The 2026 World Championships will be held in San Francisco, CA, United States on 28–30 August 2026.
It is the 13th time that Worlds is held in the United States; the 6th time that it is held in California (2009, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2025, 2026); and the 2nd time in San Francisco, where it was already held in 2016!
Table of Contents
Worlds invite requirements
| Rating Zone | Criteria | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| North America* | Top 80 players in the Masters Division in the US & Canada CP leaderboard Top 20 players in the Senior Division in the US & Canada CP leaderboard Top 20 players in the Junior Division in the US & Canada CP leaderboard | ||
| Europe* | Top 80 players in the Masters Division in the Europe CP leaderboard Top 20 players in the Senior Division in the Europe CP leaderboard Top 20 players in the Junior Division in the Europe CP leaderboard | ||
| Latin America* | Top 60 players in the Masters Division in the Latin America CP leaderboard Top 15 players in the Senior Division in the Latin America CP leaderboard Top 15 players in the Junior Division in the Latin America CP leaderboard | ||
| Oceania* | Top 20 players in the Masters Division in the Oceania CP leaderboard Top 10 players in the Senior Division in the Oceania CP leaderboard Top 10 players in the Junior Division in the Oceania CP leaderboard | ||
| Middle East and South Africa* | Top 5 players in the Masters Division in the ME&SA CP leaderboard Top 5 players in the Senior Division in the ME&SA CP leaderboard Top 5 players in the Junior Division in the ME&SA CP leaderboard | ||
| Japan | Top 64 players from each age division at JCS | ||
| South Korea | Top 16 players from each age divisiton at the Trainers Cup | ||
| Asia-Pacific | Top 22 overall players + 4 best-performing Senior/Junior players at the Taiwan MBL Top 10 overall players + 4 best-performing Senior/Junior players at the Hong Kong MBL Top 10 overall players + 4 best-performing Senior/Junior players at the Malaysia MBL Top 10 overall players + 4 best-performing Senior/Junior players at the Philippines MBL Top 10 overall players + 4 best-performing Senior/Junior players at the Singapore MBL Top 10 overall players + 4 best-performing Senior/Junior players at the Thailand MBL | ||
| 2026 International Championships | Top 4 players from each age division at LAIC Top 4 players from each age division at EUIC Top 4 players from each age division at NAIC | ||
| 2026 Regional & Special Championships | The Champions from each age division of every TPCi Regional and Special Championships worldwide | ||
| 2025 World Championships | Top 4 players from each age division in the 2025 World Championships | ||
* Players earning an invite through their results in a World, International, Regional, or Special Championship, will not count against the total invitation slots for their rating zone’s CP leaderboards.
The following is the list of the Masters Division players that have qualified to the 2026 World Championships by any of the means described above.
Players in bold receive some kind of Travel Award or stipend (Tiers 1 & 2 invites in TPCi regions, top players in TPC & PKI regions). The players have been ordered with those in TA tiers first, and then alphabetically.
Latest update: 26 April 2026
North America
| # | Criteria | Player | Best results this season |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Regional Champion |  Alex Arand | Milwaukee Regional Champion |
| 2 | SC Champion | Ben Grissmer | San Juan SC Champion |
| 3 | Regional Champion | Bhushan Thumsi | Orlando Regional Champion |
| 4 | Regional Champion | Carson St. Denis | Las Vegas Regional Top 4 Seattle Regional Champion |
| 5 | Regional Champion | Cary D’Ortona | Toronto Regional Champion EUIC Top 64 |
| 6 | Regional Champion | Chuppa Cross IV | Pittsburgh Regional Champion |
| 7 | Regional Champion | Dylan Matthews | Pittsburgh Regional Top 4 Milwaukee Regional Top 4 Houston Regional Champion |
| 8 | Regional Champion |  Dylan Salvanera | Las Vegas Regional Champion |
| 9 | 2025 World Champion | Giovanni Cischke | LAIC Top 16 EUIC Top 64 Houston Regional Top 8 |
