2023 FIDE Circuit

The 2023 FIDE Circuit was a system comprising the top chess tournaments in 2023, which served as a qualification path for the Candidates Tournament 2024. Players received points based on their performance and the strength of the tournament. A player's final Circuit score was the sum of their five best results of the year. The winner of the Circuit qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2024 in Toronto, Canada, the winner of which qualified for the World Chess Championship 2024.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

2023 FIDE Circuit
2023 FIDE Circuit winner Fabiano Caruana
Duration	22 December 2022 – 30 December 2023
Winner	Fabiano Caruana
Runner-Up (Candidates qualifier)	Gukesh Dommaraju

Since the winner of the Circuit (Fabiano Caruana) had already qualified to the 2024 Candidates Tournament via the Chess World Cup 2023, the second-place finisher in the Circuit, Gukesh Dommaraju, qualified to the 2024 Candidates.

Tournament eligibility

A FIDE-rated individual standard tournament was eligible for the Circuit if it met the following criteria:^[6]

1. Finished in the 2023 calendar year.
2. Had at least 8 players.
3. Had at least 7 rounds (3 rounds for knockout events).
4. The 8 highest-rated players had an average standard rating of at least 2550 at the start of 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:

• 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 meet the above criteria, except that the TAR must be at least 2700.

Points system

Event points

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

Basic points for a tournament were awarded if the players placed in (or tied for) the top 8, provided that the placing was within the top half of the tournament, or at least the 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 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.

FIDE World Cup points

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

• All losing quarterfinalists were given full 5 basic points.
• 2 extra points were added to the final points of all top 8 finishers.

Player's total and ranking

A player's point total for the ranking was the sum of their best 5 tournaments,^[7] of which at least 4 events had to be played with standard time controls. Players without 5 such events (for example, Leinier Domínguez and Vidit Gujrathi) were not ranked. Tournaments that could be included in player's results were as follows:

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

Tournaments

Eligible tournaments as of 30 December 2023.^[8]

