World Chess Classic

The World Chess Classic (WCC) is an annually held, FIDE-recognized, international Chess tournament which first took place in August 2004. In 2008, it introduced the "Classical Chess Champion" title, and since 2013, following a World Chess Championship-like cycle with a candidates tournament system to determine 15 qualifiers to compete in the WCC, the winner of which will become Classical Chess Champion and will automatically qualify for the next WCC.

Sponsor
PricewaterhouseCoopers sponsored the World Chess Classic tournaments from 2004 to 2009. After the six-year contract expired in 2009, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) stepped in as the primary sponsor of the World Chess Classic from 2009 to 2019. In 2020, PepsiCo, Inc. agreed to sponsor the WCC for the next 4 years, until 2024.

History
In 2019, WCC announced that the Incumbent Classical Champion would no longer automatically qualify for the next World Chess Classic. In protest, Classical Champion Anish Giri refused to play the 2019 WCC Candidates Tour, stating the title has no meaning if your not automatically qualified for the next main tournament. In 2020, WCC redacted their statement the previous year, and following negotiations, Giri agreed to play the winner of the 2020 World Chess Classic in a World Chess Championship-like match to determine the Classic Chess Champion.