Total Chess Pilot in Budapest: Carlsen Leads 24-Player Field in New Three-Format Event

Magnus Carlsen returns to the board in Budapest next week as the headline name at the pilot of the Total Chess World Championship Tour, a FIDE-approved event that asks the world's best players to prove themselves across blitz, rapid and a new "Fast Classic" time control. Play begins on 10 November at the Anantara New York Palace Budapest Hotel, home of the city's famous New York Café.

What is Total Chess?

Created by Norway Chess and run with FIDE and the Hungarian Chess Federation, Total Chess combines results from three formats to find an overall winner. The Budapest event is a trial run for a full global season that starts in March 2027, when four tournaments in different host cities will lead to the crowning of a FIDE World Combined Champion.

The pilot uses the same rules as the future tour, but the official title on offer in Budapest is the pilot crown rather than the world combined championship itself. Total Chess chief executive Kjell Madland has said the world's best player "should be able to excel across every format of the game".

The field

Twenty-four players will take part. Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana lead a line-up that also includes Vincent Keymer, Wesley So, Anish Giri, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Arjun Erigaisi, Alireza Firouzja, R Praggnanandhaa, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Richard Rapport, Hans Niemann, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Vladislav Artemiev, Haik Martirosyan, Liem Le, Jorden van Foreest, Abhimanyu Mishra and Andrew Hong. Bibisara Assaubayeva and Vaishali Rameshbabu complete the field.

Three notable names are missing. World champion Gukesh Dommaraju and challenger Javokhir Sindarov both qualified for invitations but are preparing for their title match in Geneva, which opens on 22 November with game one two days later. Hikaru Nakamura, who also qualified, is not in the field either.

Carlsen's 2026 classical form has been mixed. He shared first at the TePe Sigeman tournament in Malmö and won on a blitz tiebreak, but finished fourth of six at Norway Chess. He recently held a training camp in Spain with Abdusattorov.

How the format works

The event opens on 10 November with a nine-round blitz Swiss at 3+2, which sets tiebreak order but does not eliminate anyone. From 11 to 15 November, four groups of six play a double round-robin of Fast Classic games at 45 minutes plus a 30-second increment, with three points for a win and one for a draw.

After a rest day on 16 November, every player moves into a knockout bracket based on group finish. Each match lasts two days, with four blitz games, two rapid games and one Fast Classic game per day. Wins are worth one point in blitz, four in rapid and eight in Fast Classic, so the longer games carry the most weight. Ties go to Armageddon. Semi-finals are on 17 and 18 November and finals on 19 and 20 November.

Watching from Malaysia

Budapest is on CET (UTC+1) in November, seven hours behind Malaysia. Group-stage rounds start at 3pm CET, which is 10pm MYT. In the knockout days, blitz starts at 10pm MYT, rapid at 11.15pm and the Fast Classic game at 1.45am the next morning. Broadcast details had not been confirmed when the organisers published their guide.

The full tour carries a minimum annual prize fund of US$2.7 million; a detailed breakdown for the Budapest pilot has not been announced.

Key takeaways

• The Total Chess pilot runs in Budapest from 10 November, with knockout finals on 19-20 November.
• Carlsen, Caruana and 22 others play blitz, rapid and 45+30 Fast Classic games.
• Gukesh and Sindarov are absent ahead of their World Championship match in Geneva.
• The full Total Chess tour starts in March 2027 and will crown a FIDE World Combined Champion.
• Group rounds begin at 10pm Malaysia time.

FAQ

What is Fast Classic chess? It is the tour's longest format: 45 minutes per player with a 30-second increment per move, shorter than traditional classical chess.

Why are Gukesh and Sindarov not playing? Both qualified, but they are preparing for their World Championship match in Geneva, which starts later in November.

What time do games start in Malaysia? Group-stage rounds start at 3pm in Budapest, which is 10pm MYT.

Sources: World Chess, FIDE, Chess.com, Wikipedia