Aronian, Le, Mamedyarov Complete 24-Player Total Chess Pilot Field

Aronian, Le, Mamedyarov Complete 24-Player Total Chess Pilot Field

GMs Levon Aronian, Liem Le, and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov are among the final six players confirmed for the Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot, completing the 24-player field for the November 10-20 event in Budapest, Hungary.

GMs Jorden van Foreest, Abhimanyu Mishra, and Andrew Hong are the final additions to the group announced on Wednesday. The organizers revealed the initial 18 players last month, led by world number-one GM Magnus Carlsen and world number-three GM Fabiano Caruana.

The completed field features 18 players rated 2700 or higher on FIDE's September list, including 10 of the world's top 13. Four of the six new additions are members of the 2700 club: Le is ranked 18th, Aronian 20th, Mamedyarov 22nd, and Van Foreest 30th.

The other two places went to young Americans, including the 17-year-old Mishra, who remains the youngest player ever to earn the GM title.

The tournament was previously scheduled to run through November 21, but the organizers' latest schedule now lists the knockout final ending on November 20.

Levon Aronian will take part in the Total Chess World Championship Pilot. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

2010 World Blitz Champion Aronian is excited about the mix of time controls, and said: "Bringing Fast Classic, Rapid and Blitz together creates a very different challenge for players."

Le won the World Blitz Championship in 2013, while former world number-two Mamedyarov won the World Rapid Championship the same year. Van Foreest's biggest individual title came at the 2021 Tata Steel Chess Masters.

Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot 2026 Field

# Player Federation Rating World Rank 1 Magnus Carlsen Norway 2823 1 2 Fabiano Caruana United States 2789 3 3 Wesley So United States 2774 5 4 Vincent Keymer Germany 2764 6 5 Nodirbek Abdusattorov Uzbekistan 2762 7 6 Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu India 2761 8 7 Arjun Erigaisi India 2759 9 8 Anish Giri Netherlands 2757 10 9 Alireza Firouzja France 2757 11 10 Jan-Krzysztof Duda Poland 2743 13 11 Liem Le Vietnam 2732 18 12 Richard Rapport Hungary 2726 19 13 Levon Aronian United States 2725 20 14 Hans Niemann United States 2725 21 15 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov Azerbaijan 2720 22 16 Ian Nepomniachtchi FIDE 2719 23 17 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave France 2718 24 18 Jorden van Foreest Netherlands 2706 30 19 Haik Martirosyan Armenia 2664 50 20 Vladislav Artemiev FIDE 2653 65 21 Abhimanyu Mishra United States 2630 96 22 Andrew Hong United States 2598 152 23 Bibisara Assaubayeva Kazakhstan 2536 5 (Women) 24 Vaishali Rameshbabu India 2469 16 (Women)

Looking at the final lineup, it differs significantly from the list of players who initially qualified. World number-two GM Hikaru Nakamura and World Champion GM Gukesh Dommaraju were among the first 16 players to earn invitations in January, but neither will play. Nakamura has publicly criticized the event, describing it as "total fluff" and its name "clunky."

Gukesh's absence is understandable given that his World Championship match with GM Javokhir Sindarov will begin in Geneva, Switzerland on November 24, just four days after the conclusion in Budapest. The same is true for Sindarov, who qualified by winning the 2026 Candidates Tournament.

Women's World Champion GM Ju Wenjun, GM Wei Yi, and GM Viswanathan Anand were also among those originally in line for invitations but are absent from the final list. The organizers have not announced the reasons for their non-participation.

The pilot event begins on November 10 with a nine-round 3+2 blitz event. The results determine the tiebreak order for the group stage. The 24 players are then split into four groups of six for a five-day double round-robin. Each player contests 10 fast classical games at a time control of 45 minutes plus a 30-second increment. A win is worth three points, a draw one, and a loss zero.

All players advance to the knockout phase, but their group finish determines which positions they can contest. The four group winners play for first through fourth place, the runners-up for fifth through eighth, and so on.

Each knockout day combines four blitz games, two rapid games, and one fast classical game. The formats are weighted, with one point for a blitz win, four for a rapid win, and eight for a fast classical win. An armageddon game decides any match that remains tied.

The first FIDE World Combined Champion will be crowned in 2027, when the minimum annual prize fund is $2.7 million, including at least $750,000 for each of the first three tournaments and $450,000 for the four-player final, plus performance bonuses. The prize fund for the Budapest pilot has not yet been announced.