Total World Chess Championship Tour to stage Budapest pilot from Nov 10-21

The newly launched Total World Chess Championship Tour will stage a pilot in Budapest from November 10 to 21 and will be headlined by World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen.

The chess calendar is already crowded and organisers say top players rarely get a breather; the arrival of this tour is set to add further fixtures. Indian representation includes Arjun Erigaisi and Chennai siblings R. Praggnanandhaa and R. Vaishali, with Arjun one of eight top 10 players entered for Budapest. The field will total 24 players and entrants such as Fabiano Caruanan (World No. 20), Vincent Keymer (No. 5) and Wesley So (No. 6) are among those expected to ensure a stiffly contested event.

Organisers conceived the tour through Norway Chess and have secured the backing of the world chess governing body FIDE. The pilot in Budapest will be followed by a full tour beginning next year, scheduled to comprise four legs to be played in cities across the world. The event format brings together multiple time controls by combining classical, rapid and blitz chess within the tour structure.

The tour’s definition of classical play departs from traditional timings: the Total World Chess Championship uses a time control of 45 minutes with an increment of 30 seconds per move. By contrast, the usual classical time control cited in the report is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves and then 30 minutes for the rest of the game with increment. Organisers refer to the Total format as "fast classical," rather than labeling it outright classical.

The report observes that classical world champions have enduring recognition, citing Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand as figures the chess world remembers vividly. While noting that classical chess should retain a central role, the article describes the Total Chess Championship Tour as a welcome addition to the mind sport and concludes with the remark, "The more the merrier."

The immediate confirmed step on the calendar is the Budapest pilot from November 10 to 21, which will precede the planned first full tour next year consisting of four legs in cities across the world.