The tournament features a selection of the world's best players and a prize purse of nearly one and a half million dollars.
Leading the list is Russian Yan Nepomnyashchy, who qualified directly for the group stage after his results in the Champions Chess Tour 2025-2026, along with Andrei Yesipenko, Vladislav Artemyev and Alexander Grischuk.
Yesipenko secured his qualification through the DreamHack Atlanta tournament, while Artemyev and Grischuk earned their spots from the final qualifiers held in Paris between August 4 and 6.
Grischuk secured the last spot at the expense of his compatriot Daniil Dubov, whose journey ended in the final stage of the qualifiers.
This year's Russian participation is the largest in the tournament's history, after participation in the previous edition in Riyadh was limited to three players, as Nepomnyashchiy reached the quarter-finals, while Yespenko and Artemyev were eliminated from the group stage.
The knockout rounds are held in a knockout system, with the quarter-finals consisting of four rounds, the semi-finals of six rounds, while the title is decided in the grand final through three groups.
The thinking time is 10 minutes for each player without additional time, and in case of a tie, a "Armageddon" match is played.
The tournament champion also receives a cash prize of $250,000.
