The Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot begins tomorrow at the Anantara New York Palace Hotel in Budapest, Hungary. The event runs from November 10 to 20. First matches start at 5:00 PM UTC. The tournament features 24 international players.

The full roster of the event:

  • 🇳🇴 Magnus Carlsen
  • 🇺🇸 Fabiano Caruana
  • 🇺🇸 Wesley So
  • 🇺🇸 Levon Aronian
  • 🇺🇸 Hans Moke Niemann
  • 🇺🇸 Abhimanyu Mishra
  • 🇺🇸 Andrew Hong
  • 🇮🇳 Arjun Erigaisi
  • 🇮🇳 Praggnanandhaa R
  • 🇮🇳 Vaishali Rameshbabu
  • 🇺🇿 Nodirbek Abdusattorov
  • 🇳🇱 Anish Giri
  • 🇳🇱 Jorden van Foreest
  • 🇩🇪 Vincent Keymer
  • 🇫🇷 Alireza Firouzja
  • 🇷🇺 Ian Nepomniachtchi
  • 🇷🇺 Vladislav Artemiev
  • 🇫🇷 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
  • 🇵🇱 Jan-Krzysztof Duda
  • 🇭🇺 Richard Rapport
  • 🇦🇲 Haik M. Martirosyan
  • 🇻🇳 Le Quang Liem
  • 🇦🇿 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
  • 🇰🇿 Bibisara Assaubayeva

The event will feature a 5-day Group stage and a 4-day Knockout. In the Group stage, 24 players will be divided into 4 groups of 6. Each player will play everyone else twice. The time control for every match will be the Fast Classic 45+30. The top scorer from each group advances to the Knockout.

The Knockout will last 4 days. The Semifinals will be played in the first 2 days. The third-place match and the Final will take place on the last 2 days. The Knockout will feature 3 formats for every match. Players will play 4 Blitz 3+2 games, then 2 Rapid 15+10 games, and will finish with 1 Fast Classic 45+30 game.

The winners of the matches will be determined through Armageddon in case of a tie. The event will last 9 days in total.

The tournament in Budapest will serve as the pilot event for the new Total Chess World Championship Tour. Results from the pilot tournament will count toward the overall standings of the 2026-2027 tour. The top 2 players from the overall tour standings will qualify for the 2028 Candidates Tournament.

The Total Chess World Championship Tour is a new series created by Norway Chess and approved by FIDE combining Fast Classic, Rapid, and Blitz disciplines. The Tour aims to crown a unified World Combined Champion across all time controls. The main events of the first edition of the tour will begin in March 2027.

Credit: Lennart Ootes