The FIDE World Cup is the largest single-event chess competition in the world — a 206-player knockout that runs through eight elimination rounds plus a four-game final. The top three finishers earn direct qualification to the following year’s Candidates Tournament, making this one of the two main routes to the world championship match (the other being the FIDE Grand Swiss).
The 2027 edition’s host city and exact dates have not been confirmed as of mid-2026. FIDE typically rotates the World Cup between continents to align with chess-federation development goals; the 2023 edition was held in Baku, Azerbaijan and the 2025 edition in Goa, India.
Format: two-game mini-matches at classical time control (90+30 minutes plus 30-second increment), with rapid and blitz tiebreaks if tied 1–1. Each round eliminates half the field until 16, 8, 4, and 2 players remain. The final is a four-game match. Players seeded directly into round two include the top-ten FIDE-rated grandmasters and selected continental qualifiers; the remainder enter at round one.
Historical winners include Magnus Carlsen (2023), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2021), Levon Aronian (2017, 2005), and Boris Gelfand (2009). The format heavily favours players with strong nerves in rapid-tiebreak situations — many “tournament players” with similar classical strength have very different World Cup records.
The 2027 host city, schedule, and qualifying paths will be announced by FIDE in late 2026. See the FIDE calendar linked in the right column.