FIDE World Chess Championships are events organised by the International Chess Federation to determine World Chess Champions across different formats and categories based on age and gender.
The following are the reigning World Championships and the reigning World Champions respectively. +Individual championshipsTitleFormatCategoryReigning ChampionTitle held sinceRating and World Rankings (October 2026) GenderAge groupStandardRapidBlitzRatingRankRatingRankRatingRankOpenWomenJrGirlsOpenWomenJrGirlsOpenWomenJrGirlsWorld Chess ChampionshipClassicalOpenOpen GM Gukesh Dommaraju 271028 -2 -268620 -1 -265938 -2 -Women's World Chess ChampionshipWomen GM Ju Wenjun 25532873 - -24884414 - -24456794 - -World Junior Chess ChampionshipOpenJunior* GM Pranav Venkatesh 267742 -3 -2592123 -4 -2582126 -11 -World Junior Chess Championship (Girls)Women WGM Anna Shukhman 243411873016862322205755313723661392242254World Rapid Chess ChampionshipRapidOpenOpen GM Magnus Carlsen 28231 - - -28031 - - -28601 - - -Women's World Rapid Chess ChampionshipWomen GM Aleksandra Goryachkina25363645 - -24924263 - -24695252 - -World Junior Rapid Chess ChampionshipOpenJunior* IM Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov 2549304 -30 -2428802 -64 -2556186 -14 -World Junior Rapid Chess Championship (Girls)Women WGM Xeniya Balabayeva2384198861 - -2289258273 - -22273714124 - -World Junior Blitz Chess ChampionshipBlitzOpenOpen GM Magnus Carlsen 28231 - - -28031 - - -28601 - - -Women's World Blitz Chess ChampionshipWomen GM Bibisara Assaubayeva25323847 - -24417077 - -24248318 - -World Junior Blitz Chess ChampionshipOpenJunior* GM Mukhiddin Madaminov2612124 -14 -2492426 -21 -2596103 -6 -World Junior Blitz Chess Championship (Girls)Women IM Eline Roebers2401167447331823661454282032242880971101Freestyle Chess World ChampionshipFreestyle/Chess960 (Rapid)OpenOpen GM Magnus Carlsen28231 - - -28031 - - -28601 - - -Women's Freestyle Chess World ChampionshipWomenVacantTotal Chess World ChampionshipCombined (Fast Classical, Rapid and Blitz)OpenVacant
+Team championshipsTitleCategoryFormatReigning ChampionsTeamPlayersWorld Rapid Team ChampionshipRapidDragon Chilling (Captain: GM Ni Hua) GM Ding Liren GM Wei Yi
GM Yu Yangyi
GM Lu Shanglei
GM Bai Jinshi
GM Ju Wenjun (Women)
GM Lei Tingjie (Women)
Zihao Wang (Recreational)
Xie XiaoYang (Recreational)World Blitz Team ChampionshipBlitzWorld Senior Teams Championship50+ (Open)Classical United States of America - 1GM Jaan Ehlvest GM Alexander Shabalov
GM Gregory Kaidanov
GM Igor Novikov
IM Stuart Rachels65+ (Open) Germany - Lasker SGKGM Artur Yusupov GM Rainer Knaak
GM Sergey Kalinitschew
GM Jakob Meister
Dr Gerhard Koehler50+ (Women) United States of America (W)WGM Anjelina Belakovskaia WFM Natalia Tsodikova
WIM Beatriz Marinello
WFM Olga Sagalchick
WFM Ivona Jezierska65+ (Women) FIDE (W)WGM Galina Strutinskaya WGM Tatiana Bogumil
WGM Elena Fatalibekova
WIM Larisa Khropova
WIM Titorenko Natalia IWorld University Team ChampionshipUral State Mining University (Captain: IM Artem Pingin) GM Arseniy Nesterov GM Rudik Makarian GM Sergey Lobanov
IM Leya Garifullina (Woman)
Classical World Championships
World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship, also known as the Classical World Championship or simply the World Championship, is a biennial event played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is GM Gukesh Dommaraju, who defeated the previous champion, GM Ding Liren, in the 2024 World Chess Championship.
The World Chess Champion is determined by a cycle of events known as the World Championship Cycle. The events in the World Championship Cycle change biennially. The top scorers of these events and other qualifiers compete in a double round robin tournament known as Candidates Tournament. The winner of the candidates tournament is titled World Champion Challenger and challenges the World Chess Champion for his title in a 14 round classical event, which is the World Chess Championship.
The current World Championship Cycle (2024-2026) includes the following paths for the Candidates Tournament 2026 and their respective qualifiers. Qualification methodPlayerAgeRatingWorld ranking(March 2026)2024 FIDE Circuit winner Fabiano Caruana27953Top two finishers of the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss Anish Giri 27538 Matthias Blübaum 269832Top three finishers of the 2025 FIDE World Cup Javokhir Sindarov 274512 Wei Yi 27547 Andrey Esipenko 2698332025 FIDE Circuit winner R Praggnanandhaa274113Highest average rating (Aug 2025 – Jan 2026) Hikaru Nakamura28102
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Women's World Chess Championship The Women's World Chess Championship began in 1927 to encourage female participation in chess. The format of the cycle is the same as the World Chess Championship except that the events determining the Women's Candidates Tournament are women-only tournaments with a much weaker field by TAR (Tournament Average Rating).
