Magnus Carlsen and some of the biggest names in world chess have arrived in Budapest for the Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot, a new tournament aimed at testing an innovative format and exploring a fresh direction for professional chess.
Carlsen, the world No. 1 for 15 consecutive years, is the headline attraction in a 24-player field featuring elite Grandmasters, former world championship challengers and leading players from the next generation.
The tournament carries a $650,000 prize fund and will determine the inaugural champion of a competition that combines three major forms of chess: fast classical, rapid and blitz.
The field includes Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Anish Giri, Alireza Firouzja, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Liem Le, Richard Rapport, Levon Aronian, Hans Moke Niemann, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
Other participants include Jorden van Foreest, Haik M Martirosyan, Vladislav Artemiev, Abhimanyu Mishra, Andrew Hong, as well as leading women players Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan and India's Vaishali Rameshbabu.
The event is designed to identify the most complete player by testing competitors across different time controls rather than relying solely on traditional classical chess.
The 24 players will begin in four groups of six, with each group playing a double round-robin over five days. Every player will contest 10 fast classical games, with 45 minutes on the clock plus a 30-second increment. A win is worth three points and a draw one.
A nine-round blitz Swiss tournament before the group stage will determine the players' tie-break rankings. The leading players will then advance to knockout brackets based on their group positions. Each knockout tie will be played over two days and feature four Blitz games at 3+2, two Rapid games at 15+10 and one Fast Classical game at 45+30.
The scoring system gives greater weight to longer formats, placing a premium on consistency and versatility. If a knockout match remains level, an Armageddon game will decide the winner.
The four highest-ranked players across the Tour will qualify for the Grand Final, where the semi-finals and championship match will determine the inaugural FIDE World Combined Champion.
Organisers say the pilot is intended not only to crown a champion but also to test how elite chess can be presented to a wider audience. The event will feature enhanced broadcast production, expert commentary, live insights and post-match studio analysis designed to give viewers a closer look at the players, their strategies and the drama of each contest.
The tournament will be distributed through international broadcast and digital partners in more than 200 countries and territories.
Fans will also be able to follow the competition through Chess.com, ChessBase India, Norway's TV 2 and the Norway Chess YouTube channel.
With Carlsen leading a field packed with established stars and emerging talent, the Budapest event will provide an early test of whether the combined format can add a new dimension to top-level chess.
