2025 Year in Review

2025 was a marvelous year. This is my final blog of 2025. 2025 is a perfect square year. The square root of 2025 is 45. 45 squared = 45 x 45 = 2025. That was mathematically interesting of the year 2025. Perfect square years only happen once in a century. The last perfect square year was 1936. The next one will be 2116. This year I graduated middle school (8th grade) in June. I started high school (9th grade) in September. In early January, the World #1 GM Magnus Carlsen married Ella Victoria Malone in Oslo. Roman Shogdzhiev, 9 years old, became the youngest player to score one out of the three norms to become an International Master. The International Chess Federation Council allowed Russian and Belarusian athleties in youth competitions. Andrejs Strebkov was banned for 12 years from all FIDE rated over-the-board competitions and his International Master Title was revoked. In February, GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa defeated the current  18 year old world champion Gukesh Dommaraju with a score of 2-1 in the blitz playoffs to win the Tata Steels Masters. Both players had a 8.5/13 score. Gukesh lost his first  game in the final round against GM Arjun Erigaisi. Thai Dai Van Nguyen qualified for the Masters tournament in the following year 2026. Vincent Keymer won the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour after defeating GM Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen won the Chessable Masters in late February. The top 3 players Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, and Ian Nepomniachtchi qualified for the Esports World Cup this year. In March, GM Ian Nepomniachtchi won the Aeroflot Open for the fourth time since 2008. Pranav Vanketesh and Anna Shukhman became the 2025 World Junior Chess Champions. GM Hikaru Nakamura won the American Cup for the second time after defeating U.S. Champion GM Fabiano Caruana in the grand final. Kirill Shevchenko was banned for 3 years plus suspended for 1 year for trying to cheat using a smartphone during the Spanish Team Championships last year in October 2024. His grandmaster title was removed. In April, GM Magnus Carlsen got a perfect score 9/9 points in the Grenke Freestyle Open and won. Vassily Ivanchuk won the 4th Annual Menorca by having 8/9 points. In May, Christopher Yoo won the Sardina Chess Festival. He had 7.5/9 points. He was suspended from USCF rated tournaments for 60 days after many complaints. Later that month, GM Sam Shankland won the American Continental Chess Championship 3 times in his chess career. Jose Martinez and Nils Grandelius got 2nd and 3rd place. In June, GM Gukesh Dommaraju defeated the former world champion GM Magnus Carlsen in a classical game in the 6th round in Norway. Alexey Grebnev won the Dubai Open with 7/9 ahead of Alan Pichot. Magnus Carlsen won the Norway Chess championship 7 times while Anna Muzychuk won the women's championship . Team MGD1 won the World Rapid Team Championship. Alexey Sarana won the Aktobe open with 7/9 points. In July, the World Chess Federation (FIDE) banned Christopher Yoo until mid-November when the USCF requested FIDE to ban him from international tournaments. He is on probation for 5 years until 2030. GM Anish Giri returned to top 10 after more than 1 year on the FIDE Rating list. Russian players were not on the top 10 standings since the inception of the ratings. GM Magnus Carlsen won the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz in Croatia with a score of 22.5/36. Tan Zhongyi defeated Lei Tingjie in the game for 3rd place in the Women's World Cup and qualified for the 2026 FIDEWomen's Candidates Tournament. IM Divya Deskmuth, at 19 years old defeated GM Koneru Humpy in the finals of the FIDE Women's World Cup. The score was 2.5-1.5. Divya became the third women's world cup champion. She became a grandmaster after the tournament. The winner and the runner-up earned a spot for the FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament next year. In August, Magnus Carlsen won the Inaugural Esports World Cup. He was on team Liquid.  He defeated GM Alireza Firouzja. Firouzja was on team Falcons. GM Wesley So won the 2025 Sinquefield Cup after blitz playoffs. Wesley So, Fabiano Caruana, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa were tied for 1st place. In September, GM Abhimanyu Mishra defeated the reigning world champion GM Gukesh Dommaraju in round 5 in the FIDE Grand Swiss. Vaishali Rameshbabu defended her title by winning the FIDE Women's Grand Swiss. She is the first player to win many Grand Swiss events. She qualified for the 2026 FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament. GM Anish Giri won the FIDE Grand Swiss with 8/11 points. This made him qualify for the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament.  He became the youngest player to defeat the world champion at 16 years old.  Pranav V won the inaugural Fujairah Global Championship. He scored a 7/9. In early October, Fabiano Caruana defeated Maxime-Vachier Lagrave in the grand finals. The score was 15-13. Caruana was ahead by 2 points. Levon Aronian was in 3rd place. Late October, FIDE investigated former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik's cheating allegations against Daniel Naroditsky. Kramnik's statements were reported to the Ethics and Disciplinary Commission. Magnus Carlsen won the Clutch Chess Champions showdown on October 29th. It was a rapid tournament organized by the Saint Louis Chess Club. GM Andrey Esipenko won the 3rd place match of the FIDE World Cup when he defeated Nodirbek Yakubboev. The score was 2-0. Esipenko qualified for the Candidates Tournament next year. GM Javokhir Sindarov won against Wei Li in the tiebreaks at the age of 19. He is the youngest player to win the World Cup. He qualified for the FIDE Candidates Tournament.  FIDE said the Candidates Tournament will take place in Paphos, Cyprus from March 28th to April 15th 2026. On December 14th, FIDE's General Assembly voted to allow Russian and Belarusian teams to play in FIDE rated events. GM Magnus Carlsen won both the World Rapid and World Blitz Chess Championships on December 29th and December 30th. He has won the FIDE World Rapid Championship 6 times. He played his ninth World Blitz championship. He defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorv in the finals. Carlsen scored 10.5/13 in the World Rapid Championship. GM Aleksandra Goryachkina defeated Zhu Jiner in the blitz playoffs. They were both tied for 1st place. That is how Goryachkina won the 2025 FIDE Women's World Rapid Championship. Bibisara Assaubayeva won her 3rd FIDE Women's World Blitz Championship after defeating former world blitz champion Anna Muzychuk in the finals. She also qualified for the Women's Candidates Tournament next year. Those are all the moments and events that happened this year in 2025. Thank you all for making 2025 a phenomenal year. Happy New Year! See you next year in 2026.