Chess Matrix: A Look Back at 2024

Happy New Year everyone! This is a summary of all the interesting, awesome, devastating, and tremendous chess events of the past year.

January:

Vaishali Rameshbabu, the sister of world-class player Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, becomes a GM-elect. Her final Grandmaster norm was earned in the Qatar Masters, leaving her with only the rating goal to accomplish. With a stunning performance in the IV El Llobregat Open, Vaishali beat multiple strong players, finally reaching the 2500 rating.  With this extremely successful tournament, Vaishali was then eligible for the Grandmaster title, which was given to her soon after.

Leonid Ivanovic, a talented 8 year-old prodigy, officially became the youngest player ever to defeat a Grandmaster. He was rated 1865 FIDE at the time, an impressive rating for such a young player. His opponent was 59 year-old Milko Popchev, a Grandmaster rated 2193.

Andy Woodward, a strong junior who has defeated the likes of Hans Niemann, claimed his third and final Grandmaster norm.

Wei Yi had a stellar Tata Steel Masters tournament, tied for first with 18th World Chess Champion Gukesh Dommaraju, Former World Rapid Chess Champion Nordirbek Abdusattorov, and famous chess commentator Anish Giri. He won the tournament after a tense final tiebreak match against Gukesh. Wei Yi later entered the top ten chess players in the world in February, as Anish Giri rose to the top five.

February:

Magnus Carlsen, the 16th World Chess Champion, won the first tournament of the Champions Chess Tour in a close grand final match against Alireza Firouzja. Later in the month, he won the Freestyle Chess GOAT Challenge, a FischerRandom/Chess960 tournament, defeating runner-up Fabiano Caruana.

Ashwath Kaushik, a Singaporean 8 year-old, breaks Leonid Ivanovic's record of youngest player to defeat a Grandmaster. Jacek Stopa was his opponent.

March:

FIDE, the governing body of chess, requested for Canada to hasten providence of visas in view of the FIDE World Candidates 2024, which would determine who would go on to challenge 17th World Chess Champion Ding Liren in the World Championship of 2024. Thankfully the visas were provided and the tournament proceeded, won by 18 year-old Gukesh Dommaraju, who went on to become the 18th World Chess Champion.

April:

Tan Zhongyi and Gukesh Dommaraju won their respective Candidates tournaments to challenge the World Champions, Ju Wenjun (the Women's World Champion) and Ding Liren (the Men's World Champion).

Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş became the youngest living Grandmaster ever. Soon after this he reached 2600 FIDE rating.

May:

The Bullet World Chess Championship, hosted on chess.com, started its play-in portion, determining which players would go on to the main event.

June:

Ethan Pang, a 9 year-old English FIDE Master, becomes the youngest player to achieve a rating of 2200. Later on in November, he crosses the 2300 rating.

The Bullet World Chess Championship crowned Alireza Firouzja as the newest Bullet World Chess Champion, decisively defeating Hikaru Nakamura.

July:

The Speed Chess Championship began its first few rounds. In early August, the event determined who would travel to Paris, France, for the SCC Semifinals and Finals. Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja, and Hans Niemann qualified for the finals, which were played in September.

August:

The Women's Speed Chess Championship was held in late August. Ju Wenjun clinched first place up three points against Polina Shuvalova.

September:

The Speed Chess Championship semifinals and finals were played. In the semifinals, Magnus Carlsen went against Hans Niemann and Alireza Firouzja battled Hikaru Nakamura. Carlsen and Firouzja won their matches. Niemann and Nakamura played for third place, with Nakamura winning, while Carlsen took first place overall against Firouzja, the runner-up.

October:

Shreyas Royal, Alice Lee, Ryo Chen, and Andy Woodward took on GM Anish Giri in the Chesskid Kids vs. Stars event. Anish won 2.5-1.5, with Alice Lee being the sole winner in the Kids group, while Shreyas Royal managed a draw. Andy Woodward and Ryo Chen lost.

November:

Ethan Pang reached 2300 FIDE, becoming the youngest chess player to do so.

December:

At the tail end of a close 7.5-6.5 World Chess Championship match, Gukesh Dommaraju defeats 17th World Chess Champion Ding Liren and becomes the 18th World Chess Champion. The deciding game was a close endgame where Ding traded rooks down a pawn. Check out the full game here.

Volodar Murzin, an 18 year-old Grandmaster, won the Rapid World Chess Championship. Humpy Koneru won the Women's Rapid World Chess Championship.

Ju Wenjun clinched the Women's World Blitz Chess Championship. In an unprecidented decision, however, FIDE approved a dual-champion result: Ian Nepomniachtchi and Magnus Carlsen shared the 2024 World Blitz Chess Championship title.

That's all for 2024! Thank you all for the great moments and amazing chess this past year. Best for 2025!

If I missed anything, please let me know in the comments. What was your favorite chess moment of 2024?

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