2023 FIDE Circuit

The 2023 FIDE Circuit is a system comprising the top chess tournaments in 2023, which serves as a qualification path for the Candidates Tournament 2024. Players receive points based on their performance and the strength of the tournament. A player's final Circuit score is the sum of their five best results of the year. The winner of the Circuit qualifies for the Candidates Tournament 2024 in Toronto, Canada, the winner of which qualifies for the World Chess Championship 2024.

Tournament eligibility

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

1. Finish in the 2023 calendar year.
2. Has at least 8 players.
3. Has at least 7 rounds (3 rounds for knockout events).
4. The 8 (eight) highest-rated players have an average standard rating of at least 2550 at the start of tournament. This quotient 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) shall represent one federation.

The Circuit also include the following tournaments as eligible:

• 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 same criteria above, except that the TAR quotient must be at least 2700 in standard rating.

Points system

Event points

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

$P=B\times k\times w$

where:

• $P$ - Points obtained by player from the tournament
• $B$ - Basic points
• $k$ - 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 eligible Rapid tournaments
  • 0.5 - Eligible mixed Rapid & Blitz tournaments
  • 0.4 - Eligible Blitz tournaments

Basic points

Basic points for a tournament are awarded if the players placed in (or tied for) the top 8, provided that the placing is within the top half of the tournament, or at least third round for knockout tournaments.

1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
10	8	7	6	5	4	3	2

For tied positions, basic points will be 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 should be 100% shared equally among all tied players.

FIDE World Cup points

For FIDE World Cup 2023, points are given as above with the following modifications:

• All losing quarterfinalists are given full 5 basic points.
• Extra 2 points are added to final points of all top 8 finishers.

Player's total

A player's total points for the ranking is the sum of their best 5 tournaments, of which at least 4 events must be played with standard time controls. Tournaments that could be included in player's results are as follows:

• Official FIDE tournaments.
• National Championships.
• Other eligible tournaments, limited to one event per host country.

Tournaments

Eligible tournaments as of 6 October 2023.

