206 Players to Compete as India Hosts 2025 FIDE World Cup

The 2025 FIDE World Cup is going to be in India this year (October 30 – November 27), and will be a qualification for the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament competing against the best Grandmasters for the WC title.

There will be a total of 206 competing players in a knockout format where players will be eliminated during each round.  It will be a single-elimination format where each round lasts for three days consisting of two classical games during the first two days, followed by tiebreakers on the third day. In the first round, the top-50 players will receive first-round byes, with players seeded from 51 to 206 competing in the first round with pairings corresponding to the top half vs. reversed lower half.

The top-three finishers will receive a direct qualification berth at the Candidates in 2026, as the winner of the Candidates will challenge D Gukesh for the World Chess Championship.

• India to host 2025 FIDE World Cup with 206 top chess players.
• Top 3 finishers to qualify for 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament.
• World Champion D Gukesh awaits challenger from FIDE Candidates.

Previous FIDE World Cup winners

The previous FIDE World Cup winners are Magnus Carlsen (2023), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2021), Teimoir Radjabov (2019), Levon Aronian (2017 and 2005), Sergey Karjakin (2015), Vladimir Kramnik (2013), Peter Svidler (2011), Boris Gelfand (2009) and Gata Kamsky (2007).

Also Read: Gukesh's Victory: A Potential Game Changer for Chess Sponsorships

For the FIDE World Cup, qualification criteria are: reigning World Champion (as of June 1, 2025), top four finishers from the FIDE World Cup 2023, reigning Women's World Champion (as of June 1, 2025), 2024 World Junior Champion U-20, continental qualification (80 total spaces), plus the highest rated players from the June 2025 FIDE standard rating list (13 in total, which need to not have qualified with any other criteria).

Also, as previously stated the top 100 national federations from the 2024 Chess Olympiad open section receive a single slot each, with no prerequisite being met for average rating in some time frame. The FIDE President is nominating four people followed by the organizer to nominate a further 2.

Praggnanandhaa was 2023 World Cup runner-up, having lost to Carlsen. Gukesh holds the title of reigning World Champion.

Also Read: Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa Share the Top Spot at Tata Steel Chess Masters

CEO Emil Sutovsky said, “We are thrilled to bring the FIDE World Cup 2025 to India, a country with a deep-rooted passion and support for chess. Indian chess fans’ enthusiasm has always been remarkable, and we anticipate great interest in the event among local chess lovers, both on-site and online. To enhance the experience, FIDE is committed to organizing numerous side events, featuring tournament participants and chess legends.”