World Cadets Cup U8-U12, under new format, to start in Batumi

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
6/16/2026 – FIDE launched a revised championship cycle for the under-8, under-10 and under-12 age groups in 2026, with the first World Cadets Cup U8-U12 scheduled for 15-28 June in Batumi, Georgia. The event serves as a qualifying stage ahead of the World Cadets Championships, with separate boys' and girls' tournaments in three age categories, under-8, under-10 and under-12.
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A two-stage system is inaugurated

FIDE introduced a new championship cycle for the under-8, under-10 and under-12 age groups in 2026, with the inaugural World Cadets Cup U8-U12 set to take place in Batumi, Georgia, from 16 to 27 June. The event is part of a revised structure designed to strengthen the global pathway for young players and increasing the clarity and prestige of FIDE youth competitions.

Under the new system, the World Cadets Cup serves as a qualifying event, while the FIDE World Cadets Championships U8, U10 and U12, to be held later in the year, will remain the final stage at which world titles are decided. FIDE has stated that this distinction is intended to make the structure clearer for federations, players and parents.

FIDE World Cadet World Chess Championship 2026

The competition in Batumi will follow the format used in recent editions of the World Cadet Championships. Separate tournaments will be held for boys and girls in the under-8, under-10 and under-12 categories, making a total of six sections.

Each national federation may nominate one invited player per age category and gender, for a total of up to six players. Federations may also send one head of delegation, who must hold a valid FIDE ID. Additional invited players include those who finished first, second or third at the previous World Cadets Championships and World Cadets Cup, as well as the champions of the most recent Continental Cadet Championships.

All tournaments will be played over 11 rounds using the Swiss system. The time control will be 90 minutes for each player, with a 30-second increment from move one.

Final standings will be determined first by the number of points scored. In case of a tie, the criteria will be the results of games between the tied players (provided all tied players have faced each other), followed by Buchholz cut 1, Buchholz, Sonneborn-Berger, the greater number of wins and average rating of opponents.

Top players - Open U12

No. Name Rtg
1 Advik, Amit Agrawal 2382
2 Sameh Mohamed, Abdalrahman 2330
3 Llari, Marc 2283
4 Demirkan, Mustafa 2261
5 Zhauynbay, Alimzhan 2240
6 Lishoy Gengis Paratazham, Dildarav 2233
7 Tulegen, Ramazan 2232
8 Kolodziejczyk, Boris 2219
9 Bolashakov, Nurali 2212
10 Shangin, Lev 2201
11 Uzdemir, Ali Poyraz 2194
12 Shavkatov, Lazizbek 2157
13 Yuan, Shunzhe 2151
14 Pradeep, Harshill 2130
15 Kaminskii, Daniil 2127

Top players - Girls U12

No. Name Rtg
1 Sharvaanica, A S 2068
2 Yunker, Alisa Genrietta 2056
3 Makhina, Viktoria 2009
4 Sholpanbek, Zhansaya 2000
5 Nandinjiguur, Chinzorig 1975
6 Divi, Bijesh 1942
7 Filippova, Milana 1942
8 Wang, Yi Xuan 1942
9 Kim, Jooyeon 1928
10 Khusnitdinova, Husnorakhon 1926
11 Pooja, Shree R 1923
12 Zhou, Elizabeth 1896
13 Rekhviashvili, Mariam 1894
14 Masaeva, Iliana In 1887
15 Ahmadli, Mehriban 1875

Top players - Open U10

No. Name Rtg
1 Mani, Sarbartho 2311
2 Li, Aiden Linyuan 2106
3 Elemes, Nurmukhamed 2091
4 Ranganathan, Aadith 2074
5 Sattwik, Swain 2054
6 Ulan, Rizat 2050
7 Guillevic, Martin 2049
8 Protopopescu, Luca 2029
9 Xu, Zhihan (Samuel) 2026
10 Meiyazhagan, Kaviinayan 1998
11 Tamizh, Amudhan S 1992
12 Adilbek, Adinur 1972
13 Guo, Ziming 1968
14 Pierron Bejan, Nicephore 1953
15 Jia, Zining (Matthew) 1947

Top players - Girls U10

No. Name Rtg
1 Yu, Allyson 1951
2 Xia, Elizabeth 1882
3 Zhou, Abigail 1861
4 Bissaliyeva, Alisha 1842
5 Nakshatra, Gumudavelly 1839
6 Anvi, Deepak Hinge 1824
7 Svanadze, Lile 1814
8 Badescu, Eliza-Ioana 1812
9 Uranzaya, Shagdarsuren 1767
10 Aymerich Sazonova, Alexandra 1759
11 Zhu, Jiahe 1756
12 Chen, Zhihan 1752
13 Nurkhankyzy, Adelina 1717
14 Levgeeva, Elzyata Nik 1705
15 Asadova, Madinabonu 1704

Top players - Open U8

No. Name Rtg
1 Bausys, Nikolas 1844
2 Ighilahriz, Said 1830
3 Nguyen, Alexis 1741
4 Jin, Yuxin 1738
5 Xi, Cheng 1710
6 Gonzales Olazo, Rodrigo 1703
7 Ramos Barriga, Juan Eduardo 1701
8 Acharya, Nikesh 1695
9 Ivanov, Theo 1679
10 Turaga, Varun Karthik 1673
11 Ramanathan, Ekalaivan 1650
12 Gerhardt, Noah 1628
13 Bacos, David 1625
14 Magomedov, Adam 1622
15 Dai, Jonathan 1616

Top players - Girls U8

No. Name Rtg
1 Shreyanshi, Jain 1655
2 Pejin, Kalina 1652
3 Lin, Irene 1616
4 Munteanu, Anamaria 1615
5 Bayanlkham, Uurtsaikh 1579
6 Kulchieva, Viktoriya Yu 1576
7 Malakhova, Amelia 1553
8 Mukanova, Amina 1545
9 Apyzalieva, Adelia 1531
10 Thennakoon, T M S Meleesha 1521
11 Li, Fiona Chenxi 1520
12 Kacean, Stefania 1500
13 Pragnika, Vaka Lakshmi 1500
14 Lin, Leyi(Gd) 1498
15 Xu, Vera Jintian 1496

Doesn’t every chess game get decided by mistakes? Absolutely. But most players never truly comprehend that they are making the same kind of mistakes over and over again.

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Topics: World Cadets Cup 2026
Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
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