Magnus Carlsen will be playing the FIDE World Cup in September in Georgia

It’s almost unprecedented that a reigning world champion is participating in a cycle for the next world championship, but this year it will happen. Magnus Carlsen will be playing the FIDE World Cup in September in Tbilisi, Georgia.

It was FIDE itself that broke the news on Monday morning, by publishing the full list of participants of this year’s FIDE World Cup. (See below). As it turns out, the top 15 of the July FIDE rating list is playing—which, in a broad sense, makes it the strongest chess tournament ever held.

“FIDE is delighted to confirm that the top 15 players in the latest rating list are participating in the World Cup and particularly that the world champion, Magnus Carlsen, has agreed to participate,” FIDE Executive Director Nigel Freeman told Chess.com.

Zurab Azmaiparashvili, the Director of the Organising Committee, is equally thrilled: “To be honest I know about it more than ten days, but anyway I’m really surprised positively! I don’t know if it happened for the first time or not that a world champion will play the World Cup, but for us Georgians, it’s great! We will have Magnus here in Tbilisi and our chess lovers will see him live.”

The FIDE World Cup takes place 2-27 September in Tbilisi, Georgia. The total prize fund is $1.6 million (€1.37 million) with a first prize of $120,000 (€103,000).

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