As Magnus Carlsen and 23 others wait, Total Chess boss defends quick group stage only classic: 'Good way to do it'

Total Chess boss Kjell Madland advocates a classic-only quick group stage NEW DELHI: World number one Magnus Carlsen and 23 other players are set to take the lead at the pilot Total Chess World Championship Tour in Budapest, but the run-up to the event has been overshadowed by questions over its format.Exclusively to TimesofIndia.com, Total Chess World Championship boss Kjell Madland defended the pilot’s format, which sees qualification for the semi-finals decided purely by quick classics. Rapid and Blitz don’t come into play until after the group stage, meaning 20 of the 24 players won’t play either format until they’re out of contention for the title.The tournament begins on November 10 at the Anantara New York Palace in Budapest, Hungary. On the same day, a nine-round Swiss system blitz tournament and the opening ceremony take place.Next, the 24 players are divided into four groups of six, with the four highest ranked players in separate groups. Each group plays a double round of fast-paced classic play that gives 45 minutes per player and a 30-second increment from the first turn, with three points for a win and one for a draw.The four group winners advance to the semi-finals, where they play Rapid and Blitz as well as a quick classic. A further 20 players will play for positions 5 to 24 in all three formats, but will not be in contention for the finals on November 20.Madland, founder and CEO of Norwegian Chess and the Total Chess World Championship Tour, rejected the suggestion that the 20 players be sidelined.“They are not out,” he told the site. “All players will play all games until the last day.”The nine-round Blitz Swiss does not count towards qualification, but its ranking in the group tables will break the points. “If the players are tied in the group stage, then we will look at the results of the blitz to decide who is number two, three and four,” added Madland.He said the group stage uses the quick classics because the time control, announced by FIDE in September 2025, is relatively new and this is the best way to test it.“Since the rapid classic is a new format, it’s also good to pay attention to it, so we think it’s a good way to do it,” he said. “After that, the number one in all the groups will fight for the first place, the number two will fight for the next place and so on. But all the players will play all the matches.”Knockouts use a different structure. The semi-finals, third-place match and final are played every two days. Each day has four Blitz games, then two Rapid games, then one quick Classic game, and the score resets each day. If the two days are split or both are level, the game will be decided by Armageddon. White gets ten minutes without an increase and Black gets seven minutes with a one-second increase from move 41. A draw in this case wins the match for Black.Madland accepted that the format would draw questions. “Obviously we have to find a good way to do it. We’ve done this and the players like it,” he noted. “Hopefully it will be good, but there will always be some questions about this and that. Hopefully it will work out well.”He said the pilot’s status leaves room for adjustment, though not drastically.“We don’t think we’re going to make a big adjustment. Hopefully we don’t have to think about it,” he said. “But obviously having a pilot makes it a lot easier when something with rules and regulations is needed. It’s possible. That’s obviously why we have this pilot to test everything.”The pilot program is the inaugural event of the 2026–27 Total Chess World Championship Tour, offering two places in the 2028 Candidates Tournament. It was announced by Norwegian Chess in October 2025, is approved by FIDE, and is co-organized with the Hungarian Chess Federation.Madland said the response so far has been positive.“We’ve had a lot of good feedback from all over the place, from the players, the media and the fans,” he said. “People are very open to it and I feel like people have been waiting for something like this too, because the combination of all formats is the way to find the best players.”On why the format was built this way, he said: “I felt for a couple of years that we should build something that’s inclusive because we talked to the players, the fans, the media and everything.” He added that this will help the sport grow “in media, in OTT and TV channels, in media shops”.“I hope that people find it very interesting and also that they are open to the fact that chess needs to change a bit to meet a new audience, so that there will be more interest in it,” he said.24 participants of the Total Chess World Championship Tour 2026 pilot race (in seeding order):

Magnus Carlsen (Norway), 2823, world number one
Fabiano Caruana (United States), 2789, No. 3
Wesley So (United States), 2774, No. 5
Vincent Keymer (Germany), 2764, No. 6
Nodirbek Abdusattarov (Uzbekistan), 2762, No. 7
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (India), 2761, No. 8
Arjun Erigaisi (India), 2759, No. 9
Anish Giri (Netherlands), 2757, No. 10
Alireza Firouzja (France), 2757, No. 11
Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland), 2743, No. 13
Liem Le (Vietnam), 2732, No. 18
Richard Rapport (Hungary), 2726, No. 19
Levon Aronian (United States), 2725, No. 20
Hans Niemann (United States), 2725, No. 21
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), 2720, No. 22
Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE), 2719, No. 23
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), 2718, No. 24
Jorden van Forest (Netherlands), 2706, No. 30
Haik Martirosyan (Armenia), 2664, No. 50
Vladislav Artemyev (FIDE), 2653, No. 65
Abhimanyu Mishra (United States), 2630, No. 96
Andrew Hong (United States), 2598, No. 152
Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kazakhstan), 2536, No. 5 in the women’s ranking
Vaishali Rameshbabu (India), 2469, No. 16 in the women’s rankings