Category: World Chess News

Jan 20, 2024

Chess Calendar 2024

Brace yourselves for an exciting year on the chessboard (and online).

2024 will be the year of the Chess Olympiad, Candidates and Women Candidates, amongst other top level events! Whom are you rooting for?

2023 Calendar

January

Roquetas Chess Festival | January 2nd – 7th

9-round Swiss classical tournament held in Roquetas de Mar, Spain.

Featuring GMs Karen H. Grigoryan, Li Min Peng and Vitaliy Bernadskiy among others.

European Women’s Blitz Championship 2023 | January 12th

13-round Swiss blitz tournament held in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Featuring GMs Alexandra Kosteniuk, Bella Khotenashvili and Antoaneta Stefanova among others.

European Women’s Rapid Championship 2023 | January 13th – 14th

11-round Swiss rapid tournament held in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Featuring GMs Pia Cramling, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Bella Khotenashvili among others.

Charlotte Open | January 13th – 15th

6-round Swiss classical tournament held in Charlotte, USA.

Featuring GMs Emilio Cordova, Jianchao Zhou and Julio Catalino Sadorra among others.

Tata Steel Masters | January 13th – 28th

14-player round-robin rapid tournament held in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands.

Featuring GMs Ding Liren, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Alireza Firouzja among others.

Tata Steel Challengers | January 13th – 28th

14-player round-robin rapid tournament held in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands.

Featuring GMs Hans Moke Niemann, Mustafa Yilmaz and Anton Korobov among others.

Floripa Chess Festival | January 20th – 28th

10-round Swiss classical tournament held in Florianópolis, Brazil.

Featuring GMs Aryan Tari, Alexandr Fier and Jose Fernando Cuenca Jimenez among others.

Hit Open | January 26th – February 2nd

9-round Swiss classical tournament held in Nova Gorica, Slovenia.

Featuring GMs Ferenc Berkes, Matej Sebenik and Pier Luigi Basso among others.

February

International Chess960 Festival | February 9th – 11th

9-round Swiss rapid tournament held in Berlin, Germany.

Featuring GMs Matthias Bluebaum, Erik Van den Doel and Dmitrij Kollars among others.

Portimão Chess Festival | February 11th – 18th

9-round Swiss classical tournament held in Portimão, Portugal.

Featuring GMs Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli, Ivan Ivanisevic and Kevin Spraggett among others.

Chess Open Graz | February 17th – 23rd

9-round Swiss classical tournament held in Graz, Austria.

Featuring GMs Abhijeet Gupta, Jergus Pechac and Bartosz Socko among others.

Cambridge International Open | February 19th – 24th

9-round Swiss classical tournament held in Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Featuring GMs Michael Adams, Francesco Sonis and Sergei Tiviakov among others.

FIDE World Fischer Random Championship | February 19th – 25th

8-player Group & Knockout stages rapid tournament.

Cannes Festival International des Jeux | February 19th – 25th

9-round Swiss classical tournament held in Cannes, France.

Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games | February 24th – March 6th

TBD

Prague Chess Festival Masters | February 27th – March 7th

10-player round-robin classical tournament held in Prague, Czech Republic.

Featuring GMs Vincent Keymer, Praggnanandhaa R and Vidit Gujrathi among others.

Prague Chess Festival Challengers | February 27th – March 7th

10-player round-robin classical tournament held in Prague, Czech Republic.

Featuring GMs Abhijeet Gupta, Jergus Pechac and Bartosz Socko among others.

March

Cappelle la Grande Open | March 2nd – 8th

9-round Swiss classical tournament held in Cappelle-la-Grande, France.

Featuring GMs Maxime Lagarde, Krishnan Sasikiran and Emre Can among others.

Reykjavik Open | March 15th – 21st

9-round Swiss classical tournament held in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Featuring GMs Abhimanyu Puranik, Xiangyu Xu and Matthieu Cornette among others.

La Roda Open | March 27th – 31st

9-round Swiss classical tournament held in La Roda, Spain.

Featuring GMs Xiangyu Xu, Karthik Venkataraman and Carlos Daniel Albornoz Cabrera among others.

Semana Santa San Vicente del Raspeig Open | March 27th – April 1st

9-round Swiss classical tournament held in San Vicente, Spain.

Featuring GMs Jules Moussard, Maksim Chigaev and Leon Luke Mendonca among others.

April

Menorca Open | April 2nd – 7th

9-round Swiss classical tournament held in Ciutadella de Menorca, Spain.

Featuring GMs Chithambaram Aravindh, Thai Dai Van Nguyen and Aryan Chopra among others.

Candidates Tournament | April 3rd – 25th

8-player double round-robin classical tournament held in Toronto, Canada.

Featuring GMs Ian Nepomniachtchi, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura among others.

Women’s Candidates Tournament | April 3rd – 25th

8-player double round-robin classical tournament held in Toronto, Canada.

Featuring GMs Humpy Koneru, Aleksandra Goryachkina and Tingjie Lei among others.

European Women’s Chess Championship | April 19th – 29th

11-round Swiss classical tournament held in Rhodes, Greece.

World Cadet Rapid Championships | April 26th – 27th

11-round Swiss rapid tournaments held in Durrës, Albania.

World Cadet Blitz Championships | April 28th

11-round Swiss blitz tournaments held in Durrës, Albania.

May

European Senior Team Chess Championships | May 7th – 15th

9-round Swiss classical tournaments held in Brežice, Slovenia.

Norway Chess | May 26th – June 7th

10-player round-robin classical tournament held in Stavanger, Norway.

Featuring GM Magnus Carlsen among others.

June

World Junior U20 Championships | June 1st – 14th

TBD

Teplice Open | June 15th – 23rd

9-round Swiss classical tournament held in Teplice, Czech Republic.

Featuring GMs Karthik Venkataraman, Evgeny Postny and Jiri Stocek among others.

FISU World University Championship Mind Sports | June 25th – 30th

9-round Swiss tournaments held in Entebbe, Uganda.

European Individual Chess Championship | June 30th – July 13th

TBD

July

Biel International Chess Festival | July 13th – 26th

TBD

August

Lewis Chess Legends | August 6th – 14th

9-round Swiss classical tournament held in Trondheim, Norway.

European Youth Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship | August 15th – 20th

TBD

European Youth Chess Championship | August 21st

TBD

European Amateur Chess Championship | August 24th – September 1st

September

45th Chess Olympiad | September 10th – 23rd

TBD

October

World Youth Chess Championships | October 22nd – November 2nd

TBD

November

Amsterdam Chess Open | November 1st – 3rd

TBD

December

Shenzhen Longgang Chess Masters | December 4th – 10th

TBD

Jan 20, 2024

Tata Steel chess tournament Round 6

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is one of the most prestigious events in the international chess calendar. The 86th edition is held from 12 – 28 January 2024. 13 – 29 january 2023

Tata Steel chess tournament Round 6:

Alireza Firouzja is trailing Anish Giri by half a point again after Friday’s Round 6 of the Tata Steel Masters. While the tournament leader missed several chances to beat Parham Maghsoodloo, Firouzja did score the full point against Wei Yi. Erwin l’Ami had a tough day at the office against Anton Korobov, but after 109 moves, the Dutch grandmaster saved the half point by the skin of his teeth and kept his lead in the Challengers, while IM Eline Roebers won another game.

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is one of the most prestigious events in the international chess calendar. The 86th edition is held from 12 – 28 January 2024. 13 – 29 january 2023

Oct 06, 2023

Caruana wins Superbet Chess Classic

He was never in danger in a single game and could have scored more. He missed a chance against Bogdan-Daniel Deac in the first round, and his one real regret was a failure to turn a huge advantage against Alireza Firouzja into a full point.

There was also nostalgia, as Fabiano had been the first to face 10…Ba5 10.Bf4 0-0 11.0-0-0!, in a game against Magnus Carlsen. Rapport varied from that game with 13.Qe3 and an interesting battle ensued, but there was no opening bomb. When Richie missed a chance to ask more questions with 19.f3! the game soon fizzled out into a draw.

The next event on the Grand Chess Tour, the Superbet Warsaw Rapid & Blitz, starts in just six days, with six of the same players competing. We won’t get to see Ding Liren vs. Magnus Carlsen just yet, however, since Ding has been granted a much needed break!

See also:

Jul 23, 2023

Ju Wenjun defends Women’s World Championship title

Ju Wenjun (32) claimed her fourth Women’s World Champion title after clinching a crucial victory in the decisive, final, 12th game of the match against challenger Lei Tingjie

With this victory, Ju has now equalled the record set by her compatriot Hou Yifan, both having won the world crown four times. Apart from defending the title, Ju also won €300,000 in prize money, while €200,000 went to the runner-up Lei Tingjie.

Arkady Dvorkovich, the President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) congratulated Ju on her victory: “To win a world crown is an amazing success, but to do it for a fourth consecutive time as Ju Wenjun did is something else. Congratulations to Ju for her victory but also to Lei for putting up a great fight. The chess world has another fantastic memorable event, and it was great to be a witness to it”.

