Best Moments of 2025!
Dear,readers,welcome to my last blog in 2025!
They say the best way to improve at chess is to study the endgame, but I think the best way to improve as a writer is to just... keep showing up.
GM-Dimitrios-M
Phew-we made it! If you told me at the start of the year that The Corner of Chess would survive a full sixteen months of 18 posts, I might have offered you a draw right then and there. But thanks to the incredible community here, this hasn't felt like a chore; it’s felt like a conversation.
First off, I really hope you all had a great Christmas. I hope you got to unplug, eat way too much food, and actually spend some quality time with the people who matter. Even though we haven’t met in real life, I genuinely consider the regulars here to be friends. So, before we get into the heavy chess stuff, sending a massive 'digital high-five' (or a virtual hug, if you’re into that!) to everyone reading. Let’s start the end of the year with some good energy!
If 2024 was the year of the breakthrough, 2025 was the year of the rollercoaster. It’s been wild watching the balance of power shift—teenagers turning into giants while the legends of the game reminded us why they’re still at the top. Between the brilliant sacrifices and the heart-stopping time-trouble scrambles, it was a year that definitely kept the chess world on its toes.
Writing for you has been the highlight of my 2025. Whether we were analyzing the game of chess or just chatting in the comments, you’ve kept my motivation high. Since this is our final meeting for the year, I wanted to do something special. I’ve looked back at everything that happened on (and off) the board this year to bring you my 10 favorite moments. From #10 to the #1 spot that defined the year, here is 2025 in review!
After thinking about it for a while, here are my top 10 events of 2025, listed from 10th to the absolute best one. And at the end, a special New Year's message to everyone. I hope you enjoy it!
Table of Contents
Javokhir Sindarov's Miracle in Goa
The Greek "Giant Slayer" Stuns the Champ
A new member of the 2700 club!
World Rapid & Blitz Championship
My Chess Journey — 2025: A Year of Growth
10.Javokhir Sindarov’s Miracle in Goa
If you had told me at the start of November that Javokhir Sindarov would be the one lifting the trophy in Goa, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. But the 19-year-old Uzbek star proved everyone wrong. He didn't just win; he became the youngest FIDE World Cup Champion in history, surviving a brutal month-long marathon.
The final against Wei Yi was pure stress. After two draws in the classical games, everything came down to the rapid tiebreaks on November 26th.
In the first rapid game, Sindarov actually had a winning chance in a simplified endgame but hesitated and let it slip into a draw. Most players would have crumbled after missing a shot like that against a world-class opponent like Wei Yi. But Sindarov stayed incredibly calm.
The second game was where the drama really peaked. They were both playing on basically zero seconds, just reacting by instinct. Wei Yi—who had been unbeaten for 27 games straight—finally cracked under the pressure. He missed a drawing line and blundered with 57.Rxd4??. Sindarov pounced instantly with 57…Qh4+, and it was over.
Seeing him wrapped in the Uzbekistan flag at the closing ceremony was a huge moment. He’s earned his spot in the 2026 Candidates, and after seeing him outplay one of world's best under that kind of pressure, he’s going to be a problem for anyone he faces.
Find out more:Javokhir Sindarov crowned 2025 FIDE World Cup Champion
9.The Greek "Giant Slayer" Stuns the Champ
Look, honestly, who cares about a Greek player beating a player? Greece isn't exactly strong at chess. Well, maybe most people don't care, but you are reading the blog of a Greek player, and to me, it is very important. So, as this list is mine, I decided to include it here. If you don't like it, cool... your opinion will be registered and ignored. Let me be happy!
On September 9, 2025, in Samarkand, Nikolas Theodorou sat down across from the reigning World Champion, Gukesh D. Now, Gukesh was in a terrible mood because he’d just lost to Abhimanyu Mishra the day before. He was playing like he wanted to tear the board apart just to get a win back. He even threw out a super weird move, 9. c5, that Nikolas said he’d never even seen before.
But the part that had everyone talking happened in the endgame. Gukesh was pushing so hard for a win that he actually convinced himself he’d forced a threefold repetition. He stood up, found the arbiter, and made the official claim. But when they checked the log? It was only a twofold repetition. Because the claim was wrong, the rules gave Nikolas two extra minutes on his clock. Imagine the tilt!
