A Month Of Magnus! Martin! And... Jeans?
Yes, that's right, pants were a key storyline in chess this past month (this year, really). But not just any pair of pants: GM Magnus Carlsen's pair of pants.
Read on to see what the heck we're talking about, plus other key events in chess this month and next, including our latest computer personalities—it turns out Martin has quite the family.
Here's what this update covers:
Events
Two major tournaments happened in February, the Chessable Masters and Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, with a combined $900,000 on the line. One winner was expected, and the other was a surprise. What is in store for March?
- Carlsen won the Chessable Masters, the first of two Champions Chess Tour events this year, defeating GM Hikaru Nakamura in the Grand Final.
- Carlsen, Nakamura, and GM Ian Nepomniachtchi all played well enough at the Chessable Masters to qualify for the July 31-August 3 Esports World Cup. Their advancement takes on added importance for their newly-signed esports teams: Team Liquid, Team Falcons, and Aurora CS2, respectively. Esports squads everywhere are locking in as many grandmasters as they can for the World Cup.
- GM Vincent Keymer won the other major event in February, the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Weissenhaus, taking home $200,000. Keymer defeated GM Fabiano Caruana in the final.
- IM Justus Williams was the winner of the NextGen Cup on February 6, beating IM Farai Mandizha in an armageddon tiebreak. FM Tani Adewumi tied for third.
- FM Matfey Rogov won the 3-Check Community Championship, his second variant championship.
- The Titled Tuesday Grand Prix is almost half complete already, with Nakamura leading and Carlsen close behind. Eight players qualify for the Speed Chess Championship and eight more for the Women's Speed Chess Championship.
- The March schedule is dominated by evergreen events, such as Tuesday, Freestyle Friday, and Bullet Brawl, as well as seasonal events such as the Collegiate Chess League and India College Chess Championship.
Product & Engineering
Bots, of course, plus some quality-of-life improvements you should know about.
- Everyone's first bot, Martin, is no longer the only member of his infamous family that you can play. For all of March, you can challenge not just Martin (and enjoy some new dialogue) but also his kids, dog, and wife.
- Experience improvements continue to be rolled out to 100% of Chess.com members, as anyone on web can now hear coach audio in Lessons and access the improved Show Moves tool in Game Review, with both features now 100% released.
If you are in tech and would like to join our team, we're hiring!
Community
Carlsen made news back in December when he chose to quit the World Rapid Championship instead of changing out of the pair of blue jeans he wore to the event. When he decided to put that same pair of jeans up for a charity auction, our community stepped forward in a big way.
- Magnus's infamous pair of blue jeans from the 2024 World Rapid Championship went at auction for $36,100, raising money for Big Brothers Big Sisters!
- Musician and chess fan Hamilton Leithauser hosted an arena tournament in the community club on March 5, which 220 community members joined. Winner @JayRx earned a match with Leithauser, tickets to a Leithauser show, and three months of Diamond.
- We just wrapped our disc golf onsite activation this weekend (at the Discraft Supreme Flight Open Presented by Florida's Adventure Coast in Brooksville, FL), which ended in a three-round Swiss 10+0 tournament won by pro disc golfer Ethan Hine
- 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
Lots of great content to share from this past month as well!
- The world champion, GM Gukesh Dommajaru, and world #4 Caruana both gave us interviews in the tried-and-true autocomplete format.
- Hikaru and Magnus also gave interviews, focusing on the ever-changing role of FIDE in chess and its relationship with top players.
Top articles this month included tips on how to use an engine (hint: not during games!) and a power ranking of all the esports teams that will be competing in the July/August World Cup.
Chessable
Chessable's got not one but two exciting new courses and course updates this month, including one currently available for 40% off—with a combined more than 30 hours of video between them.
- IM Kostya Kavutskiy's presentation of FM Frank Erwich's five-star course, "100 Tactical Patterns You Must Know," is out now!
- Legendary GM Artur Jussupow's "Fundamentals" courses received a video update with Jussupow himself presenting it! The course is on sale through March 12. Jussupow was also Chess.com's Coach of the Month for February—check out the interview!
ChessKid
The Kids vs. Stars series had its fourth rendition and is quickly becoming a popular event for fans and prodigies alike.
- GM Daniel "Danya" Naroditsky took on four kids in an online clock simul and came out ahead... barely! IM Alice Lee, who also won her game against GM Anish Giri in Kids vs. Stars 3, defeated Danya, while IM Aaron Mendes scored a draw.
- ChessKid's YouTube channel continues to grow, approaching 110,000 subscribers. YouTube playlists, like "Learn Chess Openings For White," narrated by FM FunMaster Mike Klein himself, can help any kid up their chess game by theme.
- This month's ChessKid spotlight was on GM Andy Woodward, who recently won the 2025 Chess.com Puzzles Championship.
Fair Play
The work of ensuring a fair playing environment never ends. Relative to some past months, however, titled players were generally well-behaved in February.
Fair Play Stats for February:
- 810,006 reports created
- 106,481 Fair Play closures (including eight titled players: four CMs, one NM, two FMs, and one IM)
- 31,300+ mute actions
- 27,700+ accounts muted
- 201,500+ abuse closures
- 46,704,898 rating points refunded
Support
Our growth together has also increased the demands on our Support team, who continues to answer the call!
- Average Time to First Human Response: 2 days
- Total Number of Conversations: 27,541
- Average Quality by Member Rating: 91.3%
- Total Ratings: 3,545
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.
