On-line chess platform Chess.com has introduced ‘main adjustments’ to the qualifying cycle for the 2026 Esports World Cup.
Following this 12 months’s Champions Chess Tour, Chess.com seeks to deal with the inaugural season’s brief qualification window to make it ‘extra aggressive’ going ahead.
“The 2025-2026 cycle goes to be unimaginable, and we are able to’t wait to launch it.”
What Adjustments are Coming?
For the 2025/2026 season, Chess.com will mix three circuits into one: Titled Tuesday, Pace Chess Championship (SCC), and the returning Chess.com International Championship (CGC). These will type the brand new Champions Chess Tour, qualifying 12 gamers for subsequent 12 months’s Esports World Cup.
Titled Tuesday presents three splits working from September 2025 to Could 2026, the place gamers earn factors for his or her finest eight performances.
SCC presents $250,000 (~£186,400) in prize pool funds, working from October 2025 to the reside ultimate in February 2026. Lastly, the CGC returns, providing $250,000 as properly, with Qualifiers in March 2026 and Playoffs concluding in Could.
The highest three gamers from SCC and CGC every will qualify, alongside six of the perfect gamers from the Champions Chess Tour chief board.
Magnus Carlsen, the winner of the 2025 Esports World Cup Chess event, stated: “I’m excited for a second 12 months of EWC Chess. This new qualification cycle means extra occasions and extra possibilities for the world’s finest gamers to fulfill me again in Riyadh.”
The publish on-line additionally shared particulars in regards to the subsequent State of Chess broadcast, scheduled to happen after Tilted Tuesday begins on September 2nd, 2025. The present might be shared via the official Chess Twitch and YouTube channels.
The present might be offered by Rensch, sharing extra details about the Esports World Cup cycle this 12 months, updates to Chess.com, partnerships, alongside a Q&A with the Chief Chess Officer.
