2024 FIDE Circuit explained

2024 FIDE Circuit
Duration:	28 December 2023 – 15 December 2024
Prevseason Year:	2023
Prevseason Link:	2023 FIDE Circuit
Nextseason Year:	2025
Nextseason Link:	2025 FIDE Circuit

The 2024 FIDE Circuit is a system comprising the top chess tournaments in 2024, which serves as a qualification path for the Candidates Tournament 2026. Players receive points based on their performance and the strength of the tournament. A player's final Circuit score is the sum of their seven best results of the year. The winner of the Circuit qualifies for the Candidates Tournament 2026.^[1]

Tournament eligibility

A FIDE-rated individual standard tournament is eligible for the Circuit if it meets the following criteria:^[1]

1. Finish between 1 January 2024 and 15 December 2024.
2. Has at least 8 players.
3. Has at least 7 rounds (4 rounds for knockout events).
4. The 8 highest-rated players have an average standard rating of at least 2550 at the start of tournament. This average is referred to as TAR (tournament average rating).
5. Players represent at least 3 national federations.
6. Not more than 50% of the 20 highest-rated players (or all players if fewer than 20) represent one federation.

The Circuit also includes the following tournaments:

• The World Chess Championship 2024.
• National Championships that meet points 1 to 4 in above criteria.
• World Rapid Championship.
• World Blitz Championship.
• Continental Rapid Championships.
• Continental Blitz Championships.
• Other Rapid and Blitz tournaments that meet the above criteria, except that the TAR must be at least 2700.

Points system

Event points

Circuit points obtained by a player from a tournament are calculated as follows:

P = B x k x w

where:

P - Points obtained by player from the tournamentB - Basic pointsk - Tournament strength factor, calculated as k = (TAR -2500 ) / 100 w - Tournament weighting

• • 1.0 - Standard classical tournaments
  • 0.8 - World Rapid Championships
  • 0.6 - World Blitz Championships and other Rapid tournaments
  • 0.5 - Mixed Rapid & Blitz tournaments
  • 0.4 - Blitz tournaments

Basic points

Basic points for a tournament are awarded depending on the tournament format:

• Swiss-system: Top 8 (within top half of ranking), ties included.
• Round-robin: Top 3 with ties (with the exception of the Candidates Tournament 2024 where points are awarded to all players).
• Knockout: Third round or later, up to 8 players.

Points are awarded as follows:

• If the tournament is won outright, basic points for 1st place would be 11 points. Otherwise, 10 basic points would be used for calculation.
• For tied positions, basic points are calculated as 50% of points for final ranking as determined by tournament's tie-break rules, plus 50% of the sum of basic points assigned for the tied places divided by the number of tied players. If no tie-break rule is applied, basic points are 100% shared equally among all tied players.
• For round-robin tournaments (other than Candidates), 4th and below are worth zero points for tied players calculation.

FIDE World Championship points

For World Chess Championship 2024, the winner will get points calculated as 1st place basic points multipled by the strength factor, but with its TAR value using winner's performance rating instead.

Player's total and ranking

A player's point total for the ranking is the sum of their best 7 tournaments with the following criteria:

• If player has 6 or more tournaments to count:
  • No more than 5 tournaments with participation of less than 50 players can be counted.
  • No more than 2 rapid/blitz tournaments can be counted.
• If player has 5 tournaments or less:
  • No more than 4 tournaments with participation of less than 50 players can be counted.
  • No more than 1 rapid/blitz tournament can be counted.

Tournaments that could be included in player's results are as follows:

• Official FIDE tournaments.
• National Championships.
• Other eligible tournaments, counting all tournaments with minimum TAR of 2650 and up to two lower tournaments per host country.

Tournaments

Eligible tournaments as of 14 August 2024.

