Chess will feature at the Esports World Cup for a second consecutive year, with the 2026 competition taking place from 11 to 15 August at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles. The tournament brings together 22 players across its Play-In and main stages, with a total prize fund of $1.5 million. All games will be played at a time control of 10 minutes per player, without increment.
Magnus Carlsen returns as defending champion after winning the inaugural chess competition at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh last year. Among the other established players already qualified for the main group stage are Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Arjun Erigaisi, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Fourteen players have secured direct places in the 16-player group stage, while the remaining two spots will be decided in an eight-player Play-In on Tuesday.
Alireza Firouzja reached the Grand Final in 2025
Hikaru Nakamura beat Arjun Erigaisi in the match for third place
Qualification for the tournament has taken place through several routes. Carlsen received an automatic berth as the reigning champion, while Benjamin Bok qualified by winning the India Rising event. Twelve further direct entrants emerged from the 2025-26 Champions Chess Tour. The qualification system has also included DreamHack Atlanta and a Last Chance Qualifier staged in Paris immediately before the main event.
The Paris Last Chance Qualifier began with 86 players divided into four seven-round Swiss groups.
* Did not qualify in the subsequent stage
Sixteen players progressed to the subsequent knockout stage, where five places in the Esports World Cup Play-In were available.
Vladislav Artemiev and Parham Maghsoodloo were the first two players to secure those places. Artemiev defeated Grischuk before overcoming Oleksandr Bortnyk 2½–1½ in his qualification match, while Maghsoodloo beat Tang and then defeated Wei 3–1. Wei recovered to qualify by beating Grischuk 2½–1½, while Bortnyk earned his berth with a 3–1 victory over Tang. Grischuk took the fifth and final place by defeating Tang 3–0 in their last-chance match.
Those five will join Aravindh Chithambaram, Le Quang Liem and Andrey Esipenko, who qualified through DreamHack Atlanta, in Tuesday's eight-player Play-In. Only the top two will advance to the 16-player group stage.
The group stage will then reduce the field from 16 to eight through double-elimination play, after which the surviving players move on to the single-elimination playoffs. The tournament concludes on 15 August, with $250,000 allocated to the winner. The rapid, no-increment format is the same basic time control used at last year's Esports World Cup and places an additional premium on clock management alongside the position on the board.
The field will, however, be missing several leading grandmasters because of a clash with the Grand Chess Tour schedule. Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Wesley So and Anish Giri are among those not taking part.
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