Vera Menchik was the first and the longest reigning Women's World Champion, winning the first 8 Championships and reigning for 17 years before her death. The end of her reign paved the way for the Soviet Union's 4-decade-long domination in the tournament, which continued until the collapse of Soviet Union. Since the 1990s, Chinese players have constantly dominated Women's Chess, winning 16 of the 21 World Championships from 1991 to the present. The current champion, GM Ju Wenjun, has reigned for 8 years, winning 5 consecutive championships. As per the current Women's World Championship Cycle, below are the qualified players for the Women's Candidates Tournament 2026 and the results of the tournament. Qualification methodPlayerAgeRatingWorld ranking(March 2026)The top two finishers in the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024–25 Zhu Jiner 25782 Aleksandra Goryachkina 25347The top three finishers in the Women's Chess World Cup 2025 Divya Deshmukh 20249712 Koneru Humpy 25355 Tan Zhongyi 25356The top two finishers in the FIDE Women's Grand Swiss Tournament 2025 Vaishali Rameshbabu 247018 Kateryna Lagno 250810Highest place in the FIDE Women's Events 2024–25 not already qualified Bibisara Assaubayeva25169 Anna Muzychuk 25228
World Junior Chess Championship (Open and Women) FIDE considers a chess player to be a junior until the end of the year if the player was under 20 years old on 1 January of that year. The world Junior Championship is a relatively smaller scale event with a very small cycle. This championship, unlike most other world championships, is an 11-round annual swiss event. The World Junior Chess Championship and World Junior Chess Championship (Girls) cycle include the following players provided that they satisfy the age criteria.
Top 3 players of the last World Junior Championship (Open/Women respectively). The Continental Junior Champions (Open/Women respectively) of the year preceding this edition. Top 6 Junior (4 for girls) players from FIDE rating list as on 1 January of the year of Championship. World Youth U18 and U16 champions (Open/Women respectively) of the year preceding this edition. All players nominated by any national chess federation.
Pranav Venkatesh and Anna Shukhman are the current World Junior Champions in the open and girls categories, respectively.
World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships World Rapid and Blitz championships are significantly different from their classical counterparts, which is much older and difficult to participate in. World Rapid Championship, World Blitz Championship, Women's World Rapid Championship and Women's World Blitz Championship, all are held together since 2012 and World Junior Rapid and Blitz Championships (both open and girls) are held together since their inception in 2014.
Open Eligible participants include
players with FIDE rating 2550 or higher in any recent rating list (Standard, Rapid or Blitz). national champions. other players nominated by FIDE President and/or organisers.
GM Magnus Carlsen is the current World Rapid Champion (6th time in 2025) and also the current World Blitz Champion (9th time in 2025 including one shared title in 2024).
Women Eligible participants include
players with FIDE rating 2250 or higher in any recent rating list (Standard, Rapid or Blitz). national women's champions. other players nominated by FIDE President and/or organisers.
Aleksandra Goryachkina is the current Women's World Rapid Champion, whereas Bibisara Assaubayeva is the current Women's World Blitz Champion (3rd time in 2025).
Junior Any number of players with any rating can be sent for the event by member federations. IM Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov and WGM Xeniya Balabayeva are the current World Junior Rapid Champions (open and girls respectively) whereas GM Mukhiddin Madaminov and IM Eline Roebers are the current World Blitz Champions (open and girls respectively).
Total Chess World Championship
FIDE and Norway Chess (in partnership) announced Total Chess World Championship Tour, a world championship based on combination of fast classical, rapid and blitz format, on 15 October 2025 which will start as a pilot event with Total Chess World Championship 2026 before the full tour starting in 2027. The following qualified for the 2026 pilot event though the path mentioned against their respective names. This championship has no women only or juniors only equivalent, though the qualification paths include women only tournaments. SeedPath/TitlePlayerRatingRank(July 2026)1Reigning World Chess Champion Gukesh Dommaraju2717262Reigning Women's World Chess Champion Ju Wenjun25602723All the 3 medalists of World Rapid Championship 2025Gold Magnus Carlsen282314Silver Vladislav Artemiev2653655Bronze Arjun Erigaisi275796Both finalists of World Blitz Championship 2025Silver Nodirbek Abdusattorov276667Replacement for Magnus Carlsen Maxime Vachier-Lagrave2713278Top 9 Players in Classical FIDE Rating list (as on January 1, 2026)#2 Hikaru Nakamura279239#3 Fabiano Caruana2792210#4 Vincent Keymer2767511#6 Anish Giri2764812#7 Alireza Firouzja27491213#8 R. Praggnanandhaa27501114#9 Wei Yi27531015Replacement for Magnus Carlsen Wesley So2765716Replacement #13 Viswanathan Anand27391417Winner of Candidates Tournament 2026 (or World Champion Challenger) Javokhir Sindarov2777418Winner of Women's Candidates Tournament 2026 (or Women's World Champion Challenger) Vaishali Rameshbabu249661819Top 3 Players in Standard FIDE Rating list (as on June 1, 2026)#12 Hans Niemann27301920#14 Jan-Krzysztof Duda27431321#15 Ding Liren27381522FIDE Circuit 2026-2027 (Open circuit, including only open tournaments)To be declared on 1 September 20262324
Freestyle Chess World Championship Freestyle Chess World Championship is the successor of FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship and of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. Magnus Carlsen is the current Freestyle World Chess Champion. The event will include a women's section from 2027.
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