Gukesh eventually resigned after 47 moves and stormed out of the hall. Meanwhile, Nikolas gave this super humble interview afterward—he didn't even realize he’d just joined the 'Chigorin Club' (the elite group of players who’ve beaten a sitting World Champ). For a Greek fan like me, seeing our flag next to a '1-0' against the World Champion was easily the highlight of the year.
If you like "correct" and boring chess, skip this one. But if you like absolute chaos, queens flying everywhere, and king hunts that look like they were played by a computer from the future, then this is for you. On September 7, 2025, during Round 4 of the Grand Swiss in Samarkand, 14-year-old Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş played a game against Aditya Mittal that people will be talking about for decades.
I’m not exaggerating when I say the evaluation bar was having a stroke. At one point, Aditya Mittal had two queens on the board. Usually, when a Grandmaster has two queens against you, you resign and go get a coffee. Not Yağız.
The kid didn't care about the material. In a position that looked completely lost, Erdoğmuş found a stunning queen sacrifice—yes, he let his queen go while Aditya still had two!—just to force a mating net.
The finish was pure art. With both players down to their last few minutes, Yağız chased the king across the board until—and I’m not kidding—he delivered checkmate with a pawn. A humble little pawn on g6 sealed the deal against a guy with two queens. It’s been called the "Turkish Immortal,"or the ''Evergreen of the next generation'' and honestly, it’s the kind of game that reminds you why you started playing chess in the first place.
7.Magnus slammed the table
How would you feel if you lost a winning position while playing at home, in one of the most important events of the year? That was exactly what happened to Magnus Carlsen in June. After being defeated by the World Champion, Gukesh, at the prestigious Norway Chess tournament, Magnus was involved in one of the most iconic (and loudest) scenes of 2025.
You’ve probably watched the clip a thousand times by now, but since the goal today is to recap the year, we have to talk about it. It’s the video of him slamming the table with a massive "thud" the second he realized his position was beyond saving. For a second, it looked like the pieces were going to fly right off the board.
Later, in an interview with the Pardon My Take podcast, Magnus got surprisingly honest about why he snapped. He said:
The loss just felt so dumb and unnecessary. It made me feel so washed and useless that I thought for a few days... I am not sure... why am I doing this? When I win, it feels good and normal. But when I lose, for a moment, the world just falls apart.
It’s crazy to hear the GOAT talk about feeling "washed," right? But that’s the pressure of being at the top. Gukesh, on the other hand, was the definition of "chill." He wasn't offended by the outburst at all. In fact, he seemed to be having the time of his life with the internet's reaction:
I'm so glad we memed chess. There was a cat meme, the cat falls from the table. My whole feed is blessed with this meme. I was laughing for like 10 minutes.
Whether you think it was bad sportsmanship or just "passion," you can't deny it was the most human moment of the summer.
6.Freestyle Chess
2025 was the year that "standard" chess finally got a serious rival for our attention. While Freestyle Chess (also known as Chess960 or Fischer Random) has been around forever, this was the year it stopped being a "side event" and became a massive, professional circuit with huge prize pools and world-class production.
If you’re new to this, the rules are the same, but the starting positions are randomized. No opening theory, no 20-move engine preparation—just pure talent and creativity from move one.
The 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour was a five-city world tour (including stops in Paris, Las Vegas, and Cape Town). With a $200,000 first-place prize at each event, the elite players took it very seriously.
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Vincent Keymer set the tone by winning the very first event in Germany, proving the "young guard" is incredibly dangerous when you take away the opening books.
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Magnus Carlsen then reminded everyone why he’s the GOAT by dominating the middle of the tour with two big wins.
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Levon Aronian had a massive resurgence, finishing the year strong by winning the final two events, including an undefeated run in the Cape Town finals.
In the end, even though Aronian was the hottest player at the finish line, Magnus Carlsen was crowned the overall Tour Champion because of his sheer consistency. It just goes to show: whether the pieces start in the right place or are scrambled like eggs, Magnus is probably going to find a way to win.
5.A new member of the 2700 club!
For years, we’ve called Nihal Sarin the "Blitz King" or the "Speed Demon," but the big question always was: When will he hit 2700 in Classical? In 2025, the wait finally ended. Nihal didn't just cross the line; he smashed through it.