2024 FIDE Circuit – Eligible Tournaments

Tournament	Location	Date	Type		TAR	Winner
Hastings Masters	Hastings	data-sort-value="01-05"	28 December 2023 5 January 2024		105	2552	Abhijeet Gupta
Tata Steel Masters	Wijk aan Zee	data-sort-value="01-28"	12–28 January		14		Wei Yi
Tata Steel Challengers	Wijk aan Zee	data-sort-value="01-28"	12–28 January		14		Leon Luke Mendonca
Djerba Masters	Djerba	data-sort-value="02-25"	18–25 February		8		Daniel Dardha
Prague Masters	Prague	data-sort-value="03-07"	27 February 7 March		10		Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Prague Challengers	Prague	data-sort-value="03-07"	27 February 7 March		10		Ediz Gurel
Prague Open	Prague	data-sort-value="03-07"	27 February 7 March		267		Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis
Shenzhen Masters	Shenzhen	data-sort-value="03-07"	29 February 7 March		8	2698	Bu Xiangzhi
Cappelle-la-Grande Open	Cappelle-la-Grande	data-sort-value="03-08"	2–8 March		382		Abhimanyu Puranik
Aeroflot Open	Moscow	data-sort-value="03-07"	3–7 March		142		Amin Tabatabaei
Reykjavik Open	Reykjavík	data-sort-value="03-21"	15–21 March		363		Bogdan-Daniel Deac
Fagernes Chess International	Fagernes	data-sort-value="03-31"	24–31 March		100	2568	Rinat Jumabayev
Torneo International de Ajedrez de Roda	La Roda	data-sort-value="03-31"	27–31 March		210		Aravindh Chithambaram
Grenke Open	Karlsruhe	data-sort-value="04-01"	March 26 April 1		935		Hans Niemann
Open Internacional de Ajedrez Semana Santa	Alicante	data-sort-value="04-01"	March 27 April 1		417		Kirill Alekseenko
Menorca Open	Menorca	data-sort-value="04-07"	April 2–7		284		Arjun Erigaisi
Candidates	Toronto	data-sort-value="04-22"	April 3–22	FIDE	8		Gukesh D
Sunway Formentera Chess Festival	Formentera	data-sort-value="04-19"	April 9–19		51		Alexander Donchenko
Spring Chess Classic	St. Louis	data-sort-value="04-20"	April 11–20		10		Leon Luke Mendonca
TePe Sigeman & Co chess tournament	Malmö	data-sort-value="05-03"	April 27 May 3		8		Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Sardinia World Chess Festival	Orosei, Sardinia	data-sort-value="05-04"	April 27 May 4		168		Daniel Dardha
Dubai Police Global Chess Challenge	Dubai	data-sort-value="05-13"	May 3–13		135		Pranav V
GCT Superbet Poland Rapid & Blitz	Warsaw	data-sort-value="05-13"	May 6–13	Rapid & Blitz	10		Magnus Carlsen
Chinese Chess Championship	Xinghua	data-sort-value="05-16"	May 6–16	National	12		Wang Yue
Sharjah Masters	Sharjah	data-sort-value="05-23"	May 13–23		88		Bardiya Daneshvar
Polish Chess Championship	Rzeszów	data-sort-value="05-31"	May 21–31	National	10		Radosław Wojtaszek
Budapesti Tavaszi Fesztivál	Budapest	data-sort-value="05-31"	May 23–31		210		Yahli Sokolovsky
