How the Chess season works

Events on the calendar

Event	Status	Dates	Location	Prize
Chinese Chess League Division A 2026	Ongoing	Jun 24 to Oct 31, 2026	Zhejiang (R1-6) Guangdong (R7-11)
Titled Tuesday 2026-2027	Ongoing	Sep 1 to May 25, 2027	World
Chess Bundesliga 2026-27	Ongoing	Oct 9 to Apr 4, 2027	Germany
US Chess Championship 2026	Ongoing	Oct 9 to Oct 22, 2026	St. Louis	$250,000
US Women's Chess Championship 2026	Ongoing	Oct 9 to Oct 22, 2026	St. Louis	$157,000
European Club Cup 2026	Ongoing	Oct 17 to Oct 23, 2026	Budva	€26,000 EUR (≃ $29,169 USD)
Total Chess World Championship 2026	Upcoming	Nov 10 to Nov 20, 2026	Budapest
FIDE World Chess Championship 2026	Upcoming	Nov 24 to Dec 12, 2026	Geneva	$2,500,000
Atyrau Open 2026 Masters	Completed	Oct 12 to Oct 20, 2026	Atyrau	45,000,000 ₸ KZT (≃ $99,619 USD)
Shenzhen Masters 2026	Completed	Oct 9 to Oct 12, 2026	Shenzhen	¥200,000 CNY (≃ $29,886 USD)
Russian Chess Championship Superfinal 2026	Completed	Oct 1 to Oct 12, 2026	Rostov-on-Don	7,000,000₽ RUB (≃ $82,250 USD)
Russian Women's Superfinal 2026	Completed	Oct 1 to Oct 12, 2026	Rostov-on-Don	4,000,000₽ RUB (≃ $47,000 USD)
Chess Olympiad 2026	Completed	Sep 16 to Sep 27, 2026	Samarkand
Women's Chess Olympiad 2026	Completed	Sep 16 to Sep 27, 2026	Samarkand
Global Chess League 2026	Completed	Sep 5 to Sep 13, 2026	Bengaluru	$1,000,000
Green Hills Resort Masters 2026	Completed	Aug 30 to Aug 31, 2026	Tashkent Region
Grand Chess Tour Finals 2026	Completed	Aug 22 to Aug 27, 2026	Saint Louis, Missouri	$450,000
Abu Dhabi Masters 2026	Completed	Aug 15 to Aug 24, 2026	Abu Dhabi	$55,500

Formats and key facts

Chess Olympiad 2026

Starts

2026-09-16

Ends

2026-09-27

Location

Samarkand

Venue

Silk Road Samarkand

Type

Offline

Series

Chess Olympiad

Tier

S-Tier

• Time control: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, 30 minutes for the rest of the game
• 30 Seconds increment per move, starting from move 1
• Swiss system, 11 rounds
• Each match is a team vs team on four different boards
• Tiebreakers:
• Matchpoints (2 for a match win, 1 for match draw, 0 for match loss)
• Sum of Increased Scores (I.S.) against all opponents, except one with least matchpoints.
• For each opponent, I.S. is defined as gamepoints scored against the opponent multiplied by opponent's total matchpoints.
• Gamepoints scored
• Sum of all opponents's matchpoints, except one worst.

Women's Chess Olympiad 2026

Starts

2026-09-16

Ends

2026-09-27

Location

Samarkand

Venue

Silk Road Samarkand

Type

Offline

Series

Women's Chess Olympiad

Tier

S-Tier

• Time control: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, 30 minutes for the rest of the game
• 30 Seconds increment per move, starting from move 1
• Swiss system, 11 rounds
• Each match is a team vs team on four different boards
• Tiebreakers:
• Matchpoints (2 for a match win, 1 for match draw, 0 for match loss)
• Sum of Increased Scores (I.S.) against all opponents, except one with least matchpoints.
• For each opponent, I.S. is defined as gamepoints scored against the opponent multiplied by opponent's total matchpoints.
• Gamepoints scored
• Sum of all opponents's matchpoints, except one worst.