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[9]
European Individual Chess Championship	Vrnjačka Banja	3–13 March	Continental FIDE	2685+5⁄8	Alexey Sarana[a]
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 Dommaraju
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	Continental 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
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
Dubai Open	Dubai	27 May – 4 June		2681+1⁄2	Aravindh Chithambaram
Norway Chess – Main Tournament	Stavanger	27 May – 9 June		2771+7⁄8	Hikaru Nakamura[10]
Münchner Pfingst-Open	Munich	31 May – 6 June		2567+1⁄4	Alexander Motylev[a]
Asian Continental Men Blitz Chess Championship	Almaty	3 June	Blitz Continental FIDE	2573+5⁄8	Arystan Isanzhulov
Asian Chess Championship	Almaty	4–11 June	Continental 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 Masters	Prague	20–30 June		2697+7⁄8	Ray Robson
Prague Challengers	Prague	20–30 June		2573+3⁄8	Mateusz Bartel
World Open	Philadelphia	23 June – 4 July		2608+1⁄2	Fidel Corrales Jimenez
Sparkassen Chess Trophy	Dortmund	24 June – 2 July		2649+1⁄8	Alexander Donchenko
Orillas de Mar	Adeje	25 June – 2 July		2580	Abhijeet Gupta
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
Biel Master Tournament	Biel/Bienne	17–27 July		2603+3⁄4	Bu Xiangzhi
Biel Grandmaster Triathlon (classical part)	Biel/Bienne	18–26 July		2699+1⁄8	Lê Quang Liêm
Romania Grand Prix Brașov	Brașov	18–26 July		2564+5⁄8	Luca Moroni
Paleochora International Chess Tournament	Kantanos-Selino	19–26 July		2555+1⁄4	Bai Jinshi
Uralsk Open	Oral	21–28 July		2596+5⁄8	Hans Niemann
FIDE World Cup	Baku	30 July – 24 August	FIDE	2777+1⁄4	Magnus Carlsen
International Chess Cup of His Majesty the King Mohammed VI	Rabat	14–19 August		2643+1⁄8	Paulius Pultinevičius
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	25 August – 2 September		2554+3⁄8	Victor Mikhalevski
Tata Steel Chess India Rapid	Kolkata	5–7 September	Rapid	2729+3⁄4	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Tata Steel Chess India Blitz	Kolkata	8–9 September	Blitz	2729+3⁄4	Alexander Grischuk[a]
Tsaghkadzor Open	Tsaghkadzor	19–28 September		2580+1⁄4	Abhimanyu Puranik
World Junior Championship	Mexico City	21 September – 1 October	FIDE	2572+3⁄4	Marc'Andria Maurizzi
Levitov Chess Week	Amsterdam	22–26 September	Rapid	2735+5⁄8	Ian Nepomniachtchi[a]
Asian Games Individual	Hangzhou	23–27 September	Rapid	2701+1⁄4	Wei Yi
Yerevan Open	Yerevan	29 September – 7 October		2555+7⁄8	Karen H. Grigoryan
Russian Championship	St Petersburg	1–12 October	National	2650	Vladislav Artemiev[a]
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
Spanish Championship	Marbella	10–21 October	National	2563+1⁄2	Eduardo Iturrizaga
Qatar Masters	Doha	11–20 October		2747+3⁄8	Nodirbek Yakubboev
FIDE Grand Swiss	Douglas, Isle of Man	23 October – 5 November	FIDE	2761+5⁄8	Vidit Gujrathi
Bavarian Open	Tegernsee	28 October – 5 November		2562+1⁄2	Jiří Štoček
Torneio Internacional da Figueira da Foz	Figueira da Foz	5–12 November		2562+7⁄8	Carlos Daniel Albornoz Cabrera
GCT St. Louis Rapid and Blitz	St. Louis	12–19 November	Rapid & Blitz	2751	Fabiano Caruana
Sinquefield Cup	St. Louis	21–30 November		2759+1⁄4	Fabiano Caruana
U.S. Masters	Charlotte	22–26 November		2594+7⁄8	Mikhail Antipov
Tournament of Peace	Zagreb	22–30 November		2625+3⁄4	Hans Niemann
El Llobregat Open	Sant Boi de Llobregat	30 November – 8 December		2658	S. L. Narayanan
London Chess Classic	London	1–10 December		2674+5⁄8	Michael Adams
Gashimov Memorial	Gabala	7–11 December	Rapid & Blitz	2703+7⁄8	Vidit Gujrathi
Champions Chess Tour Finals	Toronto	9–16 December	Rapid	2743+7⁄8	Magnus Carlsen
Sunway Chess Festival	Sitges	12–22 December		2646	Abhimanyu Puranik
European Rapid Championship	Zagreb	14–15 December	Rapid Continental FIDE	2674+1⁄4	Alexey Sarana
Chennai Grand Masters	Chennai	15–21 December		2711+3⁄8	Gukesh Dommaraju
European Blitz Championship	Zagreb	16 December	Blitz Continental FIDE	2674+1⁄4	David Navara
World Rapid Championship	Samarkand	26–28 December	Rapid FIDE	2763+1⁄4	Magnus Carlsen
World Blitz Championship	Samarkand	29–30 December	Blitz FIDE	2763+1⁄4	Magnus Carlsen

Ranking

"(M)" denotes the Masters section of tournaments while "(Ch)" – Challenger section.

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

Final 2023 rankings^[8]

