India to host Chess World Cup for first time in 23 years, dates announced

India will host this year's chess World Cup from October 30 to November 27. The sport's global governing body FIDE announced about the development on Monday.

As per the announcement, a host city for the event will be named in due course. As many as 206 players will vie for the coveted title and qualification spots in the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament. The players will compete in a knockout format, where the losing player in each round are eliminated.

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.

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"The event 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 announced.

"The top three finishers of the 2025 World Cup will earn direct qualification for the 2026 Candidates Tournament, which determines the challenger for the World Chess Championship," it added.

Notably, India last hosted the event in 2002 in Hyderabad where Viswanathan Anand won the title.