Americas Continental Championship	Medellin	data-sort-value="06-02"	May 24 June 2	FIDE	387		Roberto García Pantoja
Dubai Open	Dubai	data-sort-value="06-02"	May 25 June 2		71		Mahammad Muradli
Vladimir Dvorkovich Memorial	Aktobe	data-sort-value="06-02"	May 25 June 2		90		Parham Maghsoodloo
National Open	Las Vegas	data-sort-value="06-09"	June 5–9		136		Vasif Durarbayli
UzChess Cup Masters	Tashkent	data-sort-value="06-14"	June 6–14		10		Nodirbek Yakubboev
UzChess Cup Challengers	Tashkent	data-sort-value="06-14"	June 6–14		10		Shamsiddin Vokhidov
Stepan Avagyan Memorial	Jermuk	data-sort-value="06-18"	June 9–18		10		Arjun Erigaisi
Teplice Open	Teplice	data-sort-value="06-23"	June 15–23		240	2629	Max Warmerdam
Serbian Chess Championship	Senta	data-sort-value="06-25"	June 17–25	National	10		Aleksandar Inđić
Arona International Chess Festival	Arona, Tenerife	data-sort-value="06-30"	June 22–30		161		Xue Haowen
GCT Romania	Bucharest	data-sort-value="07-06"	June 24 July 6		10		Fabiano Caruana
Baku Open	Baku	data-sort-value="07-07"	June 29 July 7		126	2625	Sina Movahed
Dutch Chess Championship	Utrecht	data-sort-value="07-13"	July 6–13	National	16		Max Warmerdam
GCT Croatia	Zagreb	data-sort-value="07-15"	July 8–15	Rapid & Blitz	10	2753	Fabiano Caruana
Biel Chess Festival	Biel/Bienne	data-sort-value="07-26"	July 13–26		128		Rinat Jumabayev
DOLE Open/NEXTLANE Grand Prix	Aix-en-Provence	data-sort-value="07-28"	July 20–28		177		Pranesh M
GCT St. Louis Rapid and Blitz	St. Louis	data-sort-value="08-17"	August 10–17	Rapid & Blitz	10		Alireza Firouzja
Internationale Dortmunder Schachtage	Dortmund	data-sort-value="08-18"	August 10–18		193		Nico Zwirs
Abu Dhabi Masters	Abu Dhabi	data-sort-value="08-24"	August 15–24		217
Akiba Rubinstein Chess Festival	Polanica-Zdrój	data-sort-value="08-25"	August 17–25		10
Sinquefield Cup	St. Louis	data-sort-value="08-31"	August 17–31		10
Ibero-American Championships	Linares	data-sort-value="10-02"	September 24 October 2
US Chess Championship	St. Louis	data-sort-value="10-23"	October 11–23	National
WR Chess Masters Cup	London	data-sort-value="10-17"	October 14–17
Chennai Grand Masters	Chennai	data-sort-value="11-11"	November 5–11
International President Cup	Tashkent	data-sort-value="11-27"	November 21–27
US Masters	Charlotte	data-sort-value="12-01"	November 27 December 1
London Chess Classic	London	data-sort-value="12-08"	November 29 December 8
London Chess Classic – Open Section	London	data-sort-value="12-08"	November 29 December 8
Elllobregat Open Chess	Sant Boi de Llobregat	data-sort-value="12-08"	November 29 December 8
Zurcher Weihnachtsopen	Zürich	data-sort-value="12-30"	December 26–30

