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Javokhir Sindarov returned to the Cap St Georges Hotel & Resort in Cyprus in October. Sindarov spent there the final stage of preparation for the FIDE World Championship 2026. Sindarov stayed at the hotel from October 5 to 21. He lived in a named suite dedi…
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Some rating lists tell a story of slow, steady climbs. The November list tells one of leaps. After a month of big tournaments in Saint Louis and Budva, two players, one a 16-year-old from Texas and the other an 11-year-old from London, shot up the women's r…
FIDE and the Venezuelan Chess Federation, in cooperation with the Ministry of People’s Power for Sport, invite all FIDE Member Federations to participate in the FIDE World Junior U20 Championship to be held in Caracas from November 17 to 28, 2026. Each Nati…
Bibisara Assaubayeva’s mother, Liana Hakim, posted a video on her Instagram. Hakim reacted to news articles about her daughter’s potential wedding with Javokhir Sindarov. Liana states that she will be the best mother-in-law for her future son-in-law. “Today…
Magnus Carlsen posted photos and a video from a training camp in Spain on his Instagram. Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Peter Heine Nielsen, and David Howell took part in the camp. Carlsen, Abdusattorov, and Howell played games against each other during the trainin…
Fabiano Caruana commented on the USA team’s performance at the Chess Olympiad 2026. Caruana believes that his team had no chance of winning the gold medal. Fabiano notes that all players on the team underperformed except Levon Aronian. Caruana spoke about i…
The English Open Championships 2026 took place Sat 24th October to Sun 1st November 2026. English Open 2026: Gawain Maroroa Jones won with 7½/9 a point clear of Michael Adams, Brandon Gi Clarke and Daniel W Gormally on 6½. English Women's 2026: Elmira Mirzo…
It is rare for a challenger to walk into a world championship match looking like the favorite on paper, and rarer still to do it with a trophy in his bag. Javokhir Sindarov will do exactly that. FIDE's November rating list has him far ahead of reigning cham…
GM Aram Hakobyan (2638) beat GM Mahammad Muradli (2662) with the white pieces in round 7, board 5 of the KazChess Masters Almaty 2026, winning in 62 moves. The classical game opened with the Queen's Gambit Declined: Barmen Variation. Play through the game o…
Also covered by Chess News Network
GM Alireza Firouzja has won the Bullet Brawl arena, ending GM Hikaru Nakamura's record-breaking victory streak. Firouzja finished with 170 points, outscoring six super-grandmasters in the 232-player event held on Saturday. Results The tournament saw a stron…
The Asian Seniors Chess Championships 2026 held in standard, rapid and blitz chess sections across the 50+ and 65+ age groups concluded in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. The competition wich ran from October 15 to 25, brought together 74 players from 11 countries. Held a…
A pointed post from Zimbabwean chess voice Tatenda Gondo asks what the African Chess Confederation's endorsement actually bought the continent — and the first wave of appointments gives him plenty to work with. Five weeks after Timur Turlov won the FIDE pre…
GM Hikaru Nakamura's record-breaking victory streak in the Bullet Brawl arena has finally come to an end after GM Alireza Firouzja stormed home to snatch first place in the 232-strong player event on Saturday. Firouzja finished on 170 points, fou...
GM Javokhir Sindarov goes into the 2026 Salesforce FIDE World Championship against reigning champion GM Gukesh Dommaraju with a lead of 72 rating points and 22 places on the November FIDE rating list. The biggest climber near the top of the list w...
The votes are counted, the winners are known, and now comes the part nobody puts on a ballot paper: living together afterwards. In Malawi, that is the question facing the Chess Association of Malawi, known as Chessam, after Mpilo Mizere secured a second con…
Here is a confession that takes the shine off the most famous opening name in the world: the Queen's Gambit is not truly a gambit. After 1.d4 d5 2.c4, White seems to offer a pawn, but if Black grabs it, White can win it back, and Black cannot keep it withou…
GM Volodar Murzin (2656) beat GM Yue Wang (2619) with the white pieces in round 4, board 11 of the 2026 Chinese Chess League Division A (Round-Robin, R7-11), winning in 57 moves. The classical game opened with the Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Anti-Berlin Vari…
Magnus Carlsen, the world chess champion, prepared for his debut in the Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot by attending a training camp in Spain. Carlsen was joined at the camp by Nodirbek Abdusattorov, David Howell, and his longtime coach, Peter Hei…
GM Magnus Carlsen and GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov have teamed up for a training camp in Spain ahead of the Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot. Joining them are GM David Howell and Carlsen's longtime coach, GM Peter Heine Nielsen. Carlsen and ...
