World Chess Championship 2026

The World Chess Championship 2026 is an upcoming chess match to determine the new World Chess Champion. It will be played between the defending champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Javokhir Sindarov, the winner of the Candidates Tournament 2026. The date and the host city are yet to be decided.

The challenger, Javokhir Sindarov, qualified by winning the Candidates Tournament 2026, which is currrently being held at the Cap Saint Georges Hotel and Resort in Pegeia, Cyprus, between 28 March and 16 April.

The eight players to qualify to the Candidates Tournament were:

| Qualification method | Player | Age | Rating | World ranking | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2024 FIDE Circuit winner | Fabiano Caruana | 33 | 2795 | 3 | | Top two finishers of the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss | Anish Giri (winner) | 31 | 2753 | 8 | | Matthias Blübaum (runner-up) | 28 | 2698 | 33 | | | Top three finishers of the 2025 FIDE World Cup | Javokhir Sindarov (winner) | 20 | 2745 | 13 | | Wei Yi (runner-up) | 26 | 2754 | 7 | | | Andrey Esipenko (third place) | 24 | 2698 | 34 | | | 2025 FIDE Circuit winner | R Praggnanandhaa | 20 | 2741 | 14 | | Highest average rating (Aug 2025 – Jan 2026) | Hikaru Nakamura | 38 | 2810 | 2 |

Unlike other Candidates Tournaments, and any FIDE World Championship cycle (except 1999–2004 during the split-title period), there was no automatic spot for the runner-up of the previous Championship (Ding Liren). To compensate, the 2024 championship was considered an eligible tournament for the FIDE Circuit, with the runner-up obtaining special bonus points for the 2025 FIDE Circuit based on his score.

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