European Individual Chess Championship 2026

The 2026 European Individual Chess Championship starts tomorrow in Katowice, Poland, and will be played from 7-19 April at the Arena Katowice.

With 502 registered players coming from 43 European federations, the event will likely set a new participation record which was previously seen in Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia at the 2023 edition with 484 players. A very strong field includes 93 Grandmasters, 98 International Masters, 7 WGMs, 8 WIMs, and a total of 345 titled players.

The tournament will be played in 11 rounds, swiss system, with time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves, plus 30 minutes until the end of the game, with 30-second increment for each move starting from move one.

The total prize fund of the Championship is 100.000 EUR, with 20.000 EUR reserved for the Winner of the event. The prize fund features 92.000 EUR for General prizes, and 8.000 EUR for special prizes and best ranked female players, senior players, Juniors U18, and best ranked Polish players.