The World Schools Team Championship (WSTC) will adopt a new tournament structure for its 2026 edition, featuring four continental qualifying stages followed by a four-team Grand Final in December.
First held in 2023 in Kazakhstan and then in 2025 in the US, the World Schools Team Championship is the primary global scholastic chess competition, jointly organised by FIDE and the International School Chess Federation (ISCF).
The 2026 edition will take place during the Year of Chess in Education, a joint FIDE and ISCF initiative to promote the role and value of chess as part of education, supporting both cognitive and social development among schoolchildren.
In October 2025, FIDE and ISCF signed a Memorandum of Cooperation, which announced a series of international school team tournaments for 2026. The WSTC will serve as a flagship circuit of the “Chess in Education 2026” programme. It was then announced that the tournaments would unfold in two stages: Continental Championships for Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe and the Grand Final, featuring the winners of the respective Continental Championships.
FIDE and ISCF now announce the structure of the new format and the regulations for the event.
The 2026 cycle will consist of four continental stages: Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe, all held throughout 2026.
Each continental championship will produce one champion school team that will directly qualify for the Grand Final, which will take place in December 2026 as a four-team tournament.
The WSTC 2026 will kick off with the Asian Continental stage in Almaty, Kazakhstan in early April. Exact dates and locations for all stages will be announced at a later date.
Only teams representing a single general educational institution (such as a school) may take part in the event. Each team must include at least one boy and at least one girl, with possible exceptions for single-gender schools.
Eligible players must have been born between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2018 (inclusive).
The regulations explicitly provide for substantial organiser support for participating teams.
“Everyone has something they can learn from someone or teach someone. By bringing together children from different countries and cultures to play chess, we are sowing the seeds of knowledge, creativity and multiculturalism, which are essential for a thriving life and society. The ISCF is excited to be partnering with FIDE on this project, and we are looking forward to a successful series of events in the Year of Chess in Education,” ISCF President Timur Turlov said.
