Arjun Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa, Vaishali named for Total Chess World C'ship pilot event

Three Indians, led by R. Praggnanandhaa, have been named among the confirmed elite players for the inaugural Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot, scheduled to be held here from November 10 to 21.

The star-studded field will also feature world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and No. 2 Fabiano Caruana.

Praggnanandhaa, who is enjoying a rich run of form after winning the Norway Chess title and the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament before cruising into the final of the last leg of the Grand Chess Tour, will be joined by his elder sister and Women’s Candidates winner R. Vaishali, as well as India’s top rapid and blitz player, Arjun Erigaisi.

The trio are part of an 18-player field announced so far, with the remaining six players set to be revealed next month to complete the 24-player line-up.

Under the innovative format, players will compete across blitz, rapid and fast classical formats, creating a demanding test of versatility across all three time controls.

The results of the pilot event will help shape the competitive framework for the Total Chess World Championship Tour, which will feature four premier tournaments in different cities around the world from next year.

Praggnanandhaa said the format, which brings rapid, blitz and classical chess together, would be both exciting and challenging.

“It's an exciting format which challenges players to show their best performance in all three Classical, Rapid and Blitz formats. Looking forward to being part of the first edition," said the young Indian GM.

Five-time classical world champion Carlsen said he was looking forward to trying out the new format.

“I look forward to playing the Total Chess World Championship in Budapest this year. It’s always interesting to try out new formats.”

The Total Chess World Championship Tour features a single combined open format, with no separate women's section or championship. This has drawn criticism from some quarters, with concerns over the absence of a dedicated women’s championship category.

The pilot event will bring together 24 elite players, who will begin the tournament in a group stage comprising four groups of six. Each group will follow a double round-robin format over five days, with players contesting 10 Fast Classical games, played at 45 minutes plus a 30-second increment.

A win will earn three points, while a draw will be worth one point. A nine-round Blitz Swiss tournament held before the group stage will determine the tie-break rankings.

Following the group stage, players will advance to knockout brackets based on their finishing positions.

Each knockout match will be played over two days and will test the competitors across all three disciplines: four Blitz games (3+2), two Rapid games (15+10) and one Fast Classical game (45+30). The scoring system will be weighted to reward success in the longer formats.

The four highest-ranked players across the Tour will qualify for the Grand Final, where the semifinals and championship match will determine the inaugural FIDE World Combined Champion.

If a knockout match ends in a tie, an Armageddon game will be used to determine the winner, ensuring every contest produces a decisive result.

The confirmed line-up so far:

Magnus Carlsen (Nor), Fabiano Caruana (USA), Vincent Keymer (Ger), Wesley So (USA), Anish Giri (Ned), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb), Arjun Erigaisi (Ind), Alireza Firouzja (Fra), R Praggnanandhaa (Ind), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Pol), Richard Rapport (Hun), Hans Moke Niemann (USA), Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra), Haik M. Martirosyan (Arm), Vladislav Artemiev (FIDE), Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kaz), Vaishali Rameshbabu (Ind)

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