The FIDE World Youth Chess Championship is the annual world championships for chess players in age categories U8, U10, U12, U14, U16, and U18 — both open and girls’ sections in each age group. The 2026 edition is scheduled for November, with the host city to be confirmed by FIDE.
Format: each age category runs as an 11-round Swiss at classical time control, with separate fields for open and girls’ sections. The total field across all twelve sections typically exceeds 1,500 players, making this one of the largest single-event chess tournaments in the world.
Recent young grandmasters have launched their international careers through this event. The 2018 edition produced Andrey Esipenko in the U16 section; the 2017 edition produced Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in the U10 section. Many of the current world top-fifty grandmasters first attracted international attention through a World Youth medal at age 12 or 14.
The event is also significant for chess federation funding. National federations typically subsidise their top youth players to compete, and medal results are used to justify continued state and private investment in junior training programmes. The 2026 edition will be watched closely by chess federations across Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Africa as a measure of where the next generation of grandmasters is emerging from.
For the host announcement, schedule by age group, and federation qualifying information, see the right column.