Total Chess World Championship 2026

Starts

2026-11-10

Ends

2026-11-20

Location

Budapest

Venue

Anantara New York Palace Hotel

Type

Offline

Players

24

Series

Total Chess World Championship Tour

Tier

S-Tier

• Group Stage:
• 24 players divided into 4 groups of 6 players each
• Double round-robin (10 games per player over 5 days)
• Time control: 45 minutes with a 30-second increment per move
• Scoring system:
• 3 points for a win
• 1 point for a draw
• 0 points for a loss
• Tiebreaker rankings are determined by a pre-tournament 9-round Blitz Swiss (3+2)
• Daily Knockout Matches:
• Matches are played over 2 days combining all three disciplines:
• 4 Blitz games (3 min + 2 sec): 1 point per win, 0.5 points per draw
• 2 Rapid games (15 min + 10 sec): 4 points per win, 2 points per draw
• 1 Fast Classic game (45 min + 30 sec): 8 points per win, 4 points per draw
• Tour Points distribution:
• Winner of Knockout 1 receives 30 tour points
• Subsequent brackets award 20, 16, 12, 9, and 6 points respectively
• Players earn a 5-point bonus for each additional leg won beyond their first
• Grand Final:
• Top 4 highest-scoring players across the 3 tournament legs qualify
• Semifinals and Finals played over 4 days with 2 sets
• The player who wins 2 sets is declared the winner and crowned FIDE World Combined Champion

FIDE World Chess Championship 2026

Starts

2026-11-24

Ends

2026-12-12

Location

Geneva

Venue

Fondation Martin Bodmer

Type

Offline

Prize pool

$2,500,000 USD

Players

2

Organizer

FIDE

Series

FIDE WCC

Tier

S-Tier

• The World Championship Match consists of fourteen games.
• Time control and default time:
• The games are played using electronic clocks and boards approved by FIDE.
• The time control for each game is 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 41.
• A player who arrives in the playing area after the actual start time of the game shall lose this game by default.
• Draw by mutual agreement:
• The players cannot draw a game by agreement before black’s 40th move. A claim for a draw before the completion of black’s 40th move is permitted only through the Chief Arbiter or his/her Deputy in case of threefold repetition or a stalemate.
• Conditions of victory:
• The player who scores 7.5 points or more wins the World Championship Match. No further games shall be played. If the score after fourteen games is equal, the tie-break shall be played.
• Tie-break:
• A four-game playoff shall be played with a time control of 15 minutes + 10 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1. There shall be a drawing of lots to decide which player starts with white.
• If the score is still level after the four-game playoff, after a new drawing of lots, a two-game playoff shall be played with a time control of 10 minutes + 5 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1.
• If the score is still level after the rapid playoff, after a new drawing of lots, a two-game playoff shall be played with a time control of 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1.
• If the score is still level after the blitz playoff, after a new drawing of lots, a single game shall be played with a time control of 3 minutes for each player + 2 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1. If still tied, colors shall be reversed and play continues until a decisive result is reached.
• There shall be a pause of 10 minutes between all tie-break games, unless the Chief Arbiter decides otherwise.

Grand Chess Tour Finals 2026

Starts

2026-08-22

Ends

2026-08-27

Location

Saint Louis, Missouri

Venue

Saint Louis Chess Club

Type

Offline

Prize pool

$450,000 USD

Players

4

Organizer

GCT Organization

Series

Grand Chess Tour

Tier

A-Tier

• 4-player Single Elimination
• 2-player matches consisting of two Classical games, two Rapid games and four Blitz games
• Time Control:
• Classical games: 90 minutes for 40 moves and 30 minutes for the rest of the game with a 30 second increment from move 1
• If both Classical games are drawn: Blitz bonus match 5+2, played until a player wins
• Rapid games: Game in 25 minutes, with a 10 second increment from move 1
• Blitz games: Game in 5 minutes, with a 2 second increment from move 1
• Match Scoring:
• Classical Games: 6 points for a win, 3 points for a draw and 0 points for a loss
• Blitz Bonus Match: 2 points for a win, 0 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss
• Rapid Games: 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw and 0 points for a loss
• Blitz Games: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss

Global Chess League 2026

Starts

2026-09-05

Ends

2026-09-13

Location

Bengaluru

Venue

The Lalit Ashok

Type

Offline

Prize pool

$1,000,000 USD

Organizer

FIDE

Series

Global Chess League

Tier

A-Tier

• Double round-robin
• 10 rounds
• Time Control: 20 minutes for each player with increment of 2 seconds from move 41
• Team’s finishing 3rd and 4th will compete in a playoff for the 3rd place
• The two teams with the most matchpoints move on to the Final
• Tiebreak system
• Sum of the individual points that each player of the team scores
• Direct Encounter (head-to-head)
• The Koya system
• Extended Sonneborn-Berger
• Drawing of lots

Common questions