Many chess players dream of someday becoming world champion. It's a long and difficult journey to get there. You need to play amazing chess, but you also need to know how to qualify and the steps to take along the way. In case you want to become the champion, let's examine what you'll need to do to get there and which players are currently on the path to glory!

The first step to becoming the world champion is to qualify for the Candidates Tournament. This is an eight-player double round-robin event and the upcoming one starts on April 4. Top grandmasters from around the world will compete for the right to challenge the current world champion, GM Ding Liren. Here are the ways to qualify for the Candidates:

1. Lose A World Championship Match

The first qualifier is often the person least happy about it. The person defeated in the previous world title match was automatically entered into the next Candidates. This year it's GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, who is attempting to win the Candidates for a third time and get a rematch with Ding.

The next cycle will actually remove this qualification path. It will be replaced with another spot in the FIDE Circuit Qualifier, which you'll read about below. This means whoever loses the next world championship won't be promised another chance!

2. Score A Top-Three Spot In The World Cup

The FIDE World Cup is a knockout tournament featuring 206 of the best players in the world, held every two years. Players reach the World Cup through dozens of regional tournaments around the globe, along with the 13 highest-rated players in the world, who also get a spot.

After eight rounds of tough competition over 25 days, the former world champion GM Magnus Carlsen won the 2023 FIDE World Cup and qualified for the Candidates. GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu also qualified for his impressive second-place performance, and GM Fabiano Caruana qualified by taking third place. 

Thanks for the invite, I just don’t want to belong to any club that would have me as a member right now https://t.co/F0w05xdWP9

— Magnus Carlsen ( @MagnusCarlsen) January 3, 2024

Carlsen was already the world champion for a decade and has moved on to other challenges. He thus declined his spot in the Candidates, which meant that the fourth-place finisher from the World Cup, GM Nijat Abasov, took Carlsen's place in the Candidates.

3. Score A Top-Two Spot In The FIDE Grand Swiss 

The second biggest tournament for the Candidates qualification is the FIDE Grand Swiss. This tournament was held on the Isle Of Man last fall. After 11 rounds, GM Vidit Gujrathi won the tournament with 8.5 points. GM Hikaru Nakamura took second place to join Vidit in the Candidates.

Here's the game that brought Vidit first place and punched his Candidates ticket.

4. Have The Highest Rating

The next qualifier for the Candidates gets in as the highest-rated player who hasn't qualified with one of the other methods. In this cycle, GM Alireza Firouzja narrowly and dramatically edged out GM Wesley So to take the spot.

In the next cycle, the rating spot will be determined by the average rating for the last half year.

5. Win The FIDE Circuit

The final qualified player for the Candidates made it by doing well in a series of tournaments called the FIDE Circuit. Caruana won the FIDE Circuit but had already qualified, so the coveted Candidates spot went to FIDE Circuit second-place, GM Gukesh Dommaraju. 

In the next cycle, the FIDE Circuit will award two players spots in the Candidates. The second spot will replace the one that was automatically awarded to the previous challenger.

6. Win The Candidates

Once you're in the Candidates, all you need to do is win it! The tournament runs from April 3 to 22. It's a 14-round tournament, where each Candidate plays with White and Black against all of their rivals. Typically a score of between 8.5 and 9.5 out of 14 games is enough for a victory. This will be an intense event, where finishing in first place and getting a shot at the title is the only relevant prize. You will be able to watch games live on Chess.com/TV. 

7. Win A Title Match

The winner of the Candidates plays a best-of-14 games match against the reigning world champion, Ding. The winner of that match becomes the next world champion. 

To summarize, to become the world champion, a player must qualify for the Candidates Tournament, win a double round-robin event, and then defeat the current world champion in a match. Now that you know how to do it, the rest is easy!