New Tournaments, Courses, Bots And More

As another year approaches its close, the activity at Chess.com is only ramping up. We are bringing back the Chess.com Global Championship and introduced a new tournament, all while continuing to put out product updates, computer opponents, and content pieces—including the completion of a big Chessable course.

Here's everything this update covers: 

• Events
• Product & Engineering
• Community
• Content
• Chessable
• ChessKid
• Fair Play
• Support

Events

• We announced the return of the Chess.com Global Championship in 2026. Check out the announcement and mark your calendars now for its start on March 14!
• GM Magnus Carlsen still holds the CCT standings lead as Titled Tuesday moves into a new split, with CGC qualification on the line.
• Our brand-new tournament, 3 0 Thursday, was announced and debuted. With a trio of three-minute tournaments every Thursday, there is no shortage of action.
• The Speed Chess Championship semifinals are set, with GMs Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja, and Denis Lazavik representing the field after they all won their quarterfinal matches in November. Get your ticket for the final matches today! They happen February 7-8 but tickets sell fast.
• The FIDE World Cup dominated November headlines as GM Javokhir Sindarov became the youngest ever champion of the World Cup. Finalist GM Wei Yi and third-place finisher GM Andrey Esipenko also qualified for the 2026 Candidates Tournament.
• St. Louis University won the Fall 2025 season of the Collegiate Chess League, defeating the University of Texas-Dallas in the final on November 22.
• NM Isaac Chiu won another Chess.com Community Championship, this time the Crazyhouse Championship on November 9. The last Community Championship of the year is coming on December 11-12: it's the Fog Of War!

Product & Engineering

• As every December, there are five fresh holiday bots to play! (Although, in the case of Leftover Turkey, perhaps not so fresh...)
• What opening to play is a question every chess player faces every game. We built a brand-new openings quiz to help you decide how to answer that question—try it today!

If you are in tech and would like to join our team, we're hiring!

Community

• GothamChess vs. the World, the biggest chess game in history with over 225,000 players, ended in checkmate for Levy. He earns some bragging rights over Magnus, who could only draw against 143,000 opponents back in May. 
• On November 20-22, Chess.com was at the Formula One Vegas Grand Prix, represented by the Chessbrahs GMs Eric Hansen and Aman Hambleton. Twenty chess fans won their very own Las Vegas Grand Prix themed chess board to take home, in what we do not expect to be the last F1-Chess.com mashup.
• To make the most of the ongoing Chess Improvement Challenge, join the club today and check out the club forum, too! Every month, we will recognize the top improvers and share improvement stories.

Content

• Gotham and IM Sagar Shah continued to share Chess.com YouTube screen time in November. GM Arjun Erigaisi, IM Carissa Yip, and IM Tani Adewumi also shared their opinions on several chess player idiosyncrasies (like enjoying a 2 a.m. bullet chess session): are they red flags or not so bad?

• The same group of titled American and Indian players also shared their favorite opening trap:

• Our articles this past month included some fascinating stalemates highlighted by NM Jeremy Kane; WIM Luciana Morales' guide to Chessable tactics courses; and FM Mike Klein's feature on Chessup.

Chessable & Courses

WFM Anna Cramling's 1.d4 Chess.com Course is complete with the release of Part II, which covers the Nimzo-Indian, King's Indian, Dutch Defense, and more! You can read more about the course is in the updated announcement. And if you haven't taken Part I yet, be sure to try it out too!

ChessKid

Several big upgrades recently dropped at the ChessKid iOS app, including an even more fun experience, faster matchmaking, customizable avatars, smoother gameplay, and increased connectivity with other kids. Download or update your app today, and don't worry, these upgrades are coming soon to Android and desktop as well.

• ChessKid will also be at several chess events and festivals in the coming months: the K-12 Grade Nationals in Spokane, Washington, December 11-14; the Youth Chess Festival in Dorado, Puerto Rico, December 14-21; and the New York City Scholastics in January (more information to come). Let us know if you'll be at one of them (or more, if you like to travel)!

Fair Play

Fair Play Stats for November

• 950,295 reports created
• 126,005 Fair Play closures (including 16 titled players: 7 FM, 4 CM, 3 IM, 1 NM, 1 GM)
• 2,400+ mute actions
• 2,100+ accounts muted
• 264,300+ abuse closures
• 36,464,631 rating points refunded

Support

Support Stats for November

• Median Time to First Human Response: 26 hours
• Users Helped: 810,830
• Users Helped By Humans: 115,706
• Average Quality by Member Rating: 93.9%
• Total Ratings: 4,148

Thank you for being part of the world's largest chess community. Let us know your thoughts and ideas in the comments below!

Missed any updates? Open the menu below for all past editions of the Community Update, or find last month's here.