The FIDE World Cup 2025 is going to be one of the most intriguing chess events of the year. India, the host country, will have a strong team of 21 players. The tournament will be held in Goa from October 30 to November 27 and will have 206 players competing for a big $2 million prize pool and three important slots in next year’s Candidates Tournament.
The event’s return to India is a big deal for the country’s chess community. It will be the first time the tournament has been held there since the 2002 edition in Hyderabad, where Indian chess star Viswanathan Anand won. Indian chess has become much stronger and more popular since then.
This year’s list of Indian players is proof of that growth, since it includes a new generation of chess geniuses. D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, and Nihal Sarin are all on the list of qualifying players. Gukesh is only playing for money and rating points because he is already the World Champion and has a seat in the Candidates. His fellow compatriots, on the other hand, have a lot at stake. Five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand is also in the field. He qualified based on his FIDE rating. But it’s still not clear if he’ll be able to play because he’s been focusing on other types of the game lately.
The World Cup will include eight rounds of two games each, and if there is a tie, there will be quick and blitz playoffs to break it. The tournament is meant to be a “win-or-go-home” event with a lot of drama. The top 50 seeds will not have to play in the first round and will instead enter the competition in the second round. The other 155 players will play against each other in pairs based on their rankings.
Arkady Dvorkovich, the president of FIDE, praised India’s rise in the chess world, saying that the country has “become one of the strongest chess nations, with great players and passionate fans.” He also said that people from more than 90 countries are anticipated to take part, which will make it one of the most watched events in chess history.
Nitin Narang, the president of the All India Chess Federation (AICF), agreed with this and said that the tournament would “inspire millions across the country and show that India is becoming a global hub for chess.” The competition is a big deal for India since it shows how far the country has come in chess recently. For example, D Gukesh won the World Championship, the national teams won at the Chess Olympiad, and Divya Deshmukh won the Women’s World Cup.