Chess Calendar 2026: Five Potential Champions, One Official Title?

The chess calendar of 2026 is stacked with championships – five separate players may be crowned ‘world champion’. But American Wesley So, whowon the blitz segment of the recently concluded Tata Steel Chess, believes only D Gukesh, who will defend his world title at the end of this year, has an official claim to the title. Recently, following months of public dispute, the organisers of Freestyle Chess and FIDE have joined forces to announce the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship, to be held in Germany in February 2026. This is in addition to the classical title, the World Rapid Championship and the World Blitz Championship (which are held together at the end of each year) and the newly-announced Total Chess World Championship, which will go live from 2027 after a pilot event this year. In criticising the sport’s ‘very political’ governing body, FIDE, So believes they have devalued their own most prestigious title – the classical World Chess Championship held every two years and won byGukeshin 2024 – by introducing these events.