New Delhi: Magnus Carlsen and D Gukesh are expected to headline the field in the men’s FIDE World Cup which will be held in Goa from October 30 to November 27, world chess body FIDE announced on Tuesday.
A large field of 206 players will feature in the knockout tournament with a $2 million prize money from which the top three will qualify for the 2026 Candidates Tournament, the winner of which will take on Gukesh, India’s reigning FIDE world champion.
Gukesh is in as the world champion while five-time world champion Carlsen, R Praggnanandhaa, Fabiano Caruano and Azerbaijan’s Nijat Abasov are seeded from the 2023 World Cup. China’s women’s FIDE world champion, Ju Wenjun and the 2024 world junior champion, Kazybek Nogerbek of Kazakhstan are also in the list released by FIDE.
Among the 13 players from the June FIDE list are Hikaru Nakamura, Arjun Erigaisi and VR Aravindh Chithambaram. Nihal Sarin, SL Narayanan and Vidit Gujrathi are also in the field. Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, a two-time winner of the World Cup (2000, 2002), including when it was last held in India (Hyderabad, 2002), is among the qualifiers for the event.
The tournament will be played over eight rounds with two classical games followed, if needed, by two tiebreaks (rapid and blitz). The top 50 seeds will get a bye into the second round.
India hosting the event mirrors the country’s standing in elite chess. Divya Deshmukh at just 19 won the women’s title at Batumi, Georgia in July. She beat Koneru Humpy in the final to seal a spot in the women’s Candidates. The win helped her achieve the Grandmaster title, only the fourth Indian woman to get it.
“India has become one of the strongest chess nations, with outstanding players and passionate fans. After the success of the FIDE Women’s World Cup held in Georgia earlier this year, we are proud to bring the FIDE World Cup to Goa. It will be a celebration of chess, and a unique experience for players and spectators from around the world. The representatives of 90+ countries are expected to take part, and it will be one of the most followed events in chess history,” FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich said in the announcement.