India is ready to host the Chess World Cup 2025 once again after a long gap of 23 years. The International Chess Federation (FID) has officially announced this. This prestigious tournament will be held between October 30 to November 27 and a total of 206 players from all over the world will participate. The competition will be played in the knockout format, in which the defeat player after each round will be out of the tournament.

Format of competition

This mega tournament will have eight rounds. Two classical matches will be played in each round. Each player will get 90 minutes for the first 40 tricks and then 30 minutes for the rest of the game. Apart from this, additional time of 30 seconds will also be available with each move. If both of them are drawn, tie-break matches are played on the third day.

Since 2021, a single elimination format has been adopted in the World Cup. In the first round, the top 50 seeded players will be given the bye, while the remaining players will take the competition from the first round itself. In this round, the players will be face to face on the principle of the upper half versus lower half.

Candidate tournament route

This World Cup is not only a prestigious tournament, but it is also an important platform to qualify for the candidate tournament to be held in 2026. The top three players of this competition will be qualified directly for the candidates tournaments.

FIDE has set various merit routes for the World Cup:

1. Current World Champion (till 1 June 2025)

2. Top four players of World Cup 2023

3. Current women world champion

4. 2024 World Junior (U20) Champion

5. Players living in the rating list of June 2025

India’s hosting and role

India last hosted the Chess World Cup in Hyderabad in 2002. Since then, India has become a superpower in the chess world. The country has recently successfully organized international events like FIDE Chess Olympiad 2022, Tata Steel India, World Junior Championship 2024 and Mahila Grand Prix 2025.

Expressing happiness over the World Cup in India, FID CEO Emil Sutowski said that the passion and public support for chess in India is unique. He said that to make the FID event more memorable, he will also organize several cultural and interactive programs with chess players and veterans.

At present, the host city of the tournament has not been announced, which will be done when the time comes. For India, this event is not only a matter of pride, but is also an opportunity to make chess more popular at the ground level.