Fide world chess championship cycle 2025-26

Fide world chess championship cycle 2025-26 is a series of tournaments or a cycle determining fide world chess champion. Fide world chess championship 2026 will be played between

1.Current Fide world chess champion- Gukesh Dommaraju 

2. Winner of the 2026 candidates tournament

The candidates tournament is a tournament between eight players who qualified through various qualification paths. The format of candidates tournament is double round robin. The winner of candidates tournament will challenge Gukesh Dommaraju in the fide world chess championship match.

The various qualification paths for the 2026 candidates tournament are- 

1.Winner of Fide circuit 2024-

The fide circuit is a kind of point system in which points are given based on the performances in various chess tournaments. Fabiano Caruana narrowly qualified for the 2026 candidates tournament by winning 2024 fide circuit and edging out Arjun Erigaisi by about 6 point margin.

2. Top 3 finishers at the fide world cup- Fide world cup is a tournament hosted by fide. It is a knock out tournament. It consists of six rounds. Most top players receive bye in the first round. It is scheduled to take place from October 31st, 2025 till November 27, 2025 in Bengaluru, India (Fide has not officially confirmed the schedule and venue yet).

3. Top 2 finishers in fide grand swiss- Fide grand swiss is a swiss tournament organised by fide. It consists of 11 rounds. It is scheduled to take place between September 3, 2025 and September 15, 2025 in Samarkhand, Uzbekistan.

4. Player with highest rating average from August 2025 till January 2026.

5. Winner of 2025 Fide circuit- 

The fide circuit is a kind of point system in which points are given based on the performances in various chess tournaments. Ding Liren is currently in lead but he is not expected to play in enough fide circuit events.