Arjun Erigaisi set to battle at FIDE Freestyle World Chess Championship 2026
Arjun Erigaisi will take on Magnus Carlsen and six more players at FIDE Freestyle World Chess Championship 2026. The remaining six players are – Fabiano Caruana, Vincent Keymer, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Levon Aronian, Javokhir Sindarov and Hans Niemann. Round 1 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST.
New Champion is guaranteed to be crowned
Ever since the rename of Chess960 or Fischer Random as ‘Freestyle’ Chess, the intent was clear that Magnus Carlsen wants to become Fischer Random World Champion and ‘Freestyle Chess’ wanting to host a World Championship event. There were a lot of back and forth conversations between FIDE and Freestyle Chess. On 7th January, a Press Release announced this event and burying the hatchet between them.
The absence of the first two Official Champions – Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura
The tournament misses the presence of two key players – Wesley So (USA), the first official World Fischer Random champion and Hikaru Nakamura (USA), the reigning World Fischer Random champion. So has criticized this event in plenty of interviews. Nakamura on the other hand declined his slot for this event as he wants to focus on his upcoming FIDE Candidates 2026 preparation. Although, he had initially agreed for the Freestyle Chess Tour 2026, however, he did not want to take part in the rushed sole event of the year with a reduced prize fund and a different format. Despite enjoying the first event in Weissenhaus last year, he feels that it’s a shame that Classical length format was not continued.
FIDE Freestyle World Chess Championship will take place on 13th – 15th February 2026 at Weissenhaus, Germany | Graphic: FIDE
The two players missing from the above graphic are – Hans Niemann (USA), nominated by Freestyle Chess for his outstanding performance in Freestyle Grand Slam Las Vegas and Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) who earned the final spot.
Graphic: FIDE
Format and Schedule
- Friday, February 13: The tournament opens with a rapid round-robin stage, following the format used in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam events. All eight players face each other once with a time control of 10 minutes plus 5-second increment. The top four players advance to the semifinals, while the remaining players move into placement matches.
- Saturday, February 14: The knockout stage begins with the semifinals and placement matches, played with a time control of 25 minutes plus 10-second increment. The semifinals will be played as four-game matches.
- Sunday, February 15: The final, played over four games, and the placement matches use the same 25 minutes plus 10-second increment. In the final, the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Champion is determined.
All final places from first to eighth will be decided over the board. The total prize fund is $300000, with $100000 awarded to the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Champion.
Women’s exhibition match
A Women’s exhibition match will be played between the former Women’s World Champion – GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (SUI) and the reigning three-time World Blitz Women’s Champion – GM Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ). Kosteniuk replaced the World no.1 woman, GM Yifan Hou (CHN) as she would not be able to travel due to visa issues.
Arrivals are scheduled for February 11, with February 12 reserved as a media and content day. The event concludes on Sunday, February 15, followed by departures on February 16.
Round-Robin stage pairings
Links
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