Carlsen leads 24-player field as Total Chess World Championship Tour pilot begins in Budapest

Magnus Carlsen heads a 24-player field as the Total Chess World Championship Tour pilot begins in Budapest on November 10, 2026, with a $650,000 prize fund. The event is being staged as a pilot for the broader tour due to start in 2027.

The tournament uses knockout-round action that moves players from blitz to rapid to a shortened form of classical chess in a single day. India is represented by R. Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi and R. Vaishali; Vaishali enters the event between her victory at the Women’s Candidates in April and her World title match against Ju Wenjun. Kazakhstan’s Bibisara Assaubayeva is the other woman in the field, which also includes Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Richard Rapport.

Tuesday’s opening programme featured nine rounds of blitz, with the resulting standings used to break ties in the group stage. From Wednesday, the players will be split into four groups of six, with each participant meeting the other five in their group twice over five days.

All group games will be played at the Fast Classic time control of 45 minutes per player plus a 30-second increment after each move. A win in these games earns three points and a draw one point.

Only the four group winners will advance to contest the title; the remaining players will compete for lower placings. Each subsequent knockout match is scheduled over two days, incorporating four blitz games, two rapid games and one Fast Classic game on each day.

An Armageddon game will settle any match that remains tied after the prescribed games. The pilot tournament is being held at the Anantara New York Palace Hotel and runs until November 20; the writer is in Budapest at the invitation of Total Chess.

The full tour is due to begin in 2027, with the top four in the overall standings qualifying for the Grand Final to play for the FIDE World Combined Championship.