GM Sina Movahed won Freestyle Friday for the second time in three weeks (channeling the old Meat Loaf song) on October 30, despite starting on 1.5/3 points. GM Nodirbek Yakubboev led much of the way, but settled for second place after his 10th-rou...
Reputations in modern sport are rarely lost in courtrooms. They are lost in headlines, and they tend to stay lost long after the headlines are forgotten. That is worth remembering as Wadim Rosenstein answers in public a string of accusations about sanctions…
GM Alexey Sarana won the first 3 0 Thursday with a dominant 10/11 score. Not to be outdone, GM Arjun Erigaisi proceeded to win both the second and third tournaments. It was the second time this year that Arjun won two 3 0 Thursdays on the same day...
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The International Chess Federation (FIDE) and the Egyptian Chess Federation are pleased to announce that the registration deadline for the 2026 FIDE World U7–U17 Rapid and Blitz Championships has been extended to 10 November 2026. The event will take place…
Iranian GM Sina Movahed scored 9 victories and 1 draw to win the October 30 Freestyle Friday tournament with 9.5/11 points. Runner-up Uzbek GM Nodirbek Yakubboev won 8 times, drew 2 times, and lost once, which led him to finish second with 9 points. The Fre…
Gukesh Dommaraju visited the Neem Karoli Baba’s Indian monastery. Gukesh visited the monastery ahead of the FIDE World Championship 2026. The reigning World Champion sought spiritual blessings to defend his title in the match against Javokhir Sindarov. Guke…
Hikaru Nakamura explained why he, Javokhir Sindarov, and Bibisara Assaubayeva were at the same hotel in Cyprus at the same time. Nakamura says that all participants of the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 were given vouchers. The vouchers provide a one-week…
A reorganization is only as good as the people who carry it out, and FIDE has now started putting names to its. On October 30, the federation introduced the first five members of its new administrative team, a line-up that mixes a school-chess executive, a…
Arjun Erigaisi won the Second and Third 3 0 Thursday by scoring 9 and 9.5 points respectively on October 29. Alexey Sarana won the First 3 0 Thursday with 10 points by securing 10 wins. The First 3 0 Thursday October 29, 2026 winners: Place Player Score TB…
Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane was awarded the Golden Ball on October 26. Levy Rozman visited Harry at the club’s training base a few days after the award ceremony. Levy played several chess games with Harry Kane and his teammate Michael Olise. The player…
FIDE announced the venue and dates for the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2026. The event will take place in Istanbul, Turkey, from December 25 to 30. Freedom Holding Corp. will become the title sponsor of the event. The founder of this company an…
Also covered by Chess.com, Chess News Network, FIDE
After announcing its new organisational structure on 26 October 2026, FIDE has begun assembling the team responsible for the Federation’s daily operations. The administration will be headed by Secretary General Alina Dvoretskaya . Her team will execute FIDE…
Javokhir Sindarov shared his love for playing Bullet in an interview with Lichess. Sindarov says that he tries to maintain a 3300 rating on Lichess.org. Javokhir notes that Bullet helps develop the skill of quickly finding small tactics. “Sometimes when I f…
The Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown took place Tue 27th Oct 2026 to 29th Oct 2026. The idea of the event is to have increasing scores from day 1 to day 3 so that the scoring is volatile and likely there will be something to play for right to the end. Javok…
Losing in round one is not how most people plan to win a tournament. Andy Woodward did it anyway. The American grandmaster, who plays on Chess.com as Philippians46, lost his first game of Titled Tuesday on October 27 after blundering a one-move checkmate wh…
The World Federation for Chess Composition (WFCC) is pleased to announce that the Grand Final of the WFCC Fujairah Grand Prix 2025–2026 will take place from 27 to 30 November 2026 in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates . The world’s leading chess solvers will me…
The 3rd and final day of the Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown 2026 in Saint Louis has concluded. Javokhir Sindarov scored 5 wins and 11 draws after 18 rounds. He won the tournament with 20.5/36 points. Sindarov is 1.5 points ahead of the runner-up Praggnana…
GM Javokhir Sindarov won the second edition of Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown 2026 with a final score of 20.5 points after three days. He earned $168,000 (including bonuses) and played the game of the tournament against GM Hikaru Nakamura along ...
