How procedural delay caused FIDE to announce Goa as World Cup host just 2 months ahead of event

Explaining the nature of these delays, Candolkar cited the need for approvals from all responsible parties, including FIDE, the All India Chess Federation (AICF), the state government, and the central government. “Every event requires a recommendation from both the state and central government. The recommendation was made long back, but everything has to be black and white. That process took time because there was an assembly session going on, so there were a lot of problems before. Now, everything is sorted out. It is happening in Goa, and I believe it has also been updated in the FIDE calendar,” Candolkar explained. The monsoon session of the Goa Legislative Assembly was held from July 21 to August 8 this year.

🔥 The FIDE World Cup 2025 is coming to Goa! 🇮🇳

🗓️ From October 30 to November 27, 2025, the world’s top players will gather on India’s west coast for one of the most exciting chess events.

🎯 Every round is win-or-go-home, making the World Cup one of the most dramatic… pic.twitter.com/Kb4Pp5thln

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) August 26, 2025

FIDE officials conducted two visits to Goa to inspect potential venues, shortlisting one between late May and early June. During a second visit, officials checked the requirements for the World Cup and, according to Candolkar, confirmed in July that the selected venue met all standards.

“It is a very big event for us. We are now hosting the U-13 nationals as well, but this is one of the biggest events we will host. We hosted the World Juniors long back, but this is the biggest event ever held in Goa,” said Candolkar.

New Delhi was initially set to host India’s first major international chess tournament since the 2022 Chennai Olympiad. Two AICF officials had confirmed to this newspaper in March that the biennial tournament — one of the flagship events in global chess — would likely be held at either Bharat Mandapam or Yashobhoomi.

Candolkar is hoping to match the success of the 2022 Chess Olympiad, which happened in Tamil Nadu’s coastal city of Mahabalipuram. “We will try to match the level of the 2022 Chess Olympiad that happened in Chennai. In Chennai, the number of participants was in the thousands. Here, the number of participants will be smaller, but country-wise, it will still be very big. We are expecting more than 80 countries to participate,” he said.

What is the format?

The FIDE World Cup 2025, which will run from October 30 to November 27, 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. The winner of the Candidates will earn the right to challenge the current World Champion, India’s D. Gukesh, in 2026.

Before this, India had hosted the 2002 World Cup in a multi-stage format where the tournament began with the group stage, followed by the knockout stage. Viswanathan Anand had won this home event.

© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd