Following three successful editions in Düsseldorf (2023), Almaty (2024), and London (2025), the championship returns with an exciting format: mixed teams where elite professionals and recreational players compete side by side across rapid and blitz events. Every match is played on six boards, and each team must include at least one female player and at least one recreational player, defined as someone who has never achieved a FIDE rating of 2000 or higher in standard, rapid, or blitz.
This unique team composition has consistently produced some of the most compelling chess of recent years. In 2024, Al-Ain ACMG UAE claimed the Rapid title in Almaty, while WR Chess Team, led by Magnus Carlsen, took the Blitz crown. Last year in London, Team MGD1, featuring Arjun Erigaisi, won the Rapid championship, and WR Chess successfully defended their Blitz title for the second consecutive year, with Alireza Firouzja, Hikaru Nakamura, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave all delivering decisive performances.
It is very rare to witness and play alongside such Super Grandmaster teams on the chess calendar and the 2026 edition in Hong Kong is already shaping up to be the strongest yet. WR Chess Team have confirmed a formidable roster, with Magnus Carlsen returning to board 1 alongside Fabiano Caruana on board 2 and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave also joining the lineup, while their women’s boards remain unchanged with Hou Yifan and Alexandra Kosteniuk. With reigning Rapid champions MGD1, Hexamind, and other leading teams expected to return, the competition promises to be fierce across both formats.
Format and regulations
In this Fritztrainer: “Attack like a Super GM” with Gukesh we touch upon all aspects of his play, with special emphasis on how you can become a better attacking player.
The FIDE World Team Rapid Chess Championship will be played as a 12-round Swiss tournament across three days (June 17-19), with four rounds per day and a time control of 15 minutes for the whole game plus a 10-second increment per move. The FIDE World Team Blitz Chess Championship follows on June 20 and 21, beginning with pool stages before moving to a knockout format for the top 16 teams, with a time control of 3 minutes plus a 2-second increment per move.
The total prize fund across both championships is €500,000. The Rapid Champion team will receive €110,000, with the Blitz champion team taking home €75,000.
Here’s how the prize money is allocated:
Additional category prizes are available for teams in the “Under 2400” and “Under 2200” average rating brackets. Full regulations, including the playing schedule, time controls, and prize fund details, have been published and are available on the official website.
How to register
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Registration deadline: May 15, 2026, 12:00 pm Lausanne time
Entry Fee: €1,000 per team, payable by the registration deadline.
Each registration must include the team name, the captain’s full name and FIDE ID, the full names and FIDE IDs of all team members, and any visa-related information required by the Organiser.
Teams and federations are encouraged to register early, as interest in the championship continues to grow with each edition. The playing venue capacity is limited and only 42 teams can take part – 10 based on their highest ratings and 26 based on earliest registration, with six wild card teams provided by the organizers.
The FIDE World Team Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships are popular amongst players and fans alike, offering a unique space for top Grandmasters, rising stars, and chess enthusiasts to play together and fight for World titles.
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Be well prepared with the new Opening Encyclopaedia 2026! Whether you want to build up a reliable and powerful opening repertoire or find new opening ideas for your existing repertoire, the Opening Encyclopaedia covers the entire opening theory on one product and is the ideal start for your opening training. Many new articles enrich the current theory with new or revisited ideas. The Encyclopaedia can help you learn openings quickly and give you a head start on your next opponent. Each article contains explanations and annotated games illustrating typical plans to deepen your understanding.
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