The International Chess Federation has adopted new qualification paths for the 2028 FIDE Candidates and Women's Candidates Tournaments that will decide future world championship challengers. The rating spot GM Hikaru Nakamura used to qualify in 20...
GM Parham Maghsoodloo, who won Titled Tuesday five times in 2025, got his first win of 2026 on July 14. His 10/11 score won outright over GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu's 9.5/11, itself good enough for sole second. GM Hikaru Nakamura took third plac...
Women's world number-one GM Hou Yifan and WGM Anastasia Avramidou advance to the 2026 Women's Speed Chess Championship Quarterfinals after winning the last Round of 16 matches on Monday. Hou defeated IM Dinara Wagner in a one-sided match, 13.5-2.5...
The International Chess Federation has announced a big shake-up in the format for the 2027 FIDE World Cup and Women's World Cup. Instead of huge 206 and 107-player knockouts, the last stage will now involve only the final 16 players in each event,...
For the 12th time in 2026, GM Hikaru Nakamura triumphed in the Bullet Brawl arena after he won 50, drew eight, and lost 11 games on Saturday. With a score of 172 points, Nakamura finished 27 points clear of the second-placed GM Arjun Erigaisi, 30 ...
GM Arjun Erigaisi followed up his Titled Tuesday victory this week by winning the first 3 0 Thursday on July 9. GM Emin Ohanyan completed a come-from-behind victory in the second tournament of the day. At the end of the day, GM Volodar Murzin won ...
The favorites, GMs Divya Deshmukh and Bibisara Assaubayeva, advanced to the Quarterfinals of the 2026 Women's Speed Chess Championship on Friday. Between the two of them, the winners lost only a single game. Divya defeated IM Rose Atwell with an u...
GM Kateryna Lagno and IM Alice Lee advanced to the Quarterfinals of the 2026 Women's Speed Chess Championship after winning their Round of 16 matches on Wednesday. Lagno's victory was never in doubt as she scored 10.5-3.5 on the way to eliminating...
Local hero GM Jaime Santos has won the 2026 Leon Masters after celebrating his 30th birthday by beating 12-year-old Argentinian GM-elect Faustino Oro 3-1 in the Semifinals, before overcoming Vietnamese defending champion GM Liem Le 3.5-0.5 in...
By taking the July 7 tournament outright on 9.5/11, GM Arjun Erigaisi has broken into the Titled Tuesday winners column in 2026, ahead of seven players who tied on nine points. GM Hikaru Nakamura took second place among that group just ahead of GM...
GM Benjamin Bok has qualified for the 2026 Esports World Cup after defeating GM Vidit Gujrathi in the 2026 India Rising Finals in Mumbai on July 4. The match reached the maximum number of possible games, with all three sets going to armageddo...
Top grandmasters, content creators, and fans from around the world came to Charlotte from July 3-5 to honor the legacy of the late GM Daniel Naroditsky. The next world championship challenger, GM Javokhir Sindarov, won both the rapid and blitz tou...
Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun and two-time Women's Blitz World Champion Anna Muzychuk advanced to the Quarterfinals of the 2026 Women's Speed Chess Championship on Monday. Ju handily defeated IM Le Thao Nguyen Pham 9.5-4.5, while Muzychuk went ...
GM Alireza Firouzja has won the 2026 Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia after beating GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov in a nerve-wracking armageddon game. Such a finale looked unlikely when Firouzja started the day with a three-point lead after scoring 8/9 ...
GM Arjun Erigaisi was crowned the winner of Saturday's Bullet Brawl after hawking down GM Jose Martinez in the final 10 minutes of the arena. Chasing his first title since 2024, Martinez scored 161 points, almost getting the job done, but it ...
French GM Alireza Firouzja heads into the final day of the 2026 Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia with a three-point lead over GMs Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave after scoring a stunning 8/9 on the first day of blitz. GM Praggnanan...
GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu goes into the blitz section of the 2026 Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia as co-leader after winning all three games on day three—against GMs Ivan Saric, Bogdan-Daniel Deac, and Anish Giri—to catch GM Alireza...
There was no need for tiebreaks in any of the three 3 0 Thursday tournaments on July 2 as the three champions, GMs Denis Lazavik, Volodar Murzin, and IM Yoseph Taher, won outright. In the curtain-raiser, Lazavik beat GMs Magnus Carlsen and Jan-Kr...
IMs Carissa Yip and Leya Garifullina won the rapid and blitz segments (respectively) of the WR Women's Chess Tour - Americas 2026 on Wednesday and Thursday. Along with the $7,000 first prize, they both qualify for the Grand Final in Stuttgart, Ger...
GM Alireza Firouzja has opened up a three-point lead after beating key rivals GMs Vincent Keymer and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu with the black pieces on day two of the 2026 Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia. GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac began in style with ...
GM Alireza Firouzja shrugged off his bullet-chess loss to GM Nihal Sarin to take the sole lead on day one of the 2026 Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia with wins over GMs Ivan Saric and Bogdan-Daniel Deac. His 5/6 put him a point ahead of GMs Praggn...
Norway Chess 2026 and the UzChess Cup 2026 were two tournaments that shifted classical ratings for many of the world's top-15 on the July list. The most notable change was, unusually so, an 18-point drop in GM Magnus Carlsen's rating, just as he c...
GM Jose Martinez won Titled Tuesday on June 30 without much trouble, going undefeated and scoring 10/11 for his second victory in the last six weeks. No one came within even half a point, but five players scored nine points, with GM Fabiano Caruan...
Calling out all wizards and witches! The Chess.com Spell Chess Championship is the next event of the Chess.com Community Championships. The event takes place from July 15 to July 17 and features $2,500 in prizes. Spell Chess is what happens when ...
GM Magnus Carlsen has now been the world chess number-one on every FIDE rating list for the past 15 years, since July 2011. Although Carlsen has suffered scares—for instance, any loss to GM Fabiano Caruana in the 2018 World Championship matc...
