New qualification paths for chess at Esports World Cup 2026: Chess is set to return for the Esports World Cup 2026 after its successful debut at the EWC 2025 in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Norway’s Magnus Carlsen, representing Team Liquid, defeated Alireza Firouzja, who was playing for the local club and fan favourite, Team Falcons. While the exact slot for the next EWC is yet to be announced, Chess.com has unveiled the new qualification paths.
Unlike the previous season, where the Champions Chess Tour (CCT) was the primary qualifier and offered 12 of the 16 spots for EWC 2025, the next season will see three major Chess.com competitions combine to form the qualifying circuit for EWC 2026.
These three events are the Titled Tuesday, the Speed Chess Championship (SCC), and the Chess.com Global Championship (CGC). Together, they will form the new Champions Chess Tour (CCT), which will qualify 12 players for the 2026 Esports World Cup.
How did players qualify for EWC 2025?
Players qualified for the Esports World Cup 2025 primarily through the 2025 Champions Chess Tour (CCT). Two online CCT events, the Chessable Masters (concluded February 16-21) and Champions Chess Tour Leg 2 (May 18-23), offered players a chance to compete on the world’s biggest esports stage. The top 12 players from the CCT qualified and were joined by four additional players from a “Last Chance Qualifier” (LCQ) event.
The New Qualification Path for 2026
Through Titled Tuesday, players will earn points for their best eight performances across three Grand Prix “Splits.” The new season is set to begin with Split 1 on September 2. The Speed Chess Championship will commence in October 2025 and conclude in February 2026.
New qualification path for chess at Esports World Cup 2026. (Photo: Chess.com)
Qualifiers for the Global Championship will begin in March 2026, with the Playoffs concluding in May. The top three finishers in both the SCC and CGC will automatically qualify, with no extra spots awarded for repeat qualifiers. Further spots will be determined by the overall CCT Tour leaderboard until 12 players have qualified. The remaining spots and their qualification method will be announced later.
Players qualified for EWC 2025
- Alireza Firouzja (Team Falcons)
- Arjun Erigaisi (Gen.G Esports)
- Fabiano Caruana (Team Liquid)
- Hikaru Nakamura (Team Falcons)
- Ian Nepomniachtchi (Aurora Gaming)
- Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Twisted Minds)
- Magnus Carlsen (Team Liquid)
- Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Team Vitality)
- Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Natus Vincere)
- Vladislav Artemiev (Team Spirit)
- Wei Yi (Weibo Gaming)
- Andrey Esipenko (Virtus.pro)
- Anish Giri (Team Secret)
- Javokhir Sindarov (Team Vitality)
- Levon Aronian (REJECT)
- Nihal Sarin (S8UL Esports)
