Chess Editorial FIDE World Cup 2025

All you need to know about the FIDE World Cup

October 31, 2025
<a href="https://revsportz.in/author/atreyo/" rel="author" class="url fn n" itemprop="url"><img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/49ceeab0333e33676cac95e725a50e0b?s=32&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/49ceeab0333e33676cac95e725a50e0b?s=64&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-32 photo' height='32' width='32' decoding='async'/> <span class="" itemprop="name">Atreyo Mukhopadhyay</span></a>
FIDE World Cup 2025. Image: X

By Atreyo Mukhopadhyay in Goa

The 12th FIDE World Cup is here. Rio Resort in Goa will stage the world’s biggest knockout chess tournament from November 1-27. Several top names are present in field of 206 players. There is a strong Indian contingent and a few of them are among the favourites. This is an important event offering Candidates berths to the top three. The winner of the eight-player Candidates event will earn the right to challenge D Gukesh in the World Championship duel next year.

HISTORY OF THE COMPETITION

  • FIDE World Cup was first held in 2000.
  • The first edition and the one in 2002 followed a league-cum-knockout format.
  • From 2005, the World Cup has followed a knockout format from the beginning.
  • Viswanathan Anand won the first two editions. He is the only Indian to win the World Cup.
  • Anand took part in the fully knockout format only once. In 2017, he lost in the second round.
  • The next best for India is R Praggnanandhaa’s runner-up finish in 2023.
  • Other than Anand, no player has successfully defended this crown.
  • Levon Aronian, the Armenian who represents USA these days, is the only player to have won the knockout version twice, in 2005 and 2017. He will be in Goa too, as one of the in-form players in the world at the moment.
  • Magnus Carlsen, the undisputed world No. 1, won this title just once, in 2023. In 2021, he had finished third.
  • In 2021, Vidit Gujrathi became the first Indian to reach the quarterfinals in the knockout format. There were four Indians in the last-eight in 2023 — Vidit, Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa.
  • After Hyderabad in 2002, this is the second time that the tournament is held in India.

THIS YEAR’S COMPETITION

  • Norwegian Carlsen is skipping the Goa event. So are world No. 2 and 3 — Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana of the USA.
  • Of the world’s top 10 on live ratings, six players will be in Goa. Three of them — Gukesh, Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa — are Indians.
  • India has the highest number of participants — 24.
  • World champion Gukesh is the top seed. Erigaisi is the second seed and Praggnanandhaa third.
  • Divya Deshmukh of India is the only woman in the field of 206 players.
  • Faustino Oro of Argentina is the youngest participant. He is 12.
  • Igor Efimov is the oldest participant at 65. The Georgian represents Monaco these days.
  • In all, there are 30 teenagers in the fray.
  • Players from 84 countries are taking part in this edition.
  • The top 50 players get byes into the second round.
  • To reach the final from the first round, a player has to play eight rounds. For those getting a bye to the second round, this is seven rounds.
  • The total prize pool is $200,000 (Rs 17.74 crore approximately).
  • The champion gets $120,000 (Rs 1.06 crore approximately).
  • Those who lose in the first round get $3,500 each (Rs 3.10 lakh approximately).
  • The top three from this event qualify for Candidates 2026.

TWO ALREADY IN THE CANDIDATES

Of the participants, Anish Giri of the Netherlands and Germany’s Matthias Bluebaum have already qualified for the Candidates. If they or world champion Gukesh finish in the top three, the next placed player will get the Candidates berth.

 

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