The FIDE Chess World Cup 2025 comes to India, starting from October 31 to November 27 in Goa.
Some of the world’s best male chess players will be featuring in the 11th edition of the tournament, which will also include the current world champion and top seed D Gukesh. However, defending champion Magnus Carlsen has skipped the event.
What is the significance of the FIDE Chess World Cup?
The Chess World Cup is one of the major chess events organised by the governing body FIDE. It takes place every two years and the top three players from the tournament qualify for the Candidates tournament, which is a qualifier for the World Championship match.
Unlike in some sports where the World Cup is usually the biggest tournament, Chess World Cup ranks below Candidates and the World Championship, but nonetheless a hugely important event with as many as 206 participants.
Where is the venue?
Resort Rio in North Goa, India will host all the matches.
What’s the format?
The Chess World Cup is an eight-round, single-elimination knockout tournament. Each match consists of two classical games played under standard time controls. If the scores are tied, players will play tiebreakers with faster time controls on the third day.
The top 50 seeded players get a bye to the second round and the rest are paired based on their seeding. The final round will include matches to determine the third and fourth place finish and the final.
As mentioned above, the top three will make it to the Candidates tournament next year.
Who are the Indians in the tournament?
A total 24 Indians will feature in the World Cup and the top three seeds are also Indian – Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa. Gukesh was given the top seed because he’s the current world champion.
The other Indians in the draw are are Vidit Gujrathi, Aravindh Chithambaram, Nihal Sarin, Pentala Harikrishna, Karthikeyan Murali, Pranav V., Raunak Sadhwani, Pranesh M., Leon Luke Mendonca, S.L. Narayanan, P. Iniyan, Karthik Venkataraman, Diptayan Ghosh, Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Raja Rithvik R, Aronyak Ghosh, M.R. Lalith Babu, Divya Deshmukh, Himal Gusain, Harshavardhan G. B., Neelash Saha.
Divya, who won the Women’s World Cup earlier this year, is the only woman in the field. She accepted the wildcard after Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun and women’s World No. 1 Hou Yifan decided against taking part.
Who are the favourites to win the World Cup?
Arjun Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa, Anish Giri, Wesley So, Vincent Keymer are some of the strongest players in the tournament and big favourites to win the title. Praggnanandhaa in fact made it to the final last time before losing to Magnus Carlsen.
The likes of Ian Nepomniachtchi, Wei Yi and Nodirbek Abdusattorov who can make a run to the final round. Two-time champion Levon Aronian can also make an impact.
And then there is Gukesh. Consistency wise, the current world champion has not been at his best this year but that doesn’t mean he will be not up for it, especially since this is happening at home.
Who are the big players missing?
Carlsen, who won the World Cup last time, will be absent along with other top players like Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja, Ding Liren and Jan-Krzysztof Duda.
Who were the previous winners?
2023 – Magnus Carlsen
2021 – Jan-Krzysztof Duda
2019 – Teimour Radjabov
2017 – Levon Arnian
2015 – Sergey Karjakin
2013 – Vladimir Kramnik
2011 – Peter Svidler
2009 – Boris Gelfand
2007 – Gata Kamsky
2005 – Levon Aronian
For Carlsen, the World Cup was the only missing title in his kitty till he won it in 2023.
The legendary Viswanathan Anand won the tournament twice in 2000 and 2002, but it was different from its current avatar — not linked with the World Chess Championship. In fact, in 2002, Hyderabad hosted the tournament where 24 players participated, eventually Anand winning in his home country.
What is the event schedule?
Round 1- Nov. 1-3
Round 2 – Nov. 4-6
Round 3 – Nov. 7-9
Round 4 – Nov. 11-13
Round 5 – Nov. 14-16
Quarterfinals – Nov. 17-19
Semifinals – Nov. 21-23
Finals – Nov. 24-26
All matches will start at 3 pm IST.
Where will the matches be held?
The matches will be shown LIVE on FIDE’s YouTube channel.
