Tournaments

FIDE World Championship Match 2026

Photo: Geneva and the Jet d'Eau, Aminul Huq, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Game 1 starts in
–days–hours–mins–secs

Gukesh defends his world title against Javokhir Sindarov, the winner of the 2026 Candidates.

Who wins the match

GukeshSindarov

Level after 14 games 10% of the time: then tiebreaks (below).

Top stats

GukeshSindarov
2695Luft ratingClassical, recent results2856
+2OpeningsEdge out of the opening (moves 15–20)+6
+44FormLuft rating, last 3 months+12
0Tournaments wonClassical, 2600+ fields, last year2
½Head to head1 classical game½

The mark is on the side each stat favours. Every way the 14 games can go is worked out from them, White alternating.

One classical game

Gukesh winsDrawSindarov wins

Likeliest final scores

  1. 4½–7½16%
  2. 5½–7½16%
  3. 6½–7½12%
  4. 3½–7½11%
  5. 7–710%

If it goes to tiebreaks

GukeshSindarov
2676Rapid rating2800