The Worldwide Chess Federation (FIDE) on Monday revealed that India will host the 2025 FIDE World Cup.The venue is but to be determined, however the match is scheduled from October 30 to November 2.The world’s prime gamers will battle it out for the coveted title and qualification spots within the 2026 FIDE Candidates Match.FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky mentioned: “We’re thrilled to deliver the FIDE World Cup 2025 to India, a rustic with a deep-rooted ardour and help for chess. Indian chess followers’ enthusiasm has all the time been exceptional, and we anticipate nice curiosity within the occasion amongst native chess lovers, each on-site and on-line. To boost the expertise, FIDE is dedicated to organizing quite a few aspect occasions, that includes match individuals and chess legends.”Here is all you might want to know:
What’s the format?
The FIDE World Cup 2025 will characteristic 206 gamers competing in a knockout format.The occasion has used a number of codecs over time, however since 2021, it has adopted a single-elimination format. Every spherical spans three days: two classical video games on the primary two days, adopted by tie-breaks on the third day, if mandatory.Within the first spherical, the highest 50 gamers obtain byes, whereas gamers seeded from 51 to 206 compete, with pairings primarily based on the precept of the highest half versus the reversed decrease half.
What’s at stake?
The highest three finishers of the 2025 World Cup will earn direct qualification for the 2026 Candidates Match, which determines the challenger for the World Chess Championship.
Who can qualify?
Gamers can qualify for the World Cup via varied avenues, together with:
- Reigning World Champion as of June 1, 2025
- Prime 4 finishers from the FIDE World Cup 2023
- Reigning Girls’s World Champion as of June 1, 2025
- 2024 World Junior Champion (U-20)
- Qualifiers from Continental occasions (accounting for 80 spots)
- The 13 highest-rated gamers within the June 2025 FIDE normal ranking checklist who haven’t certified by way of different routes
- Prime 100 nationwide federations from the 2024 Chess Olympiad open part, every receiving one spot
- 4 nominees of the FIDE President