India’s chess star Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin will renew their rivalry as the group stage of Chess at the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2026 gets underway in Paris today, with 16 leading players competing for a share of the dollar one and a half million (approximately Rs 14.3 crore) prize pool.
The two grandmasters, who represented India at EWC 2025, have been drawn together in group A and will face each other in a repeat of last year’s group stage opener. Erigaisi represents Generation Gaming (Gen.G) Esports, while Sarin is competing for S8UL Esports.
Another Indian grandmaster, Pranesh M, will begin his campaign against Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Elsewhere in group A, Polish grandmaster Jan-Krzyztof Duda will face Benjamin Bok, who qualified through the India Rising qualifier. EWC 2025 runner-up Alireza Firouzja will take on Wei Yi, who secured his place through the last chance qualifier and play-ins.
Group B features defending champion Magnus Carlsen, who represented Team Liquid and will begin his title defence against Andrey Esipenko. Hikaru Nakamura will face Alexey Sarana, while Hans Moke Niemann, representing Indian organisation GodLike Esports, will take on Ian Neoomniachtchi. The group’s remaining opening match will see Denis Lazavik face Sina Movahed.
The group stage will take place on 12 and 13 August, with each match consisting of two games played under a 10-minute time control with no increment. An Armageddon game will be used as the tiebreaker when required, with players competing in double-elimination brackets. The same match format. The top four players from each group will advance to the playoffs.
The playoffs will be held on 14 and 15 August and will feature a single-elimination bracket. The quarterfinals will consist of four games, followed by six-game semifinals, while the grand final will be decided through a best-of-three sets format.
Meanwhile, S8UL Esports’ Aravindh Chithambaram exited during the play-ins and earned $23,000 (approximately Rs 21.9 lakhs) for his performance at EWC 2026.
