FIDE announced the official regulations for the Salesforce FIDE World Championship Match 2026. The match between reigning World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Javokhir Sindarov will take place from November 22 to December 12.

The event will feature 14 games with a Classical time control. The time control is 120+0 for the first 40 moves and 30+30 for the rest of the game. In case of a tie the winner will be determined by a tiebreak.

The tiebreak begins with four games with a Rapid 15+10 time control. In case of a draw, the players play two Rapid 10+5 games. In case of a second draw, two Blitz 3+2 games will be played. The final stage of the tiebreak is a 3+2 game series played until the first win.

The prize fund of the event is $2.5 million. Each player receives $200,000 for every game won. The remaining balance is divided equally between the two players.

The FIDE World Championship Match is known as the most prestigious event in the chess world. The event determines the holder of the reigning World Champion title every two years. The event has been held since 1886 and has been managed by FIDE since 1948. Salesforce is the title sponsor of the event for the 2026 and 2028 editions.

Credit: Lennart Ootes