Grand Swiss Chess 2027 is going to take place May 10 to 25 on the Isle of Man. The flagship event, featuring a record $900,000 prize fund, will bring together 170 players across the Open and Women’s sections combined. Two spots for FIDE Candidates 2028 will be at stake in each section.
The FIDE Grand Swiss is a prestigious open chess tournament organized by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) as part of the World Chess Championship qualification cycle. It features a large field of elite players—typically around 110–120 in the open section—selected primarily by FIDE rating (the top 100 from a specific rating list), along with continental spots, the Women’s World Champion (for the women’s event), and nominations. The event runs alongside a separate Women’s Grand Swiss and awards significant prize money while granting the top two finishers (or replacements if already qualified) direct spots in the next FIDE Candidates Tournament.
2019 (Isle of Man): Wang Hao (China) won on tiebreaks with 8/11, edging out Fabiano Caruana (who also scored 8 points). Kirill Alekseenko finished third.
2021 (Riga, Latvia): Alireza Firouzja (then representing France) won outright with 8/11. Fabiano Caruana again placed second (7.5 points), and Grigoriy Oparin third. 2021 (Riga, Latvia): Lei Tingjie (China) won the women section with a dominant 9/11 score. Elisabeth Paehtz (Germany) finished second with 7.5 points.
2023 (Douglas, Isle of Man): Vidit Gujrathi (India) won outright with 8.5/11. Hikaru Nakamura finished second with 8 points; both qualified for the 2024 Candidates. Andrey Esipenko placed third. Vaishali Rameshbabu (India) won the women section with 8.5/11. Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine) placed second; both advanced to the 2024 Women’s Candidates
2025 (Samarkand, Uzbekistan): Anish Giri (Netherlands) won outright with 8/11 after a final-round victory over Hans Niemann. Matthias Blübaum (Germany) took second on tiebreaks (7.5 points) ahead of Alireza Firouzja and Vincent Keymer; Giri and Blübaum qualified for the 2026 Candidates. Vaishali Rameshbabu (India) defended her title, scoring 8/11 and winning on tiebreaks (AROC-1) over Kateryna Lagno (who also scored 8 points). Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kazakhstan) finished third with 7.5.
