New Delhi to host Fide World Cup this year

Bengaluru: The Fide Chess World Cup will be held in New Delhi later this year, Hindustan Times has reliably learnt. The October 31-November 27 event will mark the return of big-ticket chess to India, since the country hosted the Olympiad in 2022. India previously hosted a Fide World Cup over two decades ago. Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand won that edition held in Hyderabad in 2002.

One of Fide’s flagship competitions, it is a knockout tournament held once every two years and will have 206 players. New Delhi, this paper understands, was picked as host since it offers travel accessibility to players from across the world. “Direct flights from most global locations was one of the factors why Delhi made for a perfect choice. Also, logistics might be easier to manage, and since it’s the national capital, it might help with the buzz around the event,” a source told HT.

It is learnt that Bharat Mandapam or Yashobhoomi could be the venue. Spread over 123 acres in the heart of the capital, Bharat Mandapam is one of the country’s largest convention centres. The venue played host to the G20 Leaders’ Summit in 2023 and could be seen as the preferred venue for the Chess World Cup. Previously, Delhi had hosted the first six rounds of the Fide World Championship match in 2000. The final rounds were played in Tehran, and Anand became world champion for the first time.

India hosted the World Championship match between Anand and Magnus Carlsen in Chennai in 2013. Last year, India had sent in two separate bids (New Delhi and Chennai) to host the World Championship match between Gukesh D and Ding Liren. Singapore eventually won the bid and the match saw India’s Gukesh being crowned world champion at 18.

With a prize fund of around $2 million, the World Cup that New Delhi is set to host is particularly significant for the World Championship cycle.

So far only Fabiano Caruana of USA has booked a spot in next year’s eight-player, double round robin Candidates tournament that will decide the challenger to reigning world champion Gukesh in the 2026 match. Of the seven remaining spots, three will be decided at the World Cup and will go to players who finish in the top three. In its previous edition held in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2023, R Praggnanandhaa had made a historic run to the final – the first Indian player to do so after Anand. He lost to eventual champion, world No.1 Carlsen but had earned a spot in the Candidates for his performance. While the Baku World Cup saw the women’s competition too held in tandem, this time around the Women’s World Cup will be held in Batumi, Georgia from July 5-29.