Overview
- FIDE has formally approved a Chess World Championship Tour, with a pilot next year and annual seasons from 2027 to crown a combined champion across Fast Classic, Rapid and Blitz.
- Praggnanandhaa said the new tour will feed a Candidates berth, reinforcing that the classical world championship remains the top goal.
- He will be the only male Indian in the 2026 Candidates after clinching the 2025 FIDE Circuit and says he will prepare comprehensively and take it one game at a time.
- Viswanathan Anand downplayed reigning champion D Gukesh’s uneven 2025 results, calling them part of experimentation across formats and expressing confidence he will adjust.
- Magnus Carlsen’s trainer Peter Heine Nielsen argued Gukesh is not currently the world’s best, while Wesley So opined that Praggnanandhaa has a strong shot at the Candidates and that a Gukesh–Praggnanandhaa title match would be compelling.