This marks Invictus Gaming's first Worlds semifinals appearance since Worlds 2019.
The League of Legends World Championship 2026 Knockout Stage kicked off on Tuesday (4 November) with a best-of-five quarterfinals showdown between LPL representatives 
Top Esports (TES) and Shanghai Invictus Gaming (IG). After a hard-fought, four-game series, IG emerged victorious to become the first semifinalists of Worlds 2026 and knock TES out of the competition.
With their victory, IG have also guaranteed themselves at least a 3rd-4th place finish and US$400,000 in winnings. They will next face the winner of the quarterfinals match between 
Gen.G and 
LYON for a spot in the grand finals.
IG also massively improve on their result from last year's Worlds, where they bombed out in 17th place. This also marks the organisation's first Worlds semifinals appearance since Worlds 2019, where they finished in 3rd-4th place.
Meanwhile, TES end their campaign in Worlds 2026 with a 5th-8th place finish and US$300,000 in consolation. While TES failed to match their 3rd-4th place finish from Worlds 2025, it's still a commendable result when considering they had to play with 
Bai “369” Jia-Hao as a last-minute stand-in after Cheng “ZUIAN” Zihao was forced to miss out on the tournament due to visa issues.
TES and IG's journey to the Worlds 2026 Knockout Stage
TES and IG entered Worlds 2026 as the LPL's third and fourth seeds, respectively. Given that it has been five years since a Chinese team last raised the Summoner's Cup, hopes were high that the four LPL representatives in Worlds 2026 could reclaim the world championship.
However, the LPL's campaign in Worlds 2026 couldn't have had a worse start. All four LPL teams lost their opening matches in the first day of the Swiss Stage, with TES and IG falling to South Korea's 
Hanwha Life Esports (HLE) and Gen.G, respectively.
Despite their abysmal start to the Swiss Stage, TES and IG managed to bounce back in the next two rounds. TES upset LPL top seed 
Anyone's Legend in Round 2 then defeated the LEC's 
G2 Esports in Round 3. Meanwhile, IG took down the LCP's 
Team Secret Whales in Round 2 before defeating HLE in the next round.
TES and IG then secured their spots in the Knockout Stage in Round 4, with TES pulling off a 2-1 reverse sweep over fellow LPL squad 
Bilibili Gaming while IG defeated LYON in three games.
