India will host the FIDE World Cup featuring 206 players in a knockout format. This year's tournament employs a single-elimination structure, with each match lasting three days. The top three finishers will secure spots in the 2026 Candidates Tournament, which decides the next World Chess Championship challenger. Various qualification routes include the reigning World Champion, top finishers from previous cups, performance in continental events, as well as nominations by the FIDE President and the organiser.

The event will follow a single-elimination format where each round spans three days: two classical games on the first two days, followed by tie-breaks on the third day, if necessary. In the first round, the top 50 players receive byes, while players seeded from 51 to 206 compete, with pairings based on the principle of the top half versus the reversed lower half.

The top three finishers of the 2025 World Cup will earn direct qualification for the 2026 Candidates Tournament, which determines the challenger for the World Chess Championship.

Players can qualify for the World Cup through various avenues, including:

Reigning World Champion as of June 1, 2025

Top four finishers from the FIDE World Cup 2023

Reigning Women’s World Champion as of June 1, 2025

2024 World Junior Champion U-20

Qualifiers from Continental events, accounting for 80 spots

The highest-rated players in the June 2025 FIDE standard rating list, 13 players, who have not qualified by any of the above listed path

Top 100 national federations from the 2024 Chess Olympiad open section, each receiving one spot

4 nominees of the FIDE President

2 nominees of the Organiser