World Championship Still A Priority Despite Chess World Tour: R Praggnanandhaa

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 told PTI in an exclusive interaction during the Dharavi Chess Championship here on Friday.

"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.

"I am happy to see that there are new opportunities for the players to play and since we have so many players, getting more opportunities for them to play is amazing, in that way it is great to see new tournaments coming up," he said.

"In terms of format, there are constant shifts which is happening. I am not sure if it is a good thing or a bad thing, but as a player, I think it is sometimes difficult to adjust to each format," he said.

"But it is also good that we have so many tournaments around, that players can participate in and they can make a living out of playing," he added.

Praggnanandhaa, who is the only male Indian player to have qualified for the 2026 Candidates Tournament after winning the FIDE Circuit 2025, says that preparations for the competition will remain similar to other tournaments.

"Everything (including rest and mental preparation) is important, I will try to focus on everything and try to prepare well for it and we will see how it goes," he said.

"I am just going to take one game at a time, it is too far fetched to think about winning already - of course I want to do it - that's the goal and I think I can do it, I have the ability so I will just try to give my best and see," he added.

Back in Mumbai where he had become the first Indian male player at the age of 14 to win the World Youth Chess Championship in U-18 Open category in 2019, Praggnanandhaa said records don't matter to him more than playing well.

"I don't think the records matter, I think it was more important that I played well and I won the tournament," he said.

"It gives me a lot of positive feelings when coming to the city and it has been quite a journey from there (in 2019) to here and that's what we are seeing." "Chess has been growing, we are seeing so much of excitement all around, not just here but everywhere in India. People are getting to know about the game, they are interested in playing, they are getting to know about the players so I am very happy to see that," he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)