From August 11 to 15, 2026, a large-scale offline chess tournament will take place as part of the third season of the Esports World Cup. The event is organized by the Esports Foundation, ESL FACEIT Group, and the Chess.com platform. Originally, the tournament was planned to be held in Riyadh, but on May 20, a decision was made to move it to Paris. The competition will be hosted by the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles exhibition center.
The total prize pool of the tournament is $1,500,000. The winner of the competition will receive the main prize of $250,000 and 1,000 Club Points. The silver and bronze medalists will earn $190,000 and $145,000 respectively, while fourth place will be awarded $100,000. The rest of the fund will be distributed among the other participants.
All tournament games will be played in a rapid format with a time control of 10 minutes with no increment. In the event of a draw, the winner of the match will be determined by Armageddon.
The competition is divided into three key stages:
- Play-ins (August 11): 8 participants will play in a double-elimination bracket. Each match will consist of 2 games.
- Group Stage (August 12–13): Players will be divided into two groups of 8. The format remains unchanged — double elimination and 2 games per match.
- Playoffs (August 14–15): The 8 best chess players will advance to the single-elimination stage. Quarterfinal matches will consist of 4 games, and semifinals of 6. The Grand Finals will be played in a Best of 3 Sets format: the first two sets will consist of 4 games, and the decisive set (if necessary) will consist of 2 games.
The tournament will feature leading chess players from around the world. India and the United States have the largest representation with 4 players each. France will be represented by two participants. The competition will also feature one representative each from Norway (Magnus Carlsen), China (Wei Yi), the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
Ukraine will be represented at the tournament by Olexandr Bortnyk, and the Ukrainian esports organization NAVI by Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
All chess matches of the Esports World Cup 2026 will be broadcast live on the official tournament YouTube channel.
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