The Format
How the Total Chess World Championship Tour is designed to crown the most complete chess player in the world.
How It Works
The Total Chess World Championship Tour is designed to crown the player who best masters three chess disciplines — Fast Classic, Rapid, and Blitz — combined.
Each season features a global series of tournaments with 24 elite players per tournament at locations 1, 2, and 3, competing across various cities around the world. Only the four best advance to the fourth and final tournament, to determine one ultimate titleholder: the FIDE World Combined Champion.
Competition Format
Principle
Three Disciplines, One Title
Combined performance across Fast Classic, Rapid, and Blitz determines advancement and final standings.
Structure
Progressive Elimination
Players compete through staged events across multiple locations. Cumulative results determine who advances.
Tiebreak
Armageddon
Armageddon will be used to decide playoffs and will not be rated.
Group Stage
Each tournament leg begins with a group stage featuring 24 players allocated to 4 groups of 6.
- Format: Double round-robin
- Duration: 5 days, 10 games per player
- Time control: 45 minutes with 30-second increment per move
- Scoring: Win = 3 points, Draw = 1 point, Loss = 0 points
A pre-tournament 9-round Blitz Swiss (3+2) determines tiebreaker rankings.
Daily Knockout Match Format
Knockout matches are played over two days and combine all three disciplines:
Four Blitz games (3 min + 2 sec) — 1 point per win, 0.5 per draw
Two Rapid games (15 min + 10 sec) — 4 points per win, 2 per draw
One Fast Classical game (45 min + 30 sec) — 8 points per win, 4 per draw
Winners of Knockout 1 receive 30 tour points, with subsequent brackets awarding 20, 16, 12, 9, and 6 points respectively.
Players also earn a 5-point bonus for each additional leg they win beyond their first.
Grand Final
The four highest-scoring players from three tournament legs qualify for the Grand Final.
The final includes semifinals and finals played over four days with two sets. The player who wins two sets is declared the winner and crowned FIDE World Combined Champion.
Titles & Honors
Location Winner
Golden Knights
Awarded to the winner of each tournament location.
Tour Leader
Golden Rook
Awarded to the player with the highest total tour points.
World Champion
Golden King
Awarded to the ultimate victor of the Total Chess World Championship Tour.
Pathway
Candidates Qualification
The event includes qualification pathways for the FIDE Candidates Tournament.
Questions about the format?
Find answers to the most common questions about how the Total Chess World Championship Tour works.