2019 in Review

2019 has been a great, jam-packed year for chess. Many bloggers and websites have come out with their picks for game of the year, player of the year, and more. Here is my take on a summary of 2019's excitement. Enjoy and follow along through 2019 in review.

Player of the Year

3. Alexander Grischuk

Alexander Grischuk won the 2019 FIDE Grand Prix to qualify for the 2020 Candidates Tournament. In the FIDE Grand Prix, Grischuk won the Hamburg event and was the runner-up of the Moscow event, losing to Ian Nepomniachtchi in the final.

2. Ding Liren

Ding Liren won the 2019 Grand Chess Tour by beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final. To get there, he beat Magnus Carlsen on tiebreak to win one of the biggest events on the tour: the Sinquefield Cup. Ding was also the runner-up of the World Cup, which qualified him for the 2020 Candidates Tournament.

1. Magnus Carlsen

Magnus Carlsen won the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, Shamkir Chess, the Grenke Chess Classic, the Cote d'Ivoire Rapid & Blitz, the Lindores Chess Abbey Stars Tournament, Norway Chess, and the Zagreb Chess Tour at the beginning of the year, setting a personal record of eight consecutive tournament victories. Carlsen also won the Tata Steel Rapid & Blitz and the World Rapid & Blitz Championships, securing all three world titles.

Honorable Mentions:

• Fabiano Caruana
• Alireza Firouzja
• Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Game of the Year

3. Karjakin vs. Carlsen

Magnus Carlsen demonstrated the play that got him the player of the year award in this game against his former world championship opponent Sergey Karjakin.

2. Dubov vs. Giri

1. Firouzja vs. Karthikeyan

Federation of the Year

3. United States of America

The United States of America continued their endless success of late by gaining two new 2700+ players. First, Leinier Dominguez Perez switched federations from Cuba to the United States of America. Dominguez Perez reached the top 10 under his new federation after a 1.5 year hiatus from chess. Jeffery Xiong, one of the top junior players in the world, reached the 2700 mark for the first time in his career this year as well.

2. Russia

Russia locked up a silver medal despite one of their star players retiring as many other Russian players peaked, such as Alexander Grischuk (bronze medalist for player of the year), Ian Nepomniachtchi, Vladislav Artemiev, and Kirill Alekseenko. Grischuk, Nepomniachtchi, and Alekseenko all also made the prestigious 2020 Candidates Tournament.

1. China

China's players continued to climb the world rankings as Ding Liren (silver medalist for player of the year) and Wang Hao both had great years and landed China a record breaking two players in the Candidates Tournament. Yu Yangyi also starred on the top stage, tying for second in his first two super tournaments: Norway Chess and the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz.

Honorable Mentions:

• Norway
• England
• India