About the Match

The match takes place in two Chinese cities, where each of the contestants comes from. The first half of the match will be in Shanghai, while the second half takes place in Chongqing.

The match consists of 12 games of classical chess. The payers will have 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 more minutes for the rest of the game, plus a 30-second increment per move starting on move one.

Players cannot offer a draw before they reach the 41st move.

In case of a tie, there will be the following tiebreaks:

Four games with a 25+10 time control.

Two games with a 5+3 time control.

Two more games with a 5+3 time control.

One game with a 3+2 time control, until a winner is determined.

The prize fund is €500,000, with €300,000 going to the winner and the remaining €200,000 to the runner-up.

If the outcome of the match is decided upon tiebreaks, the winner will take €275,000, while the runner-up will receive €225,000.

Jul 06, 2023

Fabiano Caruana taking the $100,000 top prize

Five players went into the final round of the Superbet Chess Classic with a chance of catching or overtaking leader Fabiano Caruana with a win, but in the end none of them managed.

The live rating list:

That left the final standings as follows, with Fabiano Caruana picking up $100,000 while the four players in second place took home $42,750 each. He was never in danger in a single game and could have scored more. He missed a chance against Bogdan-Daniel Deac in the first round, and his one real regret was a failure to turn a huge advantage against Alireza Firouzja into a full point.

See also:

Jun 07, 2023

Caruana triumphs in Superbet Chess Classic

Fabiano Caruana: 5.5/9 (2 wins, 7 draws), 1st place, $100,000

This was vintage Fabiano Caruana, who, as in the glory days of 2018, combined stellar opening preparation and sharp calculation (the win over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave), with patience and determination (the win over Ian Nepomniachtchi) to come close to a model of a perfect chess player.

See also:

Mar 30, 2023

FIDE Women’s Candidates Final

Tan Zhongyi sacrificed two pawns and looked in grave danger in Game 1 of the FIDE Women’s Candidates Final in Chongqing, China, but Lei Tingjie blundered with seconds on her clock and fell to defeat. That was a huge step towards Tan Zhongyi forcing a World Championship rematch against Ju Wenjun, but Lei Tingjie still has five games in which to hit back.

The 2023 Women’s World Championship is an all-Chinese affair, with Tan Zhongyi and Lei Tingjie competing over six classical games for the right to challenge Ju Wenjun to a World Championship match in July.

On paper Lie Tingjie went into the match as the favourite, rated 2545 and world no. 6 compared to Tan Zhongyi’s 2526 and no. 8, but neither player has been prolific recently, and Tan has experience playing for the World Championship title.

That rollercoaster game was Lei Tingjie’s first classical loss in over three years, since the 2020 Gibraltar Masters, with neither player having lost a game in the Candidates before the final. It made Tan Zhongyi the clear favourite, but there are five games, and possible playoffs, to go, so that absolutely nothing is decided yet.

The games start at 15:00 in China, which is 3am ET, 09:00 CEST and 12:30pm IST. Watch all the FIDE Women’s Candidates games on chess24

Mar 28, 2023

Nakamura wins the 2023 American Cup

Hikaru Nakamura admitted “today Wesley was clearly the better player”, but after three tense draws Wesley So grabbed a poisoned pawn in Game 4 and was immediately put to the sword. That meant Hikaru had won the American Cup and the maximum possible $60,000, while also moving up to world no. 5 after his two wins in classical chess.

Sunday’s 3rd and final American Cup showdown between Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So only happened because Wesley managed to win their 2nd match on demand on Saturday. Hikaru, who said he was busy preparing a big announcement, described himself as “very, very upset”, and explained how he spent his Saturday night.

Hikaru explained that only White can be better, with the knight jumping to f5, the d4-pawn not a weakness because of the d5-pawn, and a white rook able to come to the c-file.

In fact after 24…cxd5 25.Rxe6 Rxe6 26.Rc1 Rc6 27.Nf5 Hikaru called his decision to play 27…Kf7!? instead of trading rooks on c1 “inexplicable”.

The players will next be in action in the Chessable Masters, the 2nd event on the $2 million 2023 Champions Chess Tour, with Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So joined by fellow American Cup players Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian, as well as Magnus Carlsen, Liem Le, Vladimir Fedoseev and Vladislav Artemiev. That runs April 3-7 and will serve as a warm-up for the Ian Nepomniachtchi vs. Ding Liren World Championship match that kicks off two days later.

Replay all the American Cup games:

American Cup: Champions bracket | Elimination bracket
American Women’s Cup: Champions bracket | Elimination bracket

See also: