Big changes in Chess World Cup! FIDE approves new format for 2027

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has approved a major overhaul of the World Cup and Women's World Cup formats from 2027, aiming to make the tournaments shorter, more inclusive and more rewarding for players.The biggest change is that both events will now last 19 days instead of 27. Rather than going straight into a knockout, players will first compete in a Swiss-system qualification stage before the traditional knockout rounds begin. The opening stage will see players divided into separate Swiss pools, where everyone gets to play multiple games. The revamped format begins with Swiss-system qualifiers using a 45-minute clock and a 30-second increment per move. The top performers from each pool will then advance to a 16-player knockout stage, which will continue with the familiar format using classical time controls.FIDE has also expanded the size of both tournaments.