Overview
- Matches run November 1–26 at Resort Rio in North Goa with 3 pm IST starts, streamed on FIDE’s YouTube channel with no live TV telecast in India.
- The eight-round knockout uses two classical games per match with rapid and blitz tiebreaks on day three, and the top 50 seeds receive byes into round two.
- Three berths for the 2026 Candidates Tournament are at stake, with a total prize fund of $2 million and $120,000 awarded to the champion.
- India fields 24 players including top seeds D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa, while Women’s World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh competes as the lone woman via wildcard.
- Defending champion Magnus Carlsen is among notable absentees alongside Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, Ding Liren, Alireza Firouzja and Jan-Krzysztof Duda, with contenders such as Anish Giri, Vincent Keymer, Wesley So, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Levon Aronian in the field.