Ranking

At the end of 2024, the best player in the Circuit will qualify for the Candidates Tournament 2026, provided that they have played 5 eligible tournaments, including at least 4 in standard time controls. The current leader is marked in green. "(M)" denotes the Masters section of tournaments while "(Ch)" – Challenger section.

Top 20 as of 18 August 2024^[2]

No.	Player	Points	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1	Arjun Erigaisi	77.39	Shenzhen 3rd – 15.18	Grenke Open T 6th-7th – 6.99	Menorca 1st – 16.19	Malmö 2nd – 14.00 (T 2nd-3rd)	GCT Poland 5th – 0.00	Sharjah 7th – 5.24	Jermuk 1st – 19.79
2	Nodirbek Abdusattorov	74.71	Tata Steel (M) 3rd – 14.22 (T 2nd-4th)	Prague (M) 1st – 25.00	Malmö 1st – 16.21	GCT Poland 6th – 0.00	Tashkent (M) 2nd – 19.28	GCT Romania T 8th-9th – 0.00	GCT St. Louis 8th – 0.00
3	Gukesh D	55.86	Tata Steel (M) 2nd – 14.22 (T 2nd-4th)	Prague (M) 7th – 0.00	Candidates 1st – 26.94	GCT Poland 10th – 0.00	GCT Romania 3rd – 14.70 (T 2nd-4th)	GCT Croatia 7th – 0.00
4	Fabiano Caruana	51.07	Candidates 4th – 15.92	GCT Romania 1st – 21.23	GCT Croatia 1st – 13.92	GCT St. Louis T 6th-7th – 0.00
5	Amin Tabatabaei	45.67	Moscow 1st – 19.79	Dubai Police 6th – 7.64	Sharjah 5th – 7.45	Jermuk 3rd – 10.79
6	Alireza Firouzja	42.98	Tata Steel (M) 5th – 0.00	Candidates 7th – 7.35	GCT Romania 2nd – 14.70 (T 2nd-4th)	GCT Croatia T 2nd-4th – 6.33	GCT St. Louis 1st – 14.60
7	R Praggnanandhaa	38.30	Tata Steel (M) 7th – 0.00	Prague (M) 4th – 11.36 (T 2nd-4th)	Candidates 5th – 12.24	GCT Poland 4th – 0.00	GCT Romania 4th – 14.70 (T 2nd-4th)	GCT St. Louis 10th – 0.00
8	Leon Luke Mendonca	36.27	Tata Steel (Ch) 1st – 15.15	St. Louis (Spring) 1st – 13.74	Sharjah 28th – 0.00	Dubai Open 23th – 0.00	Biel/Bienne 2nd – 7.38
9	Hans Niemann	35.17	Tata Steel (Ch) 7th – 0.00	Djerba 2nd – 7.69	Grenke Open 1st – 20.82	Dubai Police 7th – 6.66	Sharjah 15th – 0.00
10	Daniel Dardha	34.89	Tata Steel (Ch) 2nd – 10.33 (T 2nd-3rd)	Djerba 1st – 8.60	Menorca 8th – 1.89	Sardinia 1st – 14.07
11	Nodirbek Yakubboev	34.10	Moscow 3rd – 12.14	Dubai Police 51st – 0.00	Sharjah 86th – 0.00	Aktobe 12th – 0.41 (T 7th-17th)	Tashkent (M) 1st – 21.55
12	Parham Maghsoodloo	33.35	Tata Steel (M) 13th – 0.00	Prague (M) 3rd – 11.36 (T 2nd-4th)	Sharjah 9th – 1.93 (T 5th-12th)	Aktobe 1st – 20.06	Tashkent (M) 10th – 0.00
13	Yu Yangyi	32.22	Shenzhen 2nd – 16.17	Dubai Police 22nd – 0.00	Sharjah 8th – 4.14	Tashkent (M) 3rd – 11.91
14	Wei Yi	31.04	Tata Steel (M) 1st – 20.54	GCT Poland 2nd – 10.50
15	Abhimanyu Puranik	30.61	Cappelle-la-Grande 1st – 5.95	Fagernes 2nd – 5.78	Dubai Police 28th – 0.00	Sharjah 14th – 0.00	Aktobe 11th – 0.41 (T 7th-17th)	Baku 2nd – 9.84	Aix-en-Provence 3rd – 8.63
16	Volodar Murzin	29.19	Menorca 17th – 0.13 (T 8th-21st)	Sardinia 3rd – 11.69	Dubai Police 58th – 0.00	Sharjah 2nd – 17.37	Jermuk 10th – 0.00
17	Shamsiddin Vokhidov	28.99	Moscow 34th – 0.00	Sharjah 4th – 15.17	Tashkent (Ch) 1st – 13.82
18	Bu Xiangzhi	28.64	Shenzhen 1st – 18.15	Aktobe 4th – 10.49
19	Hikaru Nakamura	27.66	Candidates 2nd – 18.37	GCT St. Louis 3rd – 9.29
20	Aravindh Chithambaram	26.17	La Roda 1st – 9.52	Menorca 16th – 0.13 (T 8th-21st)	Dubai Police 2nd – 16.52	Sharjah 13th – 0.00

See also

• 2023 FIDE Circuit

External links

• FIDE Circuit

Notes and References

1. Web site: FIDE CIRCUIT 2024 REGULATIONS . 25 January 2024. 28 January 2024. FIDE . en.
2. Web site: FIDE Circuit . 2024-05-04 . fide.com . en.