Women FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championships 2027
FIDE and Freestyle Chess sign cooperation agreement
The first official FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship
Jointly governed World Championship to be held in Weissenhaus/Germany from February 13–15, 2026
Weissenhaus / Hamburg. January 7, 2026 – The International Chess Federation (FIDE) and Freestyle Chess Operations GmbH have agreed to stage the first official FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship in Weissenhaus, Germany, from February 13–15, 2026. The event is governed by FIDE in collaboration with Freestyle Chess.
On January 7, 2026, FIDE and Freestyle Chess signed a cooperation agreement, giving the green light to the first joint World Championship. This is the first time that the World Championship title in this format is awarded under a joint framework between FIDE and a private organiser. As confirmed by the Parties, “no event may be designated as an official ‘World Chess Championship’ in any format, including Freestyle Chess, without the prior written consent of FIDE”.
Freestyle Chess is also known as Chess960 or FIDE Fischer Random Chess as per the FIDE Charter.
Six participants have qualified based on their results during the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour.
The FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship will be a continuation of FIDE’s previous events in the Fischer Random format (previously held in 2019 and 2022) and will feature eight players. Six players have qualified based on their results during the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour: Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Fabiano Caruana, Vincent Keymer, Arjun Erigaisi, and Javokhir Sindarov.
Two additional participants will be selected separately, one by FIDE and one by Freestyle Chess. Freestyle Chess has already nominated Hans Niemann, due to his outstanding performance in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in Las Vegas. FIDE will hold an Online Qualification Tournament on Chess.com as early as January 14 and 15 to determine the eighth player.
A Women’s Exhibition Match between two of the best women will be held in parallel in Weissenhaus. Additionally, the Parties have agreed to the launch of the inaugural FIDE Women’s Freestyle Chess Championship in late 2026. The event will feature a $50,000 prize fund, financed from the payment made by Freestyle Chess under the current agreement with FIDE.
“This World Championship and signed cooperation agreement bring FIDE and Freestyle Chess together within a clear and transparent sporting framework,” said Arkady Dvorkovich, President of FIDE. “It is important that elite competition in this format is governed under established international standards administered by FIDE as the sole governing body of world chess.”
“Our aim from the outset was to build a serious competitive structure, not isolated events,” said Jan Henric Buettner, CEO of Freestyle Chess. “After completing our first Grand Slam season, a World Championship in cooperation with FIDE is the logical next step – a defined title, a fixed venue, and a clear competitive peak.”
The FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2026 follows the conclusion of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025, which recently crowned Freestyle Chess co-founder Magnus Carlsen as its first overall champion at the season final in South Africa. The inaugural Grand Slam Tour established Freestyle Chess as a structured, season-long elite circuit.
Set on Germany’s Baltic Sea coast, Weissenhaus has already established itself as a distinctive venue for elite chess events. The historic estate offers seclusion, architectural character, and controlled playing conditions, providing a focused environment for top-level competition and broadcast production.
Format and Schedule
- Friday, February 13: The tournament opens with a rapid round-robin stage, following the format used in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam events. All eight players face each other once with a time control of 10 minutes plus 5-second increment. The top four players advance to the semifinals, while the remaining players move into placement matches.
- Saturday, February 14: The knockout stage begins with the semifinals and placement matches, played with a time control of 25 minutes plus 10-second increment. The semifinals will be played as four-game matches.
- Sunday, February 15: The final, played over four games, and the placement matches use the same 25 minutes plus 10-second increment. In the final, the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Champion is determined.
All final places from first to eighth will be decided over the board. The total prize fund is $300,000, with $100,000 awarded to the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Champion.
