Chess World Cup 2019

The Chess World Cup 2019 is a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament to be held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from 9 September to 4 October 2019. The finalists of the tournament will qualify for the Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship 2020.

Competition Format:

The tournament is a 7-round knock-out event. The matches from round 1 to round 6 consist of two classical games with time control of 90 minutes per 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move. The finals and the match for the third place consist of four classical games.

If the score is tied after the classical games, rapid and, if necessary, blitz tie breaks are played the next day. Two games are played with time control of 25 minutes per game plus 10 seconds increment. In the case of a tie, they are followed by two games with time control of 10 minutes per game plus 10 seconds increment. If the score is still tied, two blitz games follow (5 minutes plus 3 seconds increment). Finally, a sudden death game is played. The player who wins the drawing of lots may choose the colour. White has 5 minutes per game and Black has 4 minutes, with an increment of 2 seconds per move starting from move 61. White needs a win to advance to the next round.

The two top finishers qualify for the 2020 Candidates Tournament. The rules in fact specified that it would be the top two finishers other than Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, because Carlsen as World Champion does not play in the Candidates, and Caruana had already qualified for the Candidates. But Carlsen and Caruana both declined their invitations to the World Cup, so the qualifiers are simply the two finalists.

Event Calendar: