My January post of the month.
I am starting a new series! in it I will make my predictions of what will happen this month in the chess world and tell you any big chess news. So, let's dive in.
What tournaments to watch:
- Tata Steel Chess masters is one of the top events this month with many top players including Caruana, Carlsen, Giri, Van Foreest, Karjakin, Duda, Dubov, top junior Praggnanandhaa, and many more. Tata Steel will start on January 15th.
- The other event to watch is the Gilbralter Chess Festival which starts in late January.
Players of The Month:
Our first player of the month is Maxime-Vachier-Lagrave. He is my top pick because he won the world blitz chess championship.
My second player is Nodirbek Abdusattorov because he rose into the spotlight near the end of December after winning the world blitz chess champion.
Female Player of the month:
I am picking for my first female player Bibisara Assaubayeva because she won the world women's blitz chess championship.
My second female player of the month is Alexandra Kosteniuk because she won the world rapid chess championship.
Junior of the month:
My first junior of the month is Praggnanandhaa because he got a spot in Tata Steel, and as of today has made a draw with Giri as black who outrates him by more than 100 points!
My next junior of the month is Tani Adewumi because he came 3rd in his group for the chess.com puzzle world chess championship, ahead of an IM. In his first match he lost to Daniel Naroditsky by a very small score.
Game of the month:
One of my favorite games this month was Vidit Gurajthi beating Danil Dubov brilliantly. Here is the game. Dubov was white, and Gurajthi was black.
Puzzle of the month:
My puzzle of the month also comes from round three of Tata Steel Chess. The players who played the game that the puzzle is in are Nils Grandelius as white, and Richard Rapport as black. What in this position did Richard Rapport play to go on to win the game? Try to figure it out, and I will give you a hint if you are stumped at the end of this section. The game will be at the end of the blog.
Hint: There are four more moves in the game, and the first move is with the rook on c3.
My favorite blogger/content creator/streamer of the month:
My favorite creator/blogger/streamer of the month is FM Mike Klein known as FunMasterMike on Chesskid because he commentated on a very exciting tournament the January called the Chesskid Baltic Festival. He has also done a lot in the past few months for the chess community, especially for kids. 
Puzzle of the month solution:
Conclusion:
Well, there you have it. That's the news, best players, puzzles, and games for the month of January. Thank you for reading, and I will be back next month with another blog.