Istanbul, Türkiye, will host the 2026 FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships from December 26-30, FIDE announced on Thursday. GMs Magnus Carlsen, Aleksandra Goryachkina, and Bibisara Assaubayeva are the defending champions heading into th...
The year's biggest rapid and blitz party now has an address. FIDE has announced that the World Rapid and Blitz Championships will be held in Istanbul, filling the last blank on a calendar that had been missing both a host and a date. Players and fans can no…
Denis Lazavik shared his opinion on Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen. Lazavik believes that Nakamura and Carlsen were never close in terms of playing strength. Denis notes that Magnus is better than Hikaru in everything except tactical vision. Lazavik spo…
International Master Levy Rozman, known online as GothamChess, visited Bayern Munich to play chess with soccer stars Harry Kane and Michael Olise. The meeting took place just two days after Kane won the Ballon d'Or in London. Chess and Soccer Intersect Rozm…
FIDE announced the appointment of advisers and representatives of President Timur Turlov. These appointments are part of the establishment of FIDE’s new management structure. Emil Sutovsky is appointed to the position of Chief Executive Adviser. He will be…
Istanbul, Türkiye , will welcome the world’s elite chess players this December as the host city of the 2026 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships , one of the most anticipated events on the international chess calendar. Freedom Holding Corp. , FIDE’s str…
Magnus Carlsen participated in the PGX Podcast with Prakhar Gupta. Carlsen was asked to rank chess players from three generations. Magnus ranked the players of the older generation first: “I think, Kasparov, then Fischer. Probably then Karpov, Vishy, and th…
Fabiano Caruana shared his opinion on Hans Moke Niemann in a conversation with Cristian Chirila on the C-Squared Podcast. Caruana says that not focusing on Classical play is a mistake. Fabiano notes that achievements at S-Tier events make headlines. “[Crist…
IM Levy Rozman, better known as GothamChess, had a memorable visit to Bayern Munich to play chess with soccer stars Harry Kane and Michael Olise. The meeting came just two days after Kane won the prestigious Ballon d’Or in London. On Thursd...
Javokhir Sindarov commented on his games on the second day of the Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown 2026. Sindarov emotionally describes his loss against Fabiano Caruana. Javokhir notes that he did not play well that day. “[Question: What do you think was mo…
One move. That is all it takes. White plays 1.e4, Black answers 1...c5, and from that instant the game is no longer a polite conversation. It is a fight, and everyone at the board knows it. The Sicilian Defence is the reply that says "I am not here for a dr…
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu began day two in last place. He ended it in first, with four wins, a draw and a loss in his six games, while Hikaru Nakamura, who started the day on top, slid all the way to fourth. A day that belonged to Praggnanandhaa The turnaro…
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) announces the appointment of advisers and representatives of the President as part of the Federation’s new organisational structure, presented on 26 October 2026. The FIDE President’s Office, headed by Adil Kozhikho…
Ulf Andersson celebrates 75th birthday year with Stockholm invitational Fresh from his induction into the World Chess Hall of Fame, Ulf Andersson will join friends and fellow grandmasters for the Svarta Hästen Invitational in Stockholm on Thursday, 29 Octob…
GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu started at the bottom, but now he's at the top of Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown 2026 with a 1.5-point lead after day two. He pulled a hat trick with two wins against GM Hikaru Nakamura and one against GM Fabiano Car...
The 2nd day of the Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown 2026 in Saint Louis has concluded. Praggnanandhaa R leads with 11 points after 12 rounds. Javokhir Sindarov is in second place with 8.5 points. Praggnanandhaa R defeated Hikaru Nakamura twice, and Javokhir…
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The second edition of the Chess Club Showdown took place on Chess.com on October 28. The 9z Globant club won the event by defeating Team Liquid Chess Club 79-21 in the Final Match. Faustino Oro played 19 Blitz games during the event. Oro won 16 games, drew…
For the second month in a row, 9z Globant won the Chess Club Showdown on October 28, once again defeating Team Liquid in the finals. They were the two highest-scoring teams after a two-hour arena of five-minute blitz games. In the finals, 50 playe...
