Chess.com has announced that the Global Championship will be renamed the Chess.com Open to better reflect its status as the largest open chess tournament of 2026.
The event begins on March 14th, offering $250,000 (~£184,275) prize pool and three direct spots to the chess tournament in the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2026.
“We believe that Chess.com Open better communicates the truly inclusive nature of this event,” Michael Brancato, Chess.com’s Events Commissioner, wrote on the blog page. “We’re looking forward to seeing how players embrace the opportunity to prove themselves against the world’s elite.”
Chess.com Open Format and Schedule
Aside from its new name, the tournament’s format remains unchanged. In the end, 16 players will compete in the Chess.com Open Playoffs.
Eight players have already qualified through the Winter Split of Titled Tuesday Grand Prix. These include world number one Grandmaster (GM) Magnus Carlsen, alongside other top GMs such as rank four Vincent Keymer, rank five Arjun Erigaisi, and more.
The rest of the spots will be filled by the top-performing players from the qualifiers, which run from March 14th to 25th. The structure includes Preliminaries for non-titled players, Titled Qualifiers for members of the Titled Players Club, and Play-Ins for GMs.
There will be two preliminaries on March 14th and 21st, two Titled Qualifiers on March 15th and 22nd, and four Play-Ins on March 16th, 18th, 23rd and 25th. All qualifiers will begin at 12:00 PM ET.
The Chess.com Open Playoffs will run from April 23rd to 26th. It features a $250,00 prize pool and three direct qualifications to the EWC 2026 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, players will be able to earn Champions Chess Tour points to improve their standings on the global leaderboards, which also influence EWC invitations.