| 10 | 2025 Worlds Finalist | James Evans | Pittsburgh Regional Top 16 Las Vegas Regional Top 8 |
| 11 | 2025 Worlds Semifinalist | Montana Mott | 1x Regional Phase 2 |
| 12 | International Champion | Paul Chua | Toronto Regional Finalist EUIC Champion Orlando Regional Top 4 |
| 13 | Regional Champion |  Stefan Mott | Monterrey Regional Champion |
| 14 | International Finalist | Zachary Weed | Pittsburgh Regional Top 16 Las Vegas Regional Finalist EUIC Finalist Orlando Regional Top 16 |
Europe
| # | Criteria | Player | Best results this season |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Regional Champion |  Emanuele Briganti | Frankfurt Regional Champion Grand Challenge II 2nd place Grand Challenge III Top 4 EUIC Top 256 |
| 2 | International Semifinalist | Francesco Pio Pero | LAIC Top 32 EUIC Top 4 |
| 3 | SC Champion |  Hermann Krumrey | Cape Town SC Champion |
| 4 | SC Champion |  Juan Núñez | Grand Challenge II Top 8 Seville SC Champion |
| 5 | Regional Champion |  Louis Fontvieille | EUIC Top 256 Prague Regional Champion |
| 6 | Regional Champion | Luca Ceribelli | Grand Challenge III Top 8 LAIC Top 32 Stuttgart Regional Champion |
| 7 | Regional Champion | Marco Silva | Lille Regional Champion Gdańsk Regional Top 16 LAIC Top 16 Birmingham Regional Top 8 EUIC Top 128 |
| 8 | International Semifinalist | Roberto Parente | EUIC Top 4 Seville SC Top 8 |
| 9 | Regional Champion | Simone Sanvito | Gdańsk Regional Champion Birmingham Regional Top 16 Prague Regional Top 4 |
| 10 | Regional Champion | Stefano Greppi | Lille Regional Top 16 Birmingham Regional Champion Prague Regional Top 16 |
| 11 | International Semifinalist | Théotime Massaut | Gdańsk Regional Finalist LAIC Top 4 EUIC Top 64 |
Latin America
| # | Criteria | Player | Best results this season |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Regional Champion |  Alexander Canseco | Monterrey Regional Finalist LAIC Top 32 Mérida Regional Top 16 Querétaro Regional Champion |
| 2 | International Finalist Regional Champion |  Juan Salerno | Belo Horizonte Regional Top 16 Gdańsk Regional Top 4 Grand Challenge III Top 8 Buenos Aires SC Finalist LAIC Finalist Santiago Regional Champion EUIC Top 128 Curitiba Regional Top 16 |
| 3 | SC Champion | Kenneth Gamboa | Belo Horizonte Regional Top 8 Buenos Aires SC Champion Mérida Regional Top 4 Santiago Regional Top 8 |
| 4 | Regional Champion |  Leonardo Ritter | Curitiba Regional Champion |
| 5 | Regional Champion |  Max Morales | Mérida Regional Champion Santiago Regional Top 4 |
| 6 | Regional Champion |  Renzo Navarro | Belo Horizonte Regional Champion LAIC Top 64 |
Oceania
| # | Criteria | Player | Best results this season |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Regional Champion |  Drew Bliss | Sydney Regional Champion |
| 2 | SC Champion | Yoav Reuven | Brisbane Regional Top 4 LAIC Top 16 Auckland SC Champion Sydney Regional Top 8 EUIC Top 128 |
Middle East & South Africa
No one from this region has earned a Worlds spot yet.
Japan
| # | Criteria | Player | Best results this season |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2025 Worlds Semifinalist |  Hirofumi Kimura | – |
| 2 | Regional Champion | Kaito Arii | Brisbane Regional Champion |
| 3 | International Champion | Yuma Kinugawa | LAIC Champion |
| 4 | International Semifinalist | Yuya Tada | Brisbane Regional Finalist LAIC Top 4 EUIC Top 128 |
South Korea
No one from this region has earned a Worlds spot yet.
Asia-Pacific
| # | Criteria | Player | Best results this season |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Travel Award MBL Finalist | Jason Reyes | Philippines MBL Finalist |
| 2 | MBL Top 10 | Christian Salmingo | Philippines MBL Top 4 |
| 3 | MBL Top 10 | Francis Tai | Philippines MBL Top 4 |
| 4 | MBL Top 10 | Lex Tan | Philippines MBL Top 8 |
| 5 | MBL Top 10 | Rap Perez | Philippines MBL Top 8 |
| 6 | MBL Top 10 | Raphael Ang | Philippines MBL Top 8 |
| 7 | MBL Top 10 | Ryan Chua | Philippines MBL Top 16 |
| 8 | MBL Top 10 | Ryan Pareja | Philippines MBL Top 8 |
| 9 | MBL Top 10 | Vincent Ignacio | Philippines MBL Top 16 |
