FIDE Announces New Qualification Path For 2026 Candidates Tournament
In the wake of a 2024 Candidates qualification cycle plagued with tumult and controversy, the World Chess Federation (FIDE) has announced new regulations aimed at "enhancing the competitive landscape, encouraging player participation, and ensuring fair representation of the top contenders."
Posted on FIDE's official website, the most significant, albeit surprising, revelation is the fact that the world championship runner-up will no longer automatically qualify for the subsequent Candidates Tournament. Instead, there will now be a second spot allocated to the FIDE Circuit.
As compensation to the runner-up of the current cycle, FIDE indicated that the 2024 World Championship would be "recognized as an eligible tournament for the FIDE Circuit and the runner-up will receive special bonus points for the match."
Clarification was also given concerning the spot allocated to the highest-rated player, which turned into a fiasco after a last-minute scramble in December for the spot (which GM Alireza Firouzja ended up bagging). FIDE explicitly stated in their press release that the new "six-month average rating rule eliminates the possibility of players relying on a "last chance" tournament in December". The new rule is stipulated in its entirety below...
FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich endorsed the changes, stating the following:
“These changes have been carefully thought through, considering all important factors, with the aim of making the qualification process more engaging and fairer. This reflects FIDE's commitment to evolving and refining the qualification process, promoting a dynamic and competitive chess environment."
While the reforms encourage activity throughout the qualification period, the rating spot still allows the highest-rated player to sit on their rating, if needed. At present that would be GM Magnus Carlsen, who leads GM Fabiano Caruana by 26 points, though the former champion has given no indication that he might be tempted back into the world championship system.
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave recently proposed that the rating spot could be determined by performance rating rather than an average rating during the qualification period, a sentiment that Caruana agreed with, but this model has not been adopted in the changes.
I actually have a suggestion about that. You take rating performance over Fide Circuit events approved only, other events are Fide rated but don't necessarily count towards rating performance, or are weighted differently.
— MVL (@Vachier_Lagrave) December 21, 2023
The CEO of FIDE, GM Emil Sutovsky, who was one of the drivers of the reforms, took to Twitter in November to ask for the opinions of the general public and was met with many suggestions, including a question from GM Elisabeth Paehtz about why the women's cycle didn't also have a FIDE circuit.
A question for the general chess public. How do you like FIDE Circuit? Do you believe both 2024 and 2025 should provide one spot to Candidates-2026? Or maybe 2 spots as a result of a 2-year race? Any other thought on the topic?
— Emilchess (@EmilSutovsky) November 25, 2023
What do you think of the proposed changes?
