"We are trying to attract as many sponsors as possible and reach a wider audience. This requires tournaments to be held in different places."
FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich said these words while talking about the organization's priorities for 2025, Idman.biz reports.
In an interview with Kommersant, the head of the international federation also mentioned Azerbaijan: "There are countries that are traditional for chess, perhaps closer to us - Azerbaijan, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, India, China. But cities like Singapore, London, New York are also we can't forget. We decided to cooperate with them."
Dvorkovic also spoke about the current selection system for the Challengers tournament: "If we stick to the two-year period and try to achieve a balance between tournaments with different formats - Swiss system, knockout system, open competitions, the system is close to optimal. But there is also an idea that we should standardize the cycle, so to speak, liken it to tennis rounds. Although the system is already good enough, everything is being discussed."
The president of FIDE emphasized that there are big tournament programs for the current year: "In the first half of the year - according to the calendar - there are more women's chess competitions. Four rounds of the Grand Prix, the match for the crown of the world champion between the Chinese chess players Ju Wenjun and Tan Zhongyi in April, and the World Cup in July. In the second half of the year, there will be more men's races, which is one of the qualifiers for the Challengers tournament, the open World Cup and, as always, the rapid and blitz at the end of the year. In addition, there are a number of exciting team competitions such as the Mahindra Global Chess League and the world championship in blitz. In any case, the main focus in professional chess will be on the selection for the Challengers tournament in 2026."
Idman.biz