He officially entered the 2700 club in the October 2025 FIDE list after a brilliant performance at the FIDE Grand Swiss. But he didn't stop there. Just a few weeks ago (December 2025), he went to Tashkent and won the 4th President Cup Masters for the second year in a row, finishing with a massive 2836 performance rating!
His live rating has now climbed to 2715, putting him safely inside the World Top 30 and making him India's #5.
What makes Nihal’s 2025 so special is how he did it. While other players are making headlines with drama, Nihal just sits there, plays moves at lightning speed, and slowly tortures his opponents. As one fan on Reddit put it: "Silently, a demon rises." He’s no longer just a "prodigy"—he is a Super GM, and at 21 years old, he’s becoming one of the most feared names on the tournament circuit.
4.World Rapid & Blitz Championship
I am writing about a tournament that is reaching its absolute climax as we speak. The World Rapid & Blitz Championship is currently being held in Doha, Qatar, and the energy is electric.
The beauty of this yearly event is that the defending champion has no "safe" seat; everyone starts from zero. In 2025, the field was massive, with 231 players in the Open section alone, including giants like Carlsen, Caruana, and the new World Champion Gukesh.
The Rapid Championship wrapped up just three days ago on December 28, and the results were legendary:
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Open Section: Magnus Carlsen proved once again why he is the GOAT of fast chess, securing his 6th World Rapid title with a dominant 10.5/13 score.
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Women’s Section: The trophy went to Aleksandra Goryachkina.
After a three-way tie for first, she kept her cool in a high-pressure blitz playoff to claim the gold.
As the final kings fell in the Blitz competition on December 30th, the "Double Crown" became a reality once again. Despite a heart-stopping moment where Magnus accidentally scattered his pieces and lost on time against Haik Martirosyan, he clawed his way into the new knockout playoff format and emerged victorious.
2025 Blitz Champions:
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Open: Magnus Carlsen (His 9th Blitz title and 20th World Title overall). He defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorov 2.5–1.5 in the final.
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Women: Bibisara Assaubayeva (Her 3rd Blitz title). At just 21, she beat Anna Muzychuk in the final to secure the gold and a spot in the 2026 Women's Candidates Tournament.
3.FIDE Grand Swiss 2025
Opening the podium is an event that has already defined the future of the World Championship cycle. In September 2025, the prestigious FIDE Grand Swiss took place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
This 11-round marathon featured 116 players in the Open section with a staggering average rating of 2640, making it the strongest Swiss-format tournament of the year.
The Winners & Qualifiers:
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1st Place: Anish Giri (8/11) – The "Draw King" era is officially over.
Giri was clinical and aggressive, clinching the top spot and $90,000 after defeating Hans Niemann in a high-stakes final round. This marks his third trip to the Candidates. -
2nd Place: Matthias Blübaum (7.5/11) – The ultimate underdog story.
Despite a starting rating of 2671, the German GM went undefeated, taking down top seeds like Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi to secure the second Candidates spot.
The Rise of the Teens:
The tournament also belonged to the "New Gen" of American prodigies who proved they are ready for the world stage:
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Abhimanyu Mishra (16): Finished in an incredible 5th place, headlined by his historic win over World Champion Gukesh—becoming the youngest player ever to beat a reigning champ in classical chess.
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Andy Woodward (15): Finished 7th, showing maturity far beyond his years by holding his own against the world’s elite.
To put their success in perspective, legendary Super GMs like Levon Aronian and Boris Gelfand struggled in this shark tank, finishing 84th and 97th respectively.
2.FIDE World Cup 2025
For me, the single most gripping event of the professional calendar was the FIDE World Cup this past November. Hosted in Goa, India, the tournament brought together a massive field of 206 players, all fighting for those three life-changing spots in the Candidates Tournament.
The beauty of a knockout bracket is that nobody is safe. We saw absolute giants of the game—players like Gukesh, Abdusattorov, Arjun, and Praggnanandhaa—get knocked out much earlier than anyone expected.
In the end, three players stood on the podium and secured their path to the next World Championship cycle:
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Gold: Javohir Sindarov
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Silver: Wei Yi
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Bronze: Andrey Esipenko
There’s always a debate about whether such a high-stakes event should decide Candidates spots, but I think the result speaks for itself. These three earned their places by winning on the board under the highest pressure imaginable. I’m a big supporter of this system because it rewards results rather than rating points, which can be protected or even manipulated. Seeing these three qualify was the right outcome—they simply played the best chess when it mattered.
