2024 FIDE Circuit

The 2024 FIDE Circuit was a system comprising the top chess tournaments in 2024, which served as a qualification path for the Candidates Tournament 2026. Players received points based on their performance and the strength of the tournament. A player's final Circuit score was the sum of their seven best results of the year.^[1] Fabiano Caruana scored the most points, and as winner of the 2024 Circuit qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2026.^[2]

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

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

The Circuit also included the following tournaments:

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

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

${\displaystyle P=B\times k\times w}$

where:

• ${\displaystyle P}$ - Points obtained by player from the tournament
• ${\displaystyle B}$ - Basic points
• ${\displaystyle k}$ - Tournament strength factor, calculated as ${\displaystyle k=(TAR-2500)/100}$
• ${\displaystyle w}$ - 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 for a tournament were 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 were awarded to all players).
• Knockout: Third round or later, up to 8 players.

Points were awarded as follows:

• If the tournament was 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 were 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 was applied, basic points were shared equally among all tied players.
• For round-robin tournaments (other than the Candidates), 4th and below were worth zero points for tied players calculation.

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

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

• If a player had 6 or 7 tournaments to count:
  • No more than 4 or 5 respectively standard tournaments with the participation of less than 50 players could be counted.
  • No more than 2 rapid/blitz tournaments could be counted.
• If a player had 5 tournaments or less:
  • No more than 4 standard tournaments with participation of less than 50 players could be counted.
  • No more than 1 rapid/blitz tournament could be counted.

Tournaments that could be included in a player's results were 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.

Eligible tournaments as of 31 December 2024.^[3]

At the end of 2024, the best player in the Circuit qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2026, provided that his final score consisted of at least 5 tournaments (including at least 4 in standard time controls) and he played in at least 2 standard tournaments with over 50 participating players (if his final score consisted of 6 or 7 tournaments) or at least 1 standard tournament with over 50 participating players (if his final score consisted of 5 tournaments). Tournament results which could not be counted for qualification to the Candidates Tournament 2026 are marked in pink. "(M)" denotes the Masters section of tournaments while "(Ch)" – Challenger section.

•  : Player qualified for Candidates Tournament 2026 via this path.
•  : Current World Champion – ineligible for Candidates Tournament 2026 qualification
•  : Player ineligible for Candidates Tournament 2026 qualification

The FIDE Circuit system has drawn criticism from top players, including Levon Aronian, Anish Giri, and Fabiano Caruana, for various reasons. Critics have highlighted issues such as flawed scoring and financial burdens, raising questions about the system's fairness and practicality.^[5][6][7]

Critics argue the points system is poorly designed, rewarding players inconsistently and only awarding the first three players in closed tournaments. For example, Gukesh, Abdusattorov, and Giri tied for first in the Tata Steel Masters (with a +4 score), but earned only 14.22 points each, while Leon Luke Mendonca gained 15.15 points for winning the significantly weaker Challengers section. Firouzja, Vidit and Praggnanandhaa didn't win any points for tying for fifth among the fourteen players, despite scoring +2.

Caruana expressed frustration that third place at the relatively weaker Menorca Open, with a TAR of 2676+5⁄8, earned more points than he did for fourth place at the Candidates Tournament, which had a TAR of 2744+7⁄8.^[5] The Candidates was an exception to the top three rule, as Circuit points were awarded to all eight participants. For the 2025 Circuit, the rules were amended to reward points to the top four finishers in closed events with 11–13 participants, and the top five finishers in events with more than 13 participants.^[8]

The Circuit excludes tournaments where over 50% of participants are from the same federation unless it is a national championship. For instance, the American Cup, a high-stakes tournament featuring strong players, did not count because all participants were from the United States. FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky justified this rule as a response to perceived exploitation in prior years, citing protests by American players against Ding Liren’s qualification to the 2022 Candidates via Chinese-organized events played a role. Aronian suggested only allowing tournaments with pre-announced participants.^[5]

Norway Chess, another strong tournament that featured world number one Magnus Carlsen as well as World Champion Ding, also didn't qualify for the Circuit due to having only six participants, as only tournaments with eight or more players were eligible. The rules for the 2025 Circuit were amended to allow double round-robin tournaments with at least 6 participants and an average rating of 2700 to be eligible.^[8]

The shift from the FIDE Grand Prix (with significant prize funds) to the Circuit system forces players to compete in numerous open tournaments, which often have lower prize money and higher financial risks. Giri noted the economic strain, pointing out that players must accept these risks to stay competitive in the Circuit standings.^[5]

FIDE defends the Circuit as a way to give more players access to the Candidates by prioritizing open tournaments over exclusive invitations. Sutovsky, who was previously president of the Association of Chess Professionals which organized the ACP Tour, a precursor to the Circuit, argued that the system levels the playing field for those without consistent access to elite events. Caruana countered that FIDE ratings already provide a democratic system, and emphasized that rating gains in open tournaments are achievable through consistent good performance, making the Circuit system redundant and unnecessarily complicated.^[5]

• 2023 FIDE Circuit

• Official website