Total Chess World Championship 2026
Total Chess World Championship 2026 will be the first Total Chess World Championship, announced by Norway Chess on October 15, 2025, approved and endorsed by FIDE and to be jointly organized by both of these bodies. The tournament is a new initiative to combine talents of the 3 chess formats of classical, rapid and blitz into one tournament tour. The tournament will also offer the opportunity for a ticket to the prestigious Candidates Tournament 2028 though the number of spots it will provide is yet unclear.
The first event will be a pilot event for only a single event and the Total Chess World Championship Tour will be the first championship tour in the true sense.
Format
Sources:Tournament
The event will take place for all the three formats in early to mid-October 2026 and finals shall be played by 4 highest point scorers. The tournament will take place in 2 stages, a group stage and a knockout stageTime control
Fast Classical
Fast Classical is a new term, first used by Norway Chess to describe the time control of the classical leg of the tour. It is made to increase chess audience as a classical game generally takes multiple hours to finish, reducing interest of audience. In this time control, each player gets 45 minutes of time from their first move and gets an increment of 30 seconds after each move made by the player.Rapid
In this time control, each player gets 15 minutes of time from their first move and gets an increment of 10 seconds after each move made by the player.Blitz
In this time control, each player gets 3 minutes of time from their first move and gets an increment of 2 seconds after each move made by the player.| Format | Time at 1st move | Increment each move |
| Classical | 45 minutes | 30 seconds |
| Rapid | 15 minutes | 10 seconds |
| Blitz | 3 minutes | 2 seconds |
Ranking and Winning Tournament
Each game will make each player earn 1 point for a victory, 0.5 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss in all the three formats. Score of all the three formats will be added and players will be arranged in order of their ratings in descending order. Players Ranked 1 to 4 shall qualify for the finals of the tournament whose winner shall be declared FIDE World Combined Champion. Norway Chess is yet to clarify the method for tie-breaking for 2 or more players having the same score.Stages
The pilot event consist of two stages, group stage and knockout stage. A blitz tournament played at opening ceremony. The rankings in these games shall act as tie-breaker in group stage.Opening Ceremony Blitz Games
The tournament is played in opening ceremony. It consist of 9 rounds in swiss format. Rankings in this ceremony shall act as tie-breaker in group stage.Group Stage
4 groups are made with 6 players each. The 4 highest rated players are placed in 4 different groups and lots are drawn to select other 5 players from the eligible players in each group. Each player should get exactly one group.Players of the same group compete with each other in double round robin format in fast classical time format. Point system is given in the table below. The players shall be ranked 1 to 6 by the points scored. if two or more players scored equal points, the blitz games played in opening ceremony shall break the tie.
Knockout Stage
Players ranked from 1 to 6 in each group shall participate in 6 different knockout brackets. Players ranked 1 in their respective groups participate in Knockout bracket 1, same with 2 to 6.Semifinal pairings in each Knockout bracket are determined by their pre‑tournament blitz rank among those four, and paired 1–4 and 2–3. Point system is explained in the table below.
Winner of Knockout Bracket 1 is crowned '''Combined World Champion.'''
Knockout Daily Winner Structure
In the semi-final, 3rd-place match, and final, the matches will be played over two days, using the “two-day system” described next. Each day includes Fast Classical, Rapid, and Blitz games before a winner is determined. First, four Blitz games will be played, then two Rapid games, and then the Fast Classical game.The higher-ranked player based on the pre-tournament blitz ranking chooses the color for the first Blitz game on Day 1. Colors for all remaining games on Day 1 and Day 2 then alternate.
Each day produces a day-winner, or a tie occurs.
Scores reset each day, and in case of a tie in one of the days, the other day acts as a tiebreaker. A tie occurs at the end of day 2 if a player wins day 1 and the other player wins day 2, or each day is tied. In this case, an Armageddon game, where Black has the draw odds, is played to determine the winner. The event is always determined on the final day. The player who has the most total points over two days chooses the color. If they have equal points, then an Armageddon bidding takes place.
| Colour | Time at 1st move | Increment each move |
| White | 10 minutes | 1 second |
| Black | 7 minutes | 1 second |