World Championship still a priority despite Chess World Tour, claims Pragg

Mumbai: Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa has asserted that the traditional world championship will maintain its hegemony despite the introduction of the Chess World Championship Tour, which is set to be launched in pilot mode next year.

The Chess World Championship Tour is slated to be an annual affair from 2027, which aims to crown a champion across the three disciplines — Fast Classic, Rapid and Blitz chess — while the World Championship is held in the Classical format.

“I honestly haven’t really read through the regulations properly, so I don’t know how everything is shaped,” Praggnanandhaa said.

“But I do know that the winner of that will be qualified as a Candidate so that essentially means that the World Championship is still the priority,” he said when asked if the new competition would pose any challenge to the existing World Championship.

Norway Chess CEO Kjell Madland had told PTI in October this year that a long-term agreement has been signed with the International Chess Federation (FIDE) for the Chess World Championship Tour. The new tournament has been officially approved by FIDE.

Praggnanandhaa said new tournaments are only going to increase opportunities for players to earn a living from the sport, which also incudes a few players moving towards

Rapid and Blitz.