India to host Chess World Cup this year; Gukesh, Carlsen, 204 others to compete
Keralites Nihal Sarin and S L Narayanan will also be in action at the World Cup to be held from October 30 to November 27.
Keralites Nihal Sarin and S L Narayanan will also be in action at the World Cup to be held from October 30 to November 27.
Keralites Nihal Sarin and S L Narayanan will also be in action at the World Cup to be held from October 30 to November 27.
FIDE has confirmed India as the host for this year's Chess World Cup to be held from October 30 to November 27. The world chess body said it would announce the host city in 'due course'.
The World Cup is one of the prestigious events, in which upcoming stars and established players will be in action on the same stage as the elite.
Besides World No 1 Magnus Carlsen, World Champions D Gukesh and Ju Wenjun are among the 206 players who will compete for the title. So far, 200 players have been confirmed, including Kerala GMs Nihal Sarin and S L Narayanan. Of the six remaining slots, four will be taken by players to be nominated by the FIDE President, while the organisers will nominate two.
India last hosted the World Cup in 2002 with Hyderabad as the venue. Five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand won the title. The players will compete in a knockout format, with the top three earning direct qualification to the 2026 Candidates Tournament that will determine the challenger for Gukesh in the next World Championship match.
"The event (World Cup) has used several formats over the years, but since 2021, it has followed a single-elimination format. Each round spans three days: two classical games on the first two days, followed by tie-breaks on the third day, if necessary," FIDE stated.
In the first round, the top 50 players receive byes, while players seeded from 51 to 206 compete, with pairings based on the principle of the top half versus the reversed lower half.
R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Aravindh Chithambaram, Anand, Iniyan Pa, Raja Rithvik R, Pranesh M, Harshavardhan G B, Murali Karthikeyan, Karthik Venkataraman, Surya Ganguly, Neelash Saha, Diptayan Ghosh, Aromyak Ghosh, Gusain Himal and Lalit Babu M R are the Indians whose participation has been confirmed.