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Crown Prince of Fujairah

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1.1 The World Federation for Chess Composition (WFCC) is the governing body of the WFCC Fujairah Grand Prix 2025-2026 and its Grand Final.

1.2 The Grand Final will be held in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, from 27 to 30 November 2026.

1.3 The solving venue is the Fujairah Chess & Culture Club – New Building, which hosts the WFCC Main Office.

1.4 The official hotel is Royal M Hotel by Gewan Fujairah.

1.5 Qualified solvers will receive the official participation information and registration instructions by personal email.

1.6 Any matter not covered by these Regulations shall be decided by the WFCC President in consultation with the Organising Committee.

2.1 The Grand Final is an invitational tournament with a fixed number of 20 solvers, consisting of:

·         The top 12 solvers in the final overall Grand Prix 2025-26 standings.

·         The top six solvers from six different countries not represented among the top 12.

·         One solver nominated by FIDE.

·         One solver nominated by the Organising Committee.

2.2 If a qualified solver cannot be replaced by an eligible reserve solver, the Organising Committee shall invite another solver in order to maintain the planned total of 20 finalists.

2.3 Officially Qualified Finalists

No.	Solver	Country	Grand Prix Points
1	Piotr Murdzia	POL	87
2	Danila Pavlov	FID	87
3	Kacper Piorun	POL	72
4	Arno Zude	GER	72
5	Ural Khasanov	FID	67
6	Eddy Van Beers	BEL	60
7	Martynas Limontas	LTU	58
8	Mihnea Costachi	ROU	54
9	Bilguun Sumiya	MGL	50
10	Maksim Kharitonov	FID	35
11	Nikos Sidiropoulos	GRE	33
12	Tomáš Peitl	SVK	29
13	David Hodge	GBR	18
14	Ilija Serafimović	SRB	17
15	Oleksiy Solovchuk	UKR	14
16	Ofer Comay	ISR	4
17	Jorma Paavilainen	FIN	2
18	Joost Michielsen	NED	1
19	Anirudh Daga (Organizers Nominee)	IND	–
20	TBA (FIDE Nominee)	TBA	–

3.1 The following six reserve solvers may replace one of their countrymen from the Top 12 list:

No.	Reserve Solver	Country	Grand Prix Points
1	Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis	GRE	24
2	Ulrich Voigt	GER	23
3	Piotr Górski	POL	18
4	Anton Nasyrov	FID	14
5	Kevinas Kuznecovas	LTU	10
6	Chinguun Sumiya	MGL	2

3.2 If any of the Top 12 qualified solvers withdraws or is unable to participate, the highest-placed available reserve solver from the same country shall be invited as a replacement.

3.3 If no eligible reserve solver from the same country is available, the Organising Committee shall invite another solver in order to maintain the planned total of 20 finalists.

3.4 No reserve solver shall replace a qualified finalist from positions 13-18 of the Grand Prix Final qualification list. In such cases, the Organising Committee shall determine the replacement.

4.1 Each qualified solver will receive a personal email containing the official registration link and the required participation, arrival and departure information.

4.2 The official registration form is available at: https://form.jotform.com/FCCC/wfcc-fujairah-grand-prix-final

4.3 Qualified solvers must confirm their participation no later than 1 October 2026.

4.4 Qualified solvers must submit a copy of their confirmed flight ticket or travel itinerary no later than 30 October 2026, to allow the Organising Committee to coordinate arrival and departure arrangements.

4.5 After the participation-confirmation deadline, any unconfirmed place may be filled in accordance with Sections 2 and 3 of these Regulations.

5.1 A qualified solver requiring a UAE visa must apply through the official registration form and upload all requested documents clearly and accurately.

5.2 All visa applications are subject to approval by the UAE authorities. The organisers cannot guarantee visa issuance.

5.3 Visa validity and entry conditions are subject to the applicable UAE immigration regulations.

6.1 All qualified finalists will be accommodated in single rooms on a full-board basis at the official hotel, at the expense of the Organising Committee.

