The 21th International chess festival Aeroflot Open 2026 has started in Moscow. The tournament forms part of the FIDE Circuit 2026–2027, which is integrated into the World Championship cycle.  Aeroflot traditionally serves as the general and organizational partner of the Chess Federation of Russia and supports the grand chess festival.

The legendary International chess festival runs from February 27 to March 6 at The Carlton, Moscow.   The tournament game days are February 28 – March 5.

This year, the festival will be held in a “fast classic” format: 60 minutes plus a 30-second increment per move (60+30). Aeroflot Open 2026 will be the first open festival approved by the FIDE Qualification Commission to be conducted under the new standard time control.

The festival program consists of three tournaments:

• Tournament A (Aeroflot Open): for players with a rating of 2300 or higher as of January 1, 2026;
• Tournament B (Aeroflot Open: Children): for boys and girls under the age of 13 (born in 2014 or later);
• Tournament C (Aeroflot Open: Legends): the list of participants will be formed through personal invitations issued by the Organizing Committee.

The following players have registered for Tournament A: reigning Aeroflot Open champion Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE rating as of February 1, 2026: 2723, Russia); Aeroflot Open medalist in 2024 and 2025 Andrey Esipenko (2698, Russia); and renowned grandmasters Daniil Dubov (2672, Russia), Alexander Grischuk (2645, Russia), Raunak Sadhwani(2638, India), Haik Martirosyan (2626, Armenia), Alexey Grebnev (2621, Russia), Evgeny Naer (2619, Russia), Aram Hakobyan (2619, Armenia), Alexander Riazantsev (2612, Russia), Leon Luke Mendonca (2610, India), Maxim Matlakov (2609, Russia), Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan (2608, India), Sanán Sjugirov (2608, Hungary), along with many other titled players.

For the first time, Argentine prodigy Faustino Oro (2516) will take part in the tournament. The 12-year-old will be aiming to secure his third and final norm required for the Grandmaster title.The Aeroflot Open offers automatic norms for the International Grandmaster and International Master titles, providing additional motivation for participants.

The festival features a total guaranteed prize fund of 20,000,000 Russian rubles.

Aeroflot Open has been held since 2002. In 2004, it was included in the Guinness Book as the biggest chess tournament in the world.