Chess World Cup 2023

The tournament will be an 8-round knockout event, with the top 50 seeds given a bye directly into the second round. The losers of the two semi-finals will play a match for third place. The finalists and the third place finisher will qualify for the Candidates Tournament 2024, which will be a tournament to decide the next challenger for the World Championship.

Each round will consist of classical time limit games on the first two days, plus tie-breaks on the third day if required. The time limits will be as follows:

• Two classical time limit games: 90 minutes, plus a 30-minute increment on move 40, plus a 30-second increment per move from move 1, per player.
• If the match is tied after the classical games, players will play two rapid chess games, with 25 minutes plus a 10-second increment per move, per player.
• If the match is still tied, players then will play two more rapid chess games, with 10 minutes plus a 10-second increment per move, per player.
• If the match is still tied, players then will play two blitz games, with 5 minutes plus a 3-second increment per move, per player.
• If the match is still tied, a single blitz game, with 3 minutes plus a 2-second increment per move, will be played to decide the match. A drawing of lots will determine which player plays white. If drawn, the players will switch colors and play again, until a decisive result was obtained.

The current qualifiers are seeded here by their FIDE rating of May 2023, apart from World Champion Ding Liren, who is seeded first. All players are grandmasters unless indicated otherwise.

The 206 participants will be (paths whose qualifiers are listed above are in bold):[2]

• The world chess champion[9]
• The women's world chess champion as of 1 June 2023 (WWC)[10]
• The 2022 World Junior Champion U20 (U20)[11]
• The top four players in the Chess World Cup 2021 (WC)[12]
• 109 players qualifying from Continental and Zonal events
  • Europe (47+20) European Individual Chess Championships 2021 (E21, 23), 2022 (E22, 20), and 2023, (E23, 23), and Zone 1.10 2022 (Z1.10, 1).[13][14]
  • Americas (11+9): including the American Continental Championships 2022 (AM22, 4) and 2023 (AM23, 4), Zonals 2.3 2022 (Z2.3, 1), 2.4 2022 (Z2.4, 2), and 2.5 2023 (Z2.5, 2)[15][16][17][18]
  • Asia (18): including Asian Championship 2022 (AS22, 4), and 2023 (AS23, 4), Zonals 2023: 3.1 (Z3.1, 1), 3.2 (Z3.2, 1), 3.3 (Z3.3, 2), 3.4 (Z3.4, 2), 3.6 (Z3.6, 1)[19][20][21][22]
  • Africa (4): including the African Championship 2023 (AF23, 1)[23][24]
• The 13 highest-rated players from the June 2023 FIDE World Rankings[25] (R)
• 71 federations spots selected according to the final standings of the 44th Chess Olympiad Main Competition (FN)[26]
• 4 nominees of the FIDE President (PN)
• 2 nominees of the organizer (ON)

The participants will be seeded by their FIDE rating of July 2023, apart from Ding Liren, who will be seeded first as World Champion.[2]