Norway Chess, one of the world’s most prestigious chess tournaments, will enter a new era in 2026, relocating from Stavanger to Oslo after 13 consecutive years on Norway's west coast. Meanwhile, GMs Magnus Carlsen and Bibisara Assaubayeva ha...
GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov won a pawn and ground down GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in 60 moves to join GMs Hans Niemann and Arjun Erigaisi in the early 2026 Tata Steel Chess Masters lead on 1.5/2. The day's only other winner was GM Vladimir Fedoseev...
IM Levy Rozman explained that when he plays blitz, "I get very creative and my brain reacts very fast." He demonstrated those abilities by defeating IM Julien Song 6-2 in the blitz portion of their match. Combined with Rozman's 8-6 match lead...
Bullet Brawl's most prolific winner, GM Hikaru Nakamura, has started 2026 with a hat trick of victories. In Saturday's event, GM Jose Martinez built a 21-point lead, but with just over 20 minutes to go, Nakamura bolted to the finish line, not only...
World Cup winner GM Javokhir Sindarov pulled off a 78-move great escape against World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju to bring a dramatic first day of the 2026 Tata Steel Chess Masters to a close. The first moves were delayed 1.5 hours by an environment...
IM Levy Rozman confessed between games that "I think my biggest strength is somehow getting it done in time scrambles." His ability with seconds on the clock saved him from losing positions in three different rapid games. After the rapid portion o...
After a wild battle to start their match in game one, IMs Levy Rozman and Julien Song played a very accurate and calm draw in their second classical game. Rozman played one of his favorite openings, the Queen's Gambit Accepted, and quickly equaliz...
GM Ray Robson won his sixth title at the 2026 Chess.com Puzzles Championship after defeating GM Pranav Venkatesh 5-1 in the Grand Final. Earning another $1,500, Robson has won every edition of the event except for last year, when GM Andy Woodward ...
GMs Alexey Sarana and Denis Lazavik kept the ball rolling from last week's 3 0 Thursday victories and won the first and second tournaments outright on January 15. In the third event, GM Jeffery Xiong picked up his first victory after edging out GM...
GM Ian Nepomniachtchi won Freestyle Friday on January 16, grabbing his opportunity at a mate-in-two in the final round to take the tournament outright with 9.5 points. IM Renato Terry helped by beating the one player who had been tied with Nepomni...
The match between two of the most popular chess streamers in the world, IMs Levy Rozman and Julien Song, got off to a hard-fought start as both sides missed wins in time pressure before the game ended in a draw. The players shook hands b...
Five-time Puzzles Champion GM Ray Robson was first to qualify for the eight-player Knockout Finals of the 2026 Chess.com Puzzles Championship, and posted the day's best score of 62. He was joined by GMs Pranav Venkatesh, Jeffery Xiong, and Mitrabh...
GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov won the 2026 Freestyle Chess World Championship Play-in Knockout to earn $1,000 and qualify for the last available spot in the world championship. He beat GM Amin Tabatabaei 1.5-0.5 in the Semifinals and then GM Pranav Ven...
GMs Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Pranav Venkatesh, Grigoriy Oparin, and Amin Tabatabaei all finished with 7/9 to place in the top-four of the 2026 FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship Play-in Swiss, and they advance to the Knockout. Only one of the f...
The FIDE Ethics & Disciplinary Commission (EDC) has fined the Iranian Chess Federation €25,000 for a deliberate boycott of the Israeli women's national team during the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary. The EDC decision is ...
GM Javokhir Sindarov took home Titled Tuesday honors on January 13 after holding a draw against countryman GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the final round. The result gave Sindarov outright first place with 9.5 points after GM Alexey Sarana went ...
GM Maurice Ashley, the first Black grandmaster in history, said he fulfilled a lifelong dream when he appeared on The Oprah Podcast, sitting down virtually with Oprah Winfrey for a conversation about chess, impact, and hidden potential. Few gran...
GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu won the 2025 FIDE Circuit and joined 2024 winner GM Fabiano Caruana in qualifying for the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament. The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has now announced that for 2026-7 two years will be c...
Both day-one leaders built on their momentum to earn maiden titles on day two. GM Wesley So won 2026 Tata Steel Chess India Open Blitz, his first time winning the title after six attempts. He finished in sole first with 12/18, while GMs Nihal Sari...
GM Hikaru Nakamura kept the Bullet Brawl ball rolling with his second straight win of 2026 after snatching the $400 first prize from GM Andrew Tang's grasp in the final moments of Saturday's event. Tang dominated in the first half but slumped in t...
GM Wesley So leads at the halfway point of 2026 Tata Steel Chess India Open Blitz with seven points out of nine games. After blundering into a mate-in-one the first game, So stormed back to snatch the lead from GM Arjun Erigaisi, who started with ...
GMs Denis Lazavik, Alexey Sarana, and Oleksandr Bortnyk won the three 3 0 Thursday tournaments on January 8. It was Bortnyk's first victory in the event, while the other GMs took their second title. IM Anna Sargsyan won the women's prizes in the f...
GM Oleksandr Bortnyk is your Freestyle Friday winner on January 9, after he recovered from a loss in round three by never losing again. It was Bortnyk's sixth win of the tournament, more than anyone besides GM Hikaru Nakamura. Bortnyk still needed...
GM Nihal Sarin won the 2026 Tata Steel Chess India Open Rapid tournament with 6.5 points out of nine games on Friday. It's his second time winning the tournament, the first being in 2022, and he earns $10,000. He dedicated his victory to his ...
On January 7, FIDE and Freestyle Chess announced the first FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship, taking place at Weissenhaus, Germany, from February 13-15. Now, Chess.com is hosting the qualifier that determines the remaining player who will co...
