FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Team Championship 2026

Prize fund €500,000 (Rapid €310k · Blitz €190k)

Rapid format Swiss · 12 rounds · 15min+10sec

Blitz format Pool (11 rounds) + R16 → KO · 3min+2sec

Teams 42 teams · 6–9 players each

Team rule 1 female + 1 recreational (≤2000 ELO) per match

Venue Queen Elizabeth Stadium, Wan Chai, HK

Organiser FIDE

Sponsors Freedom Holding Corp · Enicar

Contact worldrapidblitzteams@fide.com

Overview

About the event

Part of FIDE's official World Team Championships calendar, this is one of the most prestigious team competitions in chess. Over 300 players from 42 teams compete across rapid and blitz formats.

WR Chess participates with two lineups: the WR Chess team and the WR Chess-sponsored Chess United team.

Team format: 6–9 players per team. Each match is played on 6 boards and must include at least one female player and one recreational player (never reached 2000 ELO). Teams may include club members, federation members, or any chess players combined.

For viewers

How to follow

Every official channel in one place:

FIDE Tickets via tickets.fide.com →

Commentary: TBA (English)

Languages: English

Venue & travel

Venue

Queen Elizabeth Stadium

The field

Players

WR Chess

Magnus Carlsen

Rating TBA

Fabiano Caruana

Rating TBA

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Rating TBA

Wesley So

Rating TBA

Jan-Krzysztof Duda

Rating TBA

Andrey Esipenko

Rating TBA

Alexandra Kosteniuk

Rating TBA

Hou Yifan

Rating TBA

Chess United

Viswanathan Anand

Rating TBA

Koneru Humpy

Rating TBA

Faustino Oro

Rating TBA

José Martínez Alcántara

Rating TBA

Jorden van Foreest

Rating TBA

Roman Shogdzhiev

Rating TBA

Tunde Onakoya

Rating TBA

Ambassador

For players & arbiters

Format & regulations

System: FIDE World Team Championships — Rapid (Swiss 12 rounds) + Blitz (Pool + R16 + KO)
Rounds: Rapid: 12 Swiss rounds · Blitz: 11 pool rounds → Round of 16 → QF → SF → Final
Time controls: Rapid: FIDE Rapid (official)
Blitz: FIDE Blitz (official)
Tiebreak: Per FIDE World Team regulations.