FIDE Chess World Cup 2025: Here’s all you need to know about as the event returns to India after 23 years

What is the format of the World Cup?

The FIDE World Cup 2025 will feature 206 players competing in a head-to-head, two-game knockout format over eight rounds. Each round spans three days: two classical games (between two players) on the first two days, followed by tie-breaks on the third day, if necessary. 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. The FIDE World Cup is the event that offers the top three finishers direct qualification for the 2026 Candidates Tournament, which determines the challenger for the World Chess Championship.

Who are the Indians taking part in the World Cup?

The top seed of the tournament is world champion D. Gukesh who will be leading a star-studded Indian lineup. They consist of Praggnanandhaa R (courtesy of being World Cup 2023 second place finisher), Arjun Erigaisi (as per rating list in June 2025), Aravindh Chithambaram (June 2025 rating list), Nihal Sarin, Harikrishna Pentala, Raunak Sadhwani, Leon Luke Mendonca, Iniyan Pa, Pranav V, Raja Rithvik R, Narayanan SL, Pranesh M, Harshavardhan GB, Karthikeyan Murali, Idani Pouya, Karthik Venkataraman, Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Neelash Saha, Diptayan Ghosh, Aromyak Ghosh, Himal Gusain, Lalit Babu MR (all via continental spots) and Vidit Gujrathi (via Chess Olympiad spot).

What is the full schedule of the World Cup?

The World Cup will start from November 1 and go on till November 26 with Round 1 scheduled for Nov 1-3 (including tie-breakers), Round 2 will take place from Nov 4 to 6 (including tie-breakers), followed by Round 3 from Nov 7-9 (including tie-breakers). Then there’ll be Round 4 from Nov 11 to 13 (including tie-breakers) and round 5 from Nov 14-16 (including tie-breakers). The knockouts start with the quarterfinals scheduled to take place on Nov 17-19 (including tie-breakers), followed by the semifinals from 21-23 (including tie-breakers). The final will take place from Nov 24 to 26 (including tie-breakers).

November 1, 2025: Round 1 Game 1 – 3:00 PM IST
November 2, 2025: Round 1 Game 2 – 3:00 PM IST
November 3, 2025: Round 1 Tiebreaks – 3:00 PM IST
November 4, 2025: Round 2 Game 1 – 3:00 PM IST
November 5, 2025: Round 2 Game 2 – 3:00 PM IST
November 6, 2025: Round 2 Tiebreaks – 3:00 PM IST
November 7, 2025: Round 3 Game 1 – 3:00 PM IST
November 8, 2025: Round 3 Game 2 – 3:00 PM IST
November 9, 2025: Round 3 Tiebreaks – 3:00 PM IST
November 11, 2025: Round 4 Game 1 – 3:00 PM IST
November 12, 2025: Round 4 Game 2 – 3:00 PM IST
November 13, 2025: Round 4 Tiebreaks – 3:00 PM IST
November 14, 2025: Round 5 Game 1 – 3:00 PM IST
November 15, 2025: Round 5 Game 2 – 3:00 PM IST
November 16, 2025: Round 5 Tiebreaks – 3:00 PM IST
November 17, 2025: Quarterfinals Game 1 – 3:00 PM IST
November 18, 2025: Quarterfinals Game 2 – 3:00 PM IST
November 19, 2025: Quarterfinals Tiebreaks – 3:00 PM IST
November 21, 2025: Semifinals Game 1 – 3:00 PM IST
November 22, 2025: Semifinals Game 2 – 3:00 PM IST
November 23, 2025: Semifinals Tiebreaks – 3:00 PM IST
November 24, 2025: Finals Game 1 – 3:00 PM IST
November 25, 2025: Finals Game 2 – 3:00 PM IST
November 26, 2025: Finals Tiebreaks – 3:00 PM IST

What is the prize money for winning the World Cup?

The total prize money fund is $2 million from which the winner will get $ 120,000 while the runners-up will receive $ 85,000. The 3rd and 4th placed players will get $ 60,000 and $ 50,000 respectively.

When and where will the Chess World Cup be livestreamed?

You can catch the World Cup in the FIDE YouTube + Chess.com as well as Chessbase.