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.
The Indian Express notes, “Presently, there are three world championships in chess: classical world championship held every two years while the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship crown the World Rapid Champion and the World Blitz Champion each year. The new Total Chess World Championship Tour, which will come into effect from 2027, will feature four events as part of the tour each year across various cities: there will be three events with 24 players while the fourth event will be the finale with four players. Besides the classical Norway Chess event, there will also be a pilot tournament next year to fine tune the playing format of the Total Chess World Championship Tour for 2027.”
The most pressing question is how does Magnus feel and will this bring him back in the tour. Equally important is how the current World Champion Gukesh feels about it, and journalists will have a chance to ask him during the coming European Chess Club Cup 2025, where he is in the participants list.
