[2][3] In January 2024, Carlsen withdrew from the Candidates tournament, with the fourth-place finisher from the World Cup (Nijat Abasov) qualifying in his place.

[8] The tournament was an eight-round knockout event, with the top 50 seeds having been given a bye directly into the second round.

If the game was drawn, the players switched colors and played again, and this process was repeated until a decisive result was obtained.

Each round lasted three days: two for classical time control games and a third, if necessary, for tie-breaks.

[9] The following are the players from the list of qualifiers[11] who declined to play, and their replacements: Pairings were published on July 4, on the official FIDE website.