The chess world has a World Chess Championship 2026, where Gukesh will battle with the winner of Candidates 2026. It also has a World Rapid & Blitz Championships that will take place in December. There used to be a Fisher Random / Freestyle / Chess960 World Championship as well.
Now the chess world will have a new Total World Chess Championship format. Norway Chess launches New World Championship format in 2026, approved by FIDE, and titled Total World Chess Championship. It will consist of four events each year and crown a combined champion across three disciplines – Fast Classic, Rapid, and Blitz chess. See what is Fast Classic here
FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich spoke with Chessbase India about the new world chess title in an hour long interview. Scroll down for the key quotes and the full interview.
Total Chess World Championship timeline
15.10 Total World Chess Championship announced
15.10 Reuters: Norway Chess gets approval for combined Total World Chess Title
15.10 Indian Express: Total Chess will be the fourth World Chess Championship
15.10 Two players from the Total World Chess Championship qualify for Candidates
15.10 Brian Karen: “There are tours within tours, finals after finals…”
15.10 Hans Niemann, “There has never been a better time to be a chess professional, kudos to FIDE”
15.10 Anish Giri, “Very messy”
16.10. Hikaru Nakamura, “Interplanetary Galactic Total World Chess Championship”
16.10. Magnus Carlsen, “Total Chess World Championship seems like a well-thought-out step”
16.10 Nakamura says no mention of Total Chess World Championship in the Norway Chess 2026 invitation
16.10 Jacob Aagaard about Total Chess World Championship, “Hopefully this is the end of the rating spot for Candidates”
16.10 Anand about Total Chess World Championship, “Chess at its best is about the entire range”
16.10. Susan Polgar on the Total Chess World Championship
17.10 GothamChess, “Magnus Carlsen returns to the World Chess Championship”
17.10 FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich about the Total Chess World Championship
Arkady Dvorkovich quotes from the interview about the Total Chess World Championship
On how and when it started: “We have been working on the Total Chess World Championship project since the spring of this year. It was not a quick decision, we have been discussing all the aspects of the project with our friends from Norway Chess. […] On our side we have been thinking for a long time about creating an inaugurative format where we can combine different time controls and adjust to the new reality of a faster digital world”
On the idea: “The idea was not completely new, we discussed something similar with the Grand Chess Tour back in 2019. If not for politics and pandemic we could have already had this.”
About the fans: “We do believe the Total Chess World Championship will bring a lot of fans and spectators, it will bring a lot of excitement to the players”
About Classical: “We believe that the Classical World Championship is the most important […] but we believe it is the right time to increase the importance of other formats”
The timeline: “The contract is for 8 years, with a possible extension of 8 more years”
On Carlsen: “Carlsen is the best player in the world, and if he participates in this FIDE approved championship, it will be good for everyone […] Having said that the Total Chess World Championship was not designed just for Magnus.”
On the World Chess Cup 2025, “India is the motherland of chess […] AICF leadership is committed strongly to running well the World Cup and we hope the players will be happy and the spectators will be happy”
On Hiakru Nakamura: Read the full statement here
Stay tuned as more quotes are being added and see the full video below