1.My Chess Journey — 2025: A Year of Growth
And what could be more important in the chess world this year than a tournament offering three spots in the Candidates? Well, as I said at the beginning, this list is mine, so the top spot had to be about my own journey as a blogger. I’m not just talking about one single moment, but the entire year I spent sharing my thoughts and passion with all of you. With your amazing support, I managed to finish 12 posts in 2025, and honestly, that’s an achievement I’m really proud of.
Besides the blogging, 2025 was also my best year on the board. I finally jumped from 790 to 1300 ELO in Rapid, hitting that peak of 1300 on December 8th! It might sound small to some titled players, but I’ve been chasing that milestone for a long time. My Blitz progress was even crazier: I started at 741 and hit 1722 on November 1st. We all know that holding onto 1700 is a nightmare if you aren't playing constantly, so I’ve settled at 1565 right now—still a massive gain! And in Bullet, I climbed from 1170 to 1500, peaking at 1578 just yesterday on December 30th.
To wrap up this list, I want to show you my best game of 2025—a 29-move miniature played on January 6th. It’s true that my opponent helped me out a bit with some weird moves, but I was proud of how precise I played and that final checkmate combination. Let me know in the comments if you can find the winning sequence!
The Heart of the Community: BlogChamps
I hope the answer to my question earlier was obvious: what could be more important than the Candidates? Our community! In 2025, we completed three incredible seasons(which I participated in two of them) of the most exciting blogging competition on the internet: BlogChamps.
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Season 7 wrapped up in January with a record 76 qualifier submissions and 30 more in the knockouts—106 posts in total. I honestly thought that record would be broken even if I wasn't a participant.(I want a participant but this season can't be forgotten!)
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Season 8 finished in July and smashed it with 131 submissions.(I got the 39th place!)
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Season 9 ended in October with 128.(I got the 15th place in Week 1 and the 19th in Week 2)
The competition is at an all-time high, with over 300 new members joining us in 2025! A huge congratulations to this year's winners:@JustGettingThisOffMyChess, @RookMindset, and @PokeGirl93.
But we aren't satisfied yet! Season 10 is currently underway, and Week 2 of the qualifiers starts in just three days. Week 1 already saw 54 submissions, yet another record broken(I got the 16th place). If you haven't joined yet, don't hesitate—visit our homepage and get involved.
And I didn't forget The Blogger Awards v2.0!They awarded me in July with the best thumbail and in September with the most improved blogger of the season!Thanks very much judges!
Thank you all for an unforgettable 2025. Here’s to more checkmates and better blogs in 2026!
Before I wrap this up, I have to mention Daniel Naroditsky. His passing this October was a massive blow to everyone in the chess world. It’s hard to put into words how much he’ll be missed, but since this is a "Top 10" list, I wanted to focus on the positive marks he left behind. Danya had this incredible way of making the whole chess world feel like a closer community. I just wanted to send my condolences to his family—his energy and his love for the game are things I’ll never forget.
Conclusion
If you’re still here, thank you so much for reading! I really hope you enjoyed traveling back through the best chess moments of 2025 with me. Honestly, 2026 has everything it needs to be even better, with the Candidates Tournament and the World Chess Championship just around the corner. I can’t wait to see how those unfold.
On a personal level, this has been an amazing year. Being able to share my lessons, my checkmate series, and this big recap with all of you has been a highlight for me. If you’re one of those readers who has been with me from the start—or even if you just joined today—thanks a million for the support. It’s what keeps me blogging!
Finally, I want to end this post by wishing every single one of you a very Happy 2026! I hope the new year brings you tons of joy, love, and success. Whatever goals you’ve set for yourself, I hope you crush them. Just remember to stay positive; life is a total rollercoaster, and it’s the tough moments that make the wins feel so much more special.
May your 2026 be full of brilliant sacrifices, solid endgames, and—most importantly—no mouse-slips. See you next year!
That’s all for today, dear friends! If there’s anything else from 2025 you think I missed, definitely let me know in the comments below. I’ll see you all in January for the first blog of the new year.
Take care, and see you soon!
