |
| 3 | Vincent Keymer | 21 | 2767 | 5 | |
| 4 | Wesley So | 32 | 2765 | 6 | |
| 5 | Anish Giri | 32 | 2764 | 7 | |
| 6 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 21 | 2762 | 8 | |
| 7 | Arjun Erigaisi | 22 | 2759 | 9 | |
| 8 | Alireza Firouzja | 23 | 2757 | 10 | |
| 9 | Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu | 21 | 2750 | 12 | |
| 10 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 28 | 2743 | 13 | |
| 11 | Richard Rapport | 30 | 2729 | 18 | |
| 12 | Hans Niemann | 23 | 2725 | 21 | |
| 13 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 36 | 2719 | 24 | |
| 14 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 35 | 2713 | 28 | |
| 15 | Haik Martirosyan | 26 | 2662 | 54 | |
| 16 | Vladislav Artemiev | 28 | 2653 | 65 | |
| 17 | Bibisara Assaubayeva | 22 | 2538 | 5 (Ladies) | |
| 18 | Vaishali Rameshbabu | 25 | 2489 | 14 (Ladies) |
Vaishali’s brother, reigning Norway Chess Champion GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, stated: “It is an thrilling format which challenges gamers to indicate their finest efficiency in all three classical, speedy, and blitz codecs. Wanting ahead to being a part of the primary version.”
Some notable gamers are lacking in comparison with the record of certified gamers, but it surely’s hardly a shock to see Classical World Champion, GM Gukesh Dommaraju, and his challenger GM Javokhir Sindarov absent as they are going to start their match in Geneva, Switzerland simply 4 days after the conclusion in Budapest.
Additionally lacking is GM Hikaru Nakamura, who’s third on the August score record. Nakamura earned the best to obtain an invite by means of score, however criticized the brand new championship, describing its title as “clunky” and the idea as “whole fluff” in a video on his YouTube channel.
The Format
The pilot begins with a nine-round 3+2 blitz Swiss, however its outcomes is not going to decide who advances. As a substitute, the event will set up the tiebreak order for the group stage that follows. The 24 gamers will then be divided into 4 teams of six for 5 days of classical chess with a time management of 45 minutes plus a 30-second increment. Every group is a double round-robin, giving each participant 10 video games of quick classical chess.
Each participant advances to a four-player knockout bracket, however the group standings decide which positions they will contest. The 4 group winners enter the highest bracket and play for first by means of fourth place, the 4 runners-up compete for fifth by means of eighth, and so forth right down to the sixth-place finishers.
In line with the published regulations, every knockout match is performed over two days. On every day, the gamers contest 4 3+2 blitz video games, two 15+10 speedy video games, and one 45+30 quick classical recreation. The disciplines are weighted closely towards the longer video games as a win in blitz is price one level, a speedy win 4, and a quick classical win eight, with half these totals awarded for attracts. An armageddon recreation will resolve any match that is still tied.
Pilot Earlier than 2027 World Championship
The primary FIDE World Mixed Champion can be topped in 2027, when the minimal annual prize fund is $2.7 million, together with no less than $750,000 for every of the primary three tournaments and $450,000 for the four-player remaining, plus efficiency bonuses. The prize fund for the Budapest pilot has not but been introduced.
The mission was approved by FIDE in October 2025 and is developed, owned, and operated by Norway Chess. The settlement between the 2 organizations is about to run for no less than 16 years.
Chess.com coated how the tour has attracted monetary backing from international celebrity Erling Haaland, who joined as an investor in Norway Chess earlier this yr. The corporate accomplished a $10 million funding round involving a number of Norwegian sports activities and enterprise figures.
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