No.	Player	Points	1	2	3	4	5
1	Fabiano Caruana[b]	118.61	GCT Romania 1st – 26.84	Stavanger (Main) 2nd – 21.75	World Cup 3rd – 21.41	US Championship 1st – 22.68	St Louis 1st – 25.93
2	Gukesh Dommaraju	87.36	Düsseldorf T 2nd-3rd – 19.26	Sharjah 3rd – 13.13	Stavanger (Main) 3rd – 19.03	World Cup QF – 15.86	Chennai 1st – 20.08
3	Anish Giri	84.31	Tata Steel (M) 1st – 27.00	GCT Romania T 2nd-5th – 17.44	Stavanger (Main) 4th – 16.31	Dutch Championship 1st – 13.09	Grand Swiss 7th – 10.47
4	Wesley So	83.40	Tata Steel (M) 4th – 16.20	Düsseldorf 4th – 14.60	GCT Romania T 2nd-5th – 17.44	US Championship 2nd – 17.01	St Louis 3rd – 18.15
5	Arjun Erigaisi	81.24	Sharjah 1st – 21.89	World Cup QF – 15.86	Doha T 3rd-8th – 11.13	Grand Swiss 4th – 14.39	Chennai 2nd – 17.97
-[c]	Magnus Carlsen[d]	71.04	Tata Steel (M) T 2nd-3rd – 20.25	Stavanger (Main) 6th – 0.00	World Cup 1st – 29.73	Doha T 9th-22th – 0.00	World Rapid 1st – 21.06
-[c]	Hikaru Nakamura[e]	59.25	Stavanger (Main) 1st – 27.19	World Cup R4 – 0.00	Doha T 3rd-8th – 11.13	Grand Swiss 2nd – 20.93
6	Amin Tabatabaei	56.14	Tata Steel (Ch) 4th – 8.00	Jermuk 3rd – 10.55	Sharjah 7th – 8.76	Budapest 2nd – 14.86	London 2nd – 13.97
7	R Praggnanandhaa[f]	54.79	Düsseldorf T 5th-10th – 2.03	Budapest 1st – 19.18	World Cup 2nd – 24.18	Tata Steel India (Rapid) 3rd – 8.96	Grand Swiss 13th – 0.44 (T 8th-13th)
8	Nodirbek Abdusattorov	54.63	Tata Steel (M) T 2nd-3rd – 20.25	Düsseldorf T 5th-10th – 2.03	Stavanger (Blitz) 1st – 10.88	Doha 2nd – 21.03	Grand Swiss 12th – 0.44 (T 8th-13th)
-[c]	Leinier Domínguez	52.47	World Cup QF – 15.86	US Championship 3rd – 15.87	St Louis 2nd – 20.74	Sitges 209th[g] – 0.00
-[c]	Vidit Gujrathi[h]	52.21	Sharjah 47th – 0.00	World Cup QF – 15.86	Grand Swiss 1st – 26.16	Gabala 1st – 10.19
-[c]	Samuel Sevian	49.17	St. Louis (Spring) 2nd – 10.24	Jermuk 1st – 15.63	Sharjah 2nd – 14.23	US Championship 5th – 9.07	Grand Swiss 22nd – 0.00
9	Hans Niemann	46.85	Menorca 6th – 6.82	Sharjah 6th – 9.85	Uralsk 1st – 9.66	US Championship 6th – 7.94	Zagreb 1st – 12.58
10	Javokhir Sindarov	46.25	Tata Steel (Ch) 3rd – 9.33	Dubai 2nd – 14.29	Hangzhou 3rd – 8.45	Doha T 3rd-8th – 11.13	Grand Swiss 8th – 3.05
-[c]	Vladimir Fedoseev	44.30	World Cup R3 – 0.00	Abu Dhabi 1st – 16.39	Grand Swiss 26th – 0.00	Sant Boi de Llobregat 3rd – 11.06	World Rapid 2nd – 16.85
-[c]	Levon Aronian	41.90	Tata Steel (M) T 7th-8th – 4.05	Düsseldorf 1st – 22.30	Satty Zhuldyz 1st – 10.36	St Louis 6th – 5.19 (T 4th-6th)	Chennai 5th – 0.00
11	Vincent Keymer	40.88	Düsseldorf T 5th-10th – 2.03	Satty Zhuldyz 6th – 4.40	Prague (M) T 4th-7th – 5.44	Biel/Bienne 2nd – 15.93	Grand Swiss 5th – 13.08
-[c]	Ian Nepomniachtchi[a][i]	38.59	Düsseldorf T 2nd-3rd – 19.26	GCT Romania 9th – 0.00	World Cup R5 – 0.00	Amsterdam 1st – 14.14	St Louis 4th – 5.19 (T 4th-6th)
12	Haik M. Martirosyan	38.44	Jermuk 4th – 9.77	Sharjah 5th – 10.94	Prague (M) T 4th-7th – 5.44	Benasque 6th – 4.19	European Rapid 2nd – 8.10

Notes

1. Russian players' flags are displayed as the FIDE flag, as Russian and Belarusian flags have been banned from FIDE-rated events in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[11]
2. Qualified for the Candidates Tournament by finishing third in the World Cup
3. Ineligible for ranking due to minimum events criteria
4. Qualified for the Candidates Tournament by winning the World Cup
5. Qualified for the Candidates Tournament by finishing second in the Grand Swiss
6. Qualified for the Candidates Tournament by finishing second in the World Cup
7. Dominguez withdrew halfway through the event
8. Qualified for the Candidates Tournament by winning the Grand Swiss
9. Qualified for the Candidates Tournament by finishing second in the 2023 World Championship