FIDE World University Team Chess Championship 2026: 32 Teams Reach Knockout Stage

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The first stage of the FIDE World University Team Chess Championship 2026 has officially ended. University chess teams from around the world battled in two online Swiss qualifiers to qualify for the next stage.

The event is organised by FIDE and the Kazakhstan Chess Federation, along with support from the Almaty city administration and Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Sports and Tourism.

The over-the-board finals will be held in Almaty from August 3 to 9, 2026. The championship has three stages:

Online Swiss Qualifiers
Online Knockout Stage
Over-the-board Finals in Almaty

After the completion of both qualifiers, the top 16 teams from each event advanced to the Online Knockout Stage.

Qualifier 1: Americas and Africa

The first qualifier was played on May 2 on Lichess.org. A total of 22 university teams from the Americas and Africa participated in a seven-round Swiss tournament with a rapid time control of 10 minutes plus 3 seconds increment.

Saint Louis University finished in first place with 13 match points and 23 game points. Webster University secured second place with 12 match points. University of Texas at Dallas completed the top three.

Other strong teams that qualified included:

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Texas Tech University

Saint Louis University fielded a very powerful lineup featuring:

Aryan Chopra
Bharath Subramaniyam H
Nikolozi Kacharava
Thalia Cervantes Landeiro

Webster University was led by:

Awonder Liang
Francesco Sonis
Anna Sargsyan
Munika Akshaya Bommini

Qualifier 2: Europe and Asia

The second qualifier took place on May 9, again on Lichess.org. This event featured 36 university teams from Europe and Asia and was highly competitive. Ural State Mining University won the event with 13 match points and 24.5 game points.

Universitas Gunadarma finished second. SRM Institute of Science and Technology secured third place. Ural State Mining University had the highest average rating in the tournament.

Their team included:

Arseniy Nesterov
Rudik Makarian
Sergei Lobanov
Leya Garifullina

Universitas Gunadarma’s lineup featured:

Gilbert Elroy Tarigan
Aditya Bagus Arfan
Fabian Glen Mariano
Diajeng Theresa Singgih

SRMIST was led by:

Harsh Suresh
Raahul V S

Knockout Stage Next

The Online Knockout Stage will be held on May 16-17 on Lichess.org. The 32 qualified teams will compete in a knockout format. Only the top eight teams will advance to the over-the-board finals in Almaty.

The finals in Kazakhstan will also include eight wildcard teams invited by FIDE and the organisers. Fans can watch the live broadcast of the knockout stage on the official event website.

For tournament details, regulations, and live results:

Official Live Broadcast

Official Championship Website

Photos: FIDE_Chess
Source: FIDE CHESS NEWS