7.1 The Grand Final consists of six rounds over two days, with three rounds on each day, in the WFCC ECSC/WCSC format.

7.2 The competition shall be conducted in accordance with the official WFCC WCSC rules: https://www.wfcc.ch/rules/wcsc/

7.3 The Grand Final is a rated solving tournament with rating coefficient 3. As an invitational tournament, it will not form part of the World Solving Cup. Applicable solving title norms may be achieved in accordance with the relevant WFCC regulations.

7.4 Only original chess compositions, not previously published, by 18 different chess composers will be presented for solving.

Round	Problem Type	Problems	Solving Time
1	Two-movers (#2)	3	20 minutes
2	Three-movers (#3)	3	60 minutes
3	Endgame Studies	3	100 minutes
4	Helpmates (h#2, h#3, h#>3)	3	50 minutes
5	Moremovers (#4 and #>4)	3	80 minutes
6	Selfmates (s#2, s#3, s#>3)	3	50 minutes

8.1 All finalists are required to evaluate the quality of the compositions used in each round.

8.2 The three compositions in each round shall be ranked from 1st to 3rd place according to their combined qualities of artistic merit, including clarity, beauty and surprise, and an appropriate level of difficulty. The mark 1 represents the best composition in the round, 2 the second-best, and 3 the third-best. In exceptional cases, a solver may share places, such as 1-2 or 2-3.

8.3 All compositions submitted for evaluation shall be presented anonymously.

8.4 The evaluation lists must be completed and handed to the organisers no later than one hour after the end of Round 3 and Round 6, respectively.

8.5 For the final calculation, only the grades given by the Top 10 solvers in the Final shall be taken into account. The highest and lowest grades shall be excluded, and the remaining grades shall be used to calculate the average ranking in the order 1-2-3.

8.6 The best composition from each round, according to the evaluation of the Top 10 solvers in the Final, shall receive an award of EUR 500.

Date	Event
27 November 2026	Arrival – all day
28 November 2026	Rounds 1-3 | 11:00-14:30
29 November 2026	Rounds 4-6 | 10:00-13:30
29 November 2026	Closing Ceremony | 19:00
30 November 2026	Departure – all day

9.1 A separate Blitz Solving event for domestic solvers is planned for 29 November 2026. Further details will be announced separately.

10.1 The official Grand Final prize fund is EUR 30,000, consisting of EUR 27,000 for chess solving prizes and EUR 3,000 for chess composition awards.

No.	Place	Money Prize
1	Winner	€3,800
2	Runner-up	€2,900
3	3rd Place	€2,400
4	4th Place	€2,100
5	5th Place	€1,800
6	6th Place	€1,500
7	7th Place	€1,300
8	8th Place	€1,200
9	9th Place	€1,150
10	10th Place	€1,050
11	11th-16th Places	€800 each
12	17th-20th Places	€750 each

Category	Amount
Chess Solving Prizes	€27,000
Chess Composition Awards	€3,000
Official Grand Final Prize Fund	EUR 30,000

· The required dress code is Business or Elegant Casual.

· Shorts, sleeveless shirts, slippers, beach sandals and sports suits are not permitted in the solving hall.

· The judges and Organising Committee may refuse access to the solving hall to any person who does not comply with the dress code.

Position	Name
Tournament Director	Dr. Abdulla Ali Aal Barket
Head of Technical Committee	GM Marjan Kovačević
Head of Organising Committee	IA/IO Mohammad AlHallak
Website & Data Control	Julia Vysotska
Main Judge	ISJ Axel Steinbrink
Assistant Judge	TBA
Problem Selection	TBA

13.1 The organisers are not responsible for personal injury, illness, property loss or financial damage suffered during travel or the event.

13.2 In the event of natural disaster, war, pandemic, government restriction or any circumstance beyond the organisers’ control, the Organising Committee may modify, postpone or cancel the event.

13.3 In such circumstances, compensation shall be limited to what is reasonably possible and already contractually confirmed.

Contact	Details
Official Website	https://grandprix.wfcc.ch/
Grand Prix Organising Committee	grandprix@wfcc.ch
WFCC General Enquiries	info@wfcc.ch
WFCC Secretary / Head of Organising Committee	secretary@wfcc.ch
Website & Data Control	webmaster@wfcc.ch

15.1 Matters not covered by these Regulations shall be decided by the WFCC President and the Organising Committee.