2023 FIDE Circuit - Eligible Tournaments

Tournament	Location	Date	Type	TAR	Winner
Indian Chess Championship	New Delhi	22 December 2022 – 3 January 2023	National	2564+1⁄4	Karthik Venkataraman
Rilton Cup	Stockholm	27 December 2022 – 5 January 2023		2567+5⁄8	Pranesh M
Armenian Chess Championship	Yerevan	13–21 January	National	2574	Samvel Ter-Sahakyan
Azerbaijani Chess Championship	Baku	13–26 January	National	2568+1⁄4	Vasif Durarbayli
Tata Steel Masters	Wijk aan Zee	13–29 January		2770	Anish Giri
Tata Steel Challengers	Wijk aan Zee	13–29 January		2633+1⁄4	Alexander Donchenko
Floripa Open	Florianópolis	23–29 January		2557+3⁄8	Alan Pichot
WR Chess Masters	Düsseldorf	15–26 February		2743+1⁄4	Levon Aronian
Open International de Cappelle la Grande	Cappelle-la-Grande	18–24 February		2564+1⁄4	S. P. Sethuraman
European Individual Chess Championship	Vrnjačka Banja	3–13 March	FIDE	2685+5⁄8	Alexey Sarana
Delhi Open	New Delhi	23–30 March		2579+7⁄8	Aravindh Chithambaram
Reykjavik Open	Reykjavík	29 March – 4 April		2630+1⁄4	Nils Grandelius
Fagernes Chess International	Fagernes	2–9 April		2575+1⁄2	Vahap Şanal
International Mexican Open Chess Championship	Mexico City	4–9 April		2568+5⁄8	Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara
Open Internacional de Ajedrez Semana Santa	La Nucia	5–10 April		2585+3⁄8	Yuri Solodovnichenko
The Spring Classic	St. Louis	5–13 April		2634+3⁄4	Benjamin Bok
Open Internacional Chess Menorca	Menorca	11–16 April		2660+1⁄2	Gukesh D
Polish Chess Championship	Warsaw	12–20 April	National	2604+7⁄8	Bartosz Soćko
Sunway Formentera International Chess Festival	Formentera	18–28 April		2613+3⁄8	Vladimir Fedoseev
Kazakhstan Chess Cup	Astana	23–30 April		2635+3⁄8	Aldiyar Ansat
Satty Zhuldyz Masters	Astana	24–25 April	Rapid & Blitz	2707+1⁄4	Levon Aronian
Stepan Avagyan Memorial	Jermuk	2–12 May		2656+1⁄4	Samuel Sevian
Capablanca Memorial	Havana	3–11 May		2593+7⁄8	Jonas Buhl Bjerre
TePe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament	Malmö	4–10 May		2674+5⁄8	Peter Svidler
Baku Open	Baku	4–12 May		2649+3⁄4	Leon Luke Mendonca
GCT Superbet Chess Classic Romania	Bucharest	4–16 May		2768+3⁄8	Fabiano Caruana
American Continental Chess Championship	Juan Dolio	15–23 May	FIDE	2602+1⁄2	Georg Meier
Sharjah Masters	Sharjah	16–26 May		2718+7⁄8	Arjun Erigaisi
GCT Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland	Warsaw	19–26 May	Rapid & Blitz	2754+5⁄8	Magnus Carlsen
Cherry Blossom Classic	Dulles, Virginia	24–29 May		2572+1⁄8	Vasif Durarbayli Mikhail Antipov
Dubai Open	Dubai	27 May – 4 June		2681+1⁄2	Aravindh Chithambaram
Norway Chess Open	Stavanger	27 May – 3 June		2562+1⁄4	Platon Galperin
Norway Chess Blitz	Stavanger	27 May – 3 June	Blitz	2771+7⁄8	Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Norway Chess - Main Tournament	Stavanger	27 May – 9 June		2771+7⁄8	Hikaru Nakamura
Münchner Pfingst-Open	Munich	31 May – 6 June		2567+1⁄4	Alexander Motylev
Asian Chess Championship	Almaty	4–11 June	FIDE	2618	Shamsiddin Vokhidov
Canadian Transnational Chess Championship	Montreal	6–11 June		2587+3⁄4	Toms Kantans
Teplice Open	Teplice	10–18 June		2613+7⁄8	Frederik Svane
The Las Vegas National Open	Las Vegas	14–18 June		2607+1⁄8	Illia Nyzhnyk Vasif Durarbayli Yasser Quesada Mikhail Antipov
Vladimir Dvorkovich Memorial – Aktobe Open Classic	Aktobe	20–27 June		2597+1⁄4	Bardiya Daneshvar
