The FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2026 starts tomorrow in Weissenhaus, Germany, running from February 13 to 15. The championship features 6 players who qualified via the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, 1 Wildcard participant and the Winner of Play-in stage. The event’s prize fund is $300,000.

Participants:

• Magnus Carlsen
• Levon Aronian
• Fabiano Caruana
• Vincent Keymer
• Arjun Erigaisi
• Javokhir Sindarov
• Hans Moke Niemann (Wildcard)
• Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Play-in Stage Winner)

The event features a 10+5 control over one Round-Robin between 8 players, with the Top-4 advancing to the Semifinals of the Knockout stage. Knockout features a 25+10 time control. In case of ties for first place, winner will be determined by Tiebreaks.

The FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2026 is governed by FIDE in collaboration with Freestyle Chess Operations GmbH. This event is the first joint 960-Format World Championship held under a formal agreement.

Credit: Lennart Ootes/Freestyle Chess