Overview
- FIDE published official shortlists on July 17 for its first biennial Excellence Awards, which cover performances from September 2024 to August 2026.
- Each of the eleven award categories features 10 nominees chosen by a jury appointed by the FIDE president, and a separate selection panel will now review and vote to pick winners.
- Indian players feature heavily among individual nominees, with D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi shortlisted for Best Chess Player (Male) and Divya Deshmukh, Koneru Humpy and R Vaishali shortlisted for Best Chess Player (Female).
- Indian organisations and teams also made multiple shortlists: the All India Chess Federation is up for Best Federation, India’s Open and Women’s national teams are nominated for Best Team, and ChessBase India Foundation appears in Best Chess Initiative.
- Winners will be announced at the inaugural awards ceremony in Samarkand alongside the 46th Chess Olympiad in September 2026, signalling FIDE’s intent to honour both elite results and development work across six regular and five discretionary categories.