Breaking News: India Secures Hosting Rights for Upcoming Chess World Cup

Chess has grown immensely in India and credit should be given to all the stakeholders who have worked hard behind the scenes to make this entity extremely popular.

The rise of Indian chess players to Grandmaster and International Master stage is another propelling factor which has contributed big time in developing ecosystem around popular board game in the country.

The All India Chess Federation also deserve credit when it comes to implementing policies and making sure that all domestic players could be nurtured brilliantly.

87 Grandmasters in 2025 is a perfect testament to it.

Chennai also touted as Chess Capital of India and Tamil Nadu Government have included this game as part of education curriculum.

Talking about the latest developments, International Chess Federation  on Monday gave hosting rights to India for World Cup which will be held from October 30th to November 27th 2025.

The All India Chess Federation won the bid to host World Cup after the gap of 23 years, but infighting among officials delayed the announcement of city that would be hosting the marquee event.

The best players in the business would compete against each other for the prestigious title also there will be three spots for Candidates Chess 2026 Tournament.

Based on internal reports, they have stated Ahmedabad or Goa would either be hosting in Goa or Ahmedabad “Having won the bid, we will start the process of approval from the government. Once that is done we will announce as both cities Ahmedabad or Goa are interested in playing host to World’s Top players and everything will be finalized in our next executive meeting”.

Let’s dwell into the past venues who have hosted Chess Tournaments which include:

1. New Delhi for hosting Knockout World Championships in 2000 but the title clash was staged in Tehran.

2. Hyderabad then hosted the eight player world cup tournament in 2002 when it was played in group cum knockout format.

The statement issued by FIDE where he said ” The World Cup 2025 will feature 206 players competing in a knockout format- a dynamic and unpredictable system where the losing player in each round is eliminated. The event has used several formats over the years, but since 2021 it has followed a single- elimination format”.

A handful of Indian players would be competing in this tournament which will be based on eight round Knockout tournament  and every round you would come across will be played for three days- Two Class Chess format on first two days followed  by rapid and blitz format.

The Top rated 50 players would further take part from the second round itself,  while player with ranking 51 to 206 would compete in the opening round.

All these rankings is based on June rating list and 20 Indian players have already qualified for the event.

FIDE(International Chess Federation) CEO Emil Sutovsky said “We are thrilled to present FIDE World Cup 2025 to India, a country with a deep rooted passion and support for chess. Indian chess fans enthusiasm has always been remarkable and we anticipate great interest among local chess lovers both on-site as well as online”.

Important Questions(FAQ): 

Q-1: Which city in India is most Likely to host World Cup ?

Answer: Ahmedabad or Goa is most likely to host World Cup.

Q-2: By what mode World Cup was announced FIDE?

Answer: The announcements came via press release.

Q-3: How many Granmasters India have at the moment?

Answer: India currently have 87 grandmasters.

Q-4: Why city is not yet finalized?

Answer: Based on press release and media communication guidelines both cities(Goa or Ahmedabad) is not finalized yet as they are still waiting for the approval from Government.

Q-5: Where we could read about live events update about World Cup 2025?

Answer: You can hear about live updates about World Cup 2025 on all Indian based Chess Websites and there are portals which will update you update about live Chess events where as fan you could possibly read about the nuances in the game.

Q-6: Who should be given credit for rapid rise of Chess in the Country?

Answer: The Credit should be given to All India Chess Federation(AICF) and concerned stakeholders for implementing robust policies so that players could be developed from grassroot level to top most level.

Indian Chess Federation have ensured that policies should be build in such a way that entire ecosystem gets benefitted out of it.

Overall Chess is flourishing with Private sponsors coming on board, future of chess looks bright in the country.

The systematic approach and fact findings needs to be done on more pragmatic basis so that anyone working in the ecosystem could flourish and make name for themselves.

The level of competition within the country has increased substantially it is another driving force to make sure sport grows even further in leaps and bounds of tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

The increasing usage of Social media have also ensured all these boundaries gets diminished in times to come.

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