Most chess players spend years chasing a FIDE title. A result in Budva has now sparked an argument about whether some of them are getting it too cheaply. At the center of it is Dick De Graaf, a Dutch player rated 2113, and a rule that lets a strong result a…
Every so often a top player says out loud what many people in chess have been thinking for a while: the numbers next to a name do not always match the player behind them. This week it was Hikaru Nakamura, according to a summary posted on October 27 by Chess…
Denis Lazavik shared his opinion on Hikaru Nakamura in an interview with Chess with Mustreader. Lazavik believes that Nakamura’s positional play is weak. Denis states that he plays at the same level as Hikaru. “Hikaru is super strong, so it is very difficul…
Croatian FM and content creator Vjekoslav Nemec released a video about Dutch FM Dick De Graaf. Vjekoslav accused Dick of abusing FIDE regulations for obtaining official titles. Dick De Graaf participated in the European Chess Club Cup 2026 team tournament i…
Fabiano Caruana commented on his first day at the Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown 2026. Caruana says that he didn’t play well and was losing drawn positions. Fabiano notes that he played poorly on the first day at the 2025 edition of the event. “I didn’t p…
Hikaru Nakamura commented on his game against Javokhir Sindarov at the Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown 2026. Nakamura notes the unusual Scotch Game variation that Sindarov played. Hikaru jokes that he studied this opening before Javokhir was born. “In the…
If anyone expected Hikaru Nakamura to ease into the Champions Showdown, the first day in Saint Louis told a different story. He finished it on 4/6, with two wins and four draws, unbeaten and half a point clear of Javokhir Sindarov. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu…
GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov (2649) beat GM Mahammad Muradli (2662) with the black pieces in round 2, board 4 of the KazChess Masters Almaty 2026, winning in 42 moves. The classical game opened with the Queen's Gambit Declined: Ragozin Defense, Vienna Variation.…
GM Hikaru Nakamura leads by half a point after day one of Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown 2026. He scored two wins in six games with no losses to reach 4/6. GM Javokhir Sindarov, who scored one win and no losses for 3.5 points, is in sole second,...
The first day of the Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown 2026 in Saint Louis has concluded. Hikaru Nakamura leads with 4 points after 6 rounds. Javokhir Sindarov is in second place with 3.5 points. Hikaru Nakamura defeated Fabiano Caruana and Praggnanandhaa R,…
Andy Woodward scored 9.5 points with 9 victories and 1 draw to win the Titled Tuesday on October 27. Runner-up Arjun Erigaisi won 9 times, drew 1 time, and lost once, which led him to finish second with 9.5 points. Three players finished with 9.5 points, re…
Also covered by Chess.com
GM Andy Woodward added his name to the list of Titled Tuesday winners on October 27, scraping by on tiebreaks ahead of GM Arjun Erigaisi despite losing in the first round. GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave came back from a second-round loss to finish thir...
Denis Lazavik commented on his statements about Hikaru Nakamura, Abhimanyu Mishra, and women. Lazavik says that he experienced media attention from the popularity of his quotes. Denis does not believe he said anything out of line. Lazavik spoke about it in…
Fabiano Caruana shared his opinion on Hikaru Nakamura. Caruana discusses whether Nakamura can be considered a top 5 chess player in the world. Fabiano notes that Hikaru plays few over-the-board tournaments and shows weak results. Caruana spoke about it in a…
FIDE President Timur Turlov spoke about the media potential of professional chess in an interview on the Jibek Joly TV channel. Turlov says that he wants to make chess tournament broadcasts entertaining. Timur believes that chess can become a media sport on…
Get ready to go wild with your attacks. The Chess.com Crazyhouse Championship is the next event of the Chess.com Community Championships. The event starts on November 5 and features a $2,500 prize fund. Crazyhouse is a chess variant in which play...
Three moves. That is all it takes to start one of the longest-running stories in chess. Play 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5, and you are walking a road that players have been walking for more than 500 years. This is the first in a series on the stories behind ches…
On November 12–13, Almaty will host the 4th International Scientific and Practical Conference “Chess in Education” at Narxoz University. The event is a part of the Comprehensive Plan for the Development of Chess in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2023–2027,…
A month after winning the presidency, Timur Turlov has shown how he wants to run FIDE. In a first-person statement published on October 26, he says the federation has reached its next stage of development, and he sets out a reorganization with new bodies, a…
Timur Turlov said earlier this year that FIDE would hold another General Assembly before 2026 ended, and he has now put a date on it. In an invitation published on October 26, FIDE announced an Extraordinary General Assembly for December 27 at 14:30 CET, he…
Also covered by FIDE
Dear chess friends, Earlier this year, I publicly committed to holding another FIDE General Assembly before the end of 2026. I believe it is important to honour this commitment and provide our member federations with an opportunity to address the matters th…
Timur Turlov, President of the International Chess Federation When I announced my candidacy for FIDE President, I spoke about the need to take our organization to a new level. Today, I would like to present one of the first important steps in that direction…