Prague International Chess Festival - Masters	Prague	20–30 June		2697+7⁄8	Ray Robson
Prague International Chess Festival - Challengers	Prague	20–30 June		2573+3⁄8	Mateusz Bartel
Sparkassen Chess Trophy	Dortmund	24 June – 2 July		2649+1⁄8	Alexander Donchenko
Orillas de Mar	Adeje	25 June – 2 July		2580	Abhijeet Gupta
World Open	Philadelphia	23 June – 4 July		2608+1⁄2	Fidel Corrales Jimenez
Norwegian Chess Championship	Oslo	30 June – 8 July	National	2557+1⁄4	Simen Agdestein
Dutch Chess Championship	Utrecht	2–9 July	National	2630+7⁄8	Anish Giri
GCT SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia	Zagreb	3–10 July	Rapid & Blitz	2768+3⁄8	Magnus Carlsen
International Open "Villa de Benasque"	Benasque	5–14 July		2628+7⁄8	Bu Xiangzhi
International Chess Festival Astana Zhuldyzdary	Astana	11–18 July		2620+1⁄2	Aditya Mittal
Geza Hetenyi Memorial	Budapest	11–19 July		2691+3⁄4	R Praggnanandhaa
Romania Grand Prix Brașov	Brașov	18–26 July		2564+5⁄8	Luca Moroni, Jr.
Biel Grandmaster Triathlon (classical part)	Biel/Bienne	18–26 July		2699+1⁄8	Lê Quang Liêm
Biel Master Tournament	Biel/Bienne	17–27 July		2603+3⁄4	Bu Xiangzhi
Paleochora International Chess Tournament	Kantanos-Selino	19–26 July		2555+1⁄4	Bai Jinshi
Uralsk Open	Oral, Kazakhstan	21–28 July		2596+5⁄8	Hans Niemann
International Chess Cup of His Majesty the King Mohammed VI	Rabat	14–19 August		2643+1⁄8	Paulius Pultinevičius
FIDE World Cup	Baku	30 July – 24 August	FIDE	2777+1⁄4	Magnus Carlsen
Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival	Abu Dhabi	16–24 August		2672+1⁄2	Vladimir Fedoseev
French Chess Championship	Alpe d'Huez	18–27 August	National	2599+1⁄4	Yannick Gozzoli
Open Internacional de Sants-Ciutat de Barcelona	Barcelona	18–27 August		2572+3⁄8	Elham Amar
Maia Chess Open	Maia, Portugal	25 August – 2 September		2554+3⁄8	Victor Mikhalevski
Tata Steel Chess India Rapid	Kolkata, India	5–7 September	Rapid	2729+3⁄4	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Tata Steel Chess India Blitz	Kolkata, India	8–9 September	Blitz	2729+3⁄4	Alexander Grischuk
Levitov Chess Week	Amsterdam, Netherlands	22–26 September	Rapid	2735+5⁄8	Ian Nepomniachtchi
Asian Games Individual	Hangzhou, China	23–27 September	Rapid	2701+1⁄4	Wei Yi
Tsaghkadzor Open	Tsaghkadzor, Armenia	19–28 September		2580+1⁄4	Abhimanyu Puranik
World Junior Championship	Mexico City	21 September – 1 October	FIDE	2572+3⁄4	Marc'Andria Maurizzi
Yerevan Open	Yerevan, Armenia	29 September – 7 October		2555+7⁄8	Karen H. Grigoryan
Russian Championship	St Petersburg, Russia	1–12 October	National	2650	Vladislav Artemiev
US Chess Championship	St. Louis	5–15 October	National	2726+3⁄4	Fabiano Caruana
Fagernes International Autumn	Fagernes	8–15 October		2567+1⁄2	Mads Andersen
Qatar Masters	Doha, Qatar	11–20 October		2747+3⁄8	Nodirbek Yakubboev
Spanish Championship	Marbella	10–21 October	National	2563+1⁄2	Eduardo Iturrizaga
FIDE Grand Swiss	Douglas, Isle of Man	23 October – 5 November	FIDE	2761+5⁄8	Vidit Gujrati
Bavarian Open	Tegernsee	28 October – 5 November		2562+1⁄2
Torneio Internacional da Figueira da Foz	Figueira da Foz	5–12 November
GCT St. Louis Rapid and Blitz	St. Louis	12 – 19 November	Rapid & Blitz
Sinquefield Cup	St. Louis	19 November – 3 December
US Masters	Charlotte, North Carolina	22–26 November
El Llobregat Open	Sant Boi de Llobregat	30 November – 8 December

Rankings

At the end of 2023, the best player in the Circuit not yet qualified through other means (previous Championship, Chess World Cup, or Grand Swiss) will qualify for the 2024 Candidates Tournament, provided that they have played 5 eligible tournaments, including at least 4 in standard time controls.

Top 20 as of 21 October 2023

No.	Player	Points	1	2	3	4	5
1	Fabiano Caruana (3rd Place World Cup)	104.83	Wijk aan Zee (Masters) T 5th-6th – 12.15	GCT Romania 1st – 26.84	Stavanger (Main) 2nd – 21.75	World Cup 3rd – 21.41	US Championship 1st – 22.68
2	Gukesh D	79.50	Düsseldorf T 2nd-3rd – 19.26	Malmö T 2nd-4th – 12.22	Sharjah 3rd – 13.13	Stavanger (Main) 3rd – 19.03	World Cup QF – 15.86
3	Wesley So	78.84	Wijk aan Zee (Masters) 4th – 16.20	Düsseldorf 4th – 14.60	GCT Romania T 2nd-5th – 17.44	Stavanger (Main) 5th – 13.59	US Championship 2nd – 17.01
4	Anish Giri	75.87	Wijk aan Zee (Masters) 1st – 27.00	Düsseldorf T 5th-10th – 2.03	GCT Romania T 2nd-5th – 17.44	Stavanger (Main) 4th – 16.31	Dutch Nationals 1st – 13.09
5	Magnus Carlsen (1st Place World Cup)	63.45	Wijk aan Zee (Masters) T 2nd-3rd – 20.25	Stavanger (Main) 6th – 0.00	GCT Croatia 1st – 13.47	World Cup 1st – 29.73
6	Arjun Erigaisi	62.02	Satty Zhuldyz 2nd – 8.29	Sharjah 1st – 21.89	Asian Continental 6th – 4.85	World Cup QF – 15.86	Doha T 3rd-8th– 11.13
7	R Praggnanandhaa (2nd Place World Cup)	54.35	Wijk aan Zee (Masters) T 9th-10th – 0.00	Düsseldorf T 5th-10th – 2.03	Budapest 1st – 19.18	World Cup 2nd – 24.18	Tata Steel India (Rapid) 3rd – 8.96
8	Nodirbek Abdusattorov	54.19	Wijk aan Zee (Masters) T 2nd-3rd – 20.25	Düsseldorf T 5th-10th – 2.03	Stavanger (Blitz) 1st – 10.88	World Cup R2 – 0.00	Doha 2nd– 21.03
9	Amin Tabatabaei	49.42	Wijk aan Zee (Challengers) 4th – 8.00	Jermuk 3rd – 10.55	Sharjah 7th – 8.76	Budapest 2nd – 14.86	Hangzhou 4th – 7.25
10	Samuel Sevian	49.17	St. Louis (Spring) 2nd – 10.24	Jermuk 1st – 15.63	Sharjah 2nd – 14.23	US Championship 5th – 9.07
11	Javokhir Sindarov	43.20	Wijk aan Zee (Challengers) 3rd – 9.33	Dubai 2nd – 14.29	World Cup R4 – 0.00	Hangzhou 3rd – 8.45	Doha T 3rd-8th– 11.13
12	Hans Niemann	39.02	Menorca 6th – 6.82	Sharjah 6th – 9.85	Philadelphia T2nd-9th – 4.75	Uralsk 1st – 9.66	US Championship 6th – 7.94
13	Hikaru Nakamura (2nd Place FIDE Grand Swiss)	38.32	Stavanger (Main) 1st– 27.19	World Cup R4 – 0.00	Doha T 3rd-8th– 11.13
14	Haik M. Martirosyan	37.59	Satty Zhuldyz 3rd – 7.25	Jermuk 4th – 9.77	Sharjah 5th – 10.94	Prague (Masters) T 4th-7th – 5.44	Benasque 6th – 4.19
15	Levon Aronian	36.71	Wijk aan Zee (Masters) T 7th-8th – 4.05	Düsseldorf 1st – 22.30	Satty Zhuldyz 1st – 10.36	US Championship 8th – 0.00
16	Nodirbek Yakubboev	34.83	Jermuk 2nd – 11.33	World Cup R2 – 0.00	Doha 1st– 23.50
17	Maxim Matlakov	34.79	Dubai 4th – 12.48	Aktobe 2nd – 7.54	Budapest 6th– 3.52	Russian Championship 2nd – 11.25
18	Ian Nepomniachtchi (World Championship 2023 runner-up)	33.40	Düsseldorf T 2nd-3rd – 19.26	GCT Romania 9th – 0.00	World Cup R1 – 0.00	Levitov Chess Week 1st – 14.14
19	Leinier Domínguez	31.73	World Cup QF – 15.86	US Championship 3rd – 15.87
20	Leon Luke Mendonca	30.47	Formentera 4th – 7.79	Baku Open 1st – 13.73	Sharjah 37th – 0.00	Dortmund 3rd – 8.95	Doha 37th – 0.00

•  : Qualifies for Candidates Tournament 2024.
•  : Player qualified for Candidates Tournament 2024 via another path.

External links

• FIDE Circuit