2026 in chess
| Years in chess |
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2026 in sports |
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Major chess events in 2026 include the annual Tata Steel Chess Tournament, Prague Chess Festival, Norway Chess and Grand Chess Tour. The Candidates Tournament and the Women's Candidates Tournament at Paphos, Cyprus in March will determine the challengers for the World Chess Championship 2026 and the Women's World Chess Championship 2026 respectively. The pilot version of Total Chess World Championship Tour will kick off in October.
Timeline
| Rank | Prev | Player | Rating | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Magnus Carlsen | 2840 | 0 |
| 2 | 2 | Hikaru Nakamura | 2810 | 0 |
| 3 | 3 | Fabiano Caruana | 2795 | 0 |
| 4 | 4 | Vincent Keymer | 2776 | 0 |
| 5 | 5 | Arjun Erigaisi | 2775 | 0 |
| 6 | 7 | Anish Giri | 2760 | 9 |
| 7 | 6 | Alireza Firouzja | 2759 | -1 |
| 8 | 6 | R Praggnanandhaa | 2758 | -3 |
| 9 | 9 | Gukesh Dommaraju | 2754 | 0 |
| 10 | 10 | Wei Yi | 2754 | 0 |
January
- Jan 5 – Xu Xiangyu won the 53rd Rilton Cup with 8/9.[2]
- Jan 5 – National Chess Federations of Ukraine, England, Norway, Estonia and Germany filed an appeal to (CAS), challenging the resolutions adopted by the FIDE General Assembly concerning the participation Russian and Belarusian national teams in international chess competitions.[3]
- Jan 7 – FIDE made a cooperation agreement with Freestyle Chess and announced the first official Freestyle Chess World Championship which will be held at Weissenhaus in Germany from 13 to 15 February alongside a Women's exhibition match.[4]
- Jan 9 – Nihal Sarin won the Tata Steel India Rapid tournament with 6½/9. Kateryna Lagno won the women's section with one round to spare.[5][6]
- Jan 11 – Wesley So won the Tata Steel India Blitz tournament with 12/18. Carissa Yip won the women's section after defeating Vantika Agrawal in a tiebreak match.[7][8]
- Jan 15 – Nodirbek Abdusattorov won the online Freestyle chess play-in event to qualify for the Freestyle Chess World Championship 2026.[9]
| Rank | Prev | Player | Rating | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Magnus Carlsen | 2840 | 0 |
| 2 | 2 | Hikaru Nakamura | 2810 | 0 |
| 3 | 3 | Fabiano Caruana | 2795 | 0 |
| 4 | 4 | Vincent Keymer | 2776 | 0 |
| 5 | 5 | Arjun Erigaisi | 2775 | 0 |
| 6 | 6 | Anish Giri | 2760 | 0 |
| 7 | 7 | Alireza Firouzja | 2759 | 0 |
| 8 | 8 | R Praggnanandhaa | 2758 | 0 |
| 9 | 9 | Gukesh Dommaraju | 2754 | 0 |
| 10 | 10 | Wei Yi | 2754 | 0 |
February
- Feb 1 – Nodirbek Abdusattorov won the Tata Steel Masters with 9/13. The Challengers section was won by American grandmaster Andy Woodward with 10/13 who qualified for Masters section in 2027.[11]
- Feb 8 – Magnus Carlsen won the 2025 Speed Chess Championship[a] with 15-12 against Alireza Firouzja. Denis Lazavik finished third after defeating Hikaru Nakamura with 13½-12½ in the consolation match and qualified for Esports World Cup.[12][13]
- Feb 15 – Magnus Carlsen won the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship after defeating Fabiano Caruana in the final, securing his maiden Chess960 title and twenty-first world title of his career.[14][15][16]
| Rank | Prev | Player | Rating | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Magnus Carlsen | 2840 | 0 |
| 2 | 2 | Hikaru Nakamura | 2810 | 0 |
| 3 | 3 | Fabiano Caruana | 2795 | 0 |
| 4 | 4 | Vincent Keymer | 2776 | 0 |
| 5 | 12 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 2771 | +20 |
| 6 | 7 | Alireza Firouzja | 2759 | 0 |
| 7 | 10 | Wei Yi | 2754 | 0 |
| 8 | 6 | Anish Giri | 2753 | -7 |
| 9 | 11 | Wesley So | 2753 | 0 |
| 10 | 9 | Gukesh Dommaraju | 2748 | -6 |
March
- Mar 1 – Mikhail Antipov won the Saint Louis Masters with 7½/9, ahead of Fabiano Caruana and Lorenzo Lodici.[18]
- Mar 5 – Ian Nepomniachtchi won the Aeroflot Open with 7½/9, ahead of David Paravyan and Rudik Makarian.[19]
- Mar 6 – Nodirbek Abdusattorov won the Prague Masters for second time. IM Václav Finěk won the Challengers going undefeated and also achieved his final GM Norm.[20]
Events
Major tournaments
| Tournament | City | System | Dates | Players (2700+) | Winner | Runner-up | Third |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tata Steel Masters | Wijk aan Zee | Round robin | 16 Jan – 1 Feb | 14 (11) | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | Javokhir Sindarov | Jorden van Foreest |
| Prague Masters | Prague | Round robin | 24 Feb – 6 Mar | 10 (7) | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | Parham Maghsoodloo | Aravindh Chithambaram |
| Candidates Tournament | Paphos | Double round robin | 28 Mar – 16 Apr | 8 (6) | |||
| TePe Sigeman & Co tournament | Malmö | Round robin | 1 – 7 May | 8 | |||
| GCT Romania | Bucharest | Round robin | 12 – 24 May | 10 | |||
| Norway Chess | Oslo | Double round robin | 25 May – 5 Jun | 6 | |||
| Stepan Avagyan Memorial | Jermuk | Round robin | 28 May – 6 Jun | 10 | |||
| Biel Masters | Biel/Bienne | Multi-stage | 11 – 24 Jul | 6 | |||
| Sinquefield Cup | St. Louis | Round robin | 8 – 21 Aug | 10 | |||
| GCT Finals | Single elimination | 21 – 28 Aug | 4 | ||||
| Chess Olympiad | Samarkand | Swiss | 15 – 28 Sep | Teams | |||
| Total Chess World Championship Pioneer | TBD | Multi-stage | 3 – 15 Oct | 24 |
Opens
| Tournament | City | TAR | Dates | Players | Winner | Runner-up | Third |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint Louis Masters | St. Louis | 2628+1⁄6 | 24 Feb – 2 Mar | 70 | Mikhail Antipov | Fabiano Caruana | Lorenzo Lodici |
| Aeroflot Open | Moscow | 2641 | 27 Feb – 6 Mar | 180 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | David Paravyan | Rudik Makarian |
| Tashkent Open - Agzamov Memorial | Tashkent | 17 – 26 Mar | |||||
| Reykjavik Open | Reykjavík | 25 – 31 Mar | |||||
| Open Internacional Alicante | Alicante | 1 – 6 Apr | |||||
| Grenke Chess Open | Karlsruhe | 2 – 6 Apr | |||||
| Menorca Open | Menorca | 7 – 12 Apr | |||||
| European Individual Championship | Katowice | 7 – 19 Apr | |||||
| Sharjah Masters | Sharjah | 1 – 9 May | |||||
| Sardinia World Chess Festival | Orosei | 3 – 10 May | |||||
| Dubai Open | Dubai | 7 – 17 Jun |
Rapid & Blitz events
| Tournament | City | System | Dates | Players | Winner | Runner-up | Third |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tata Steel India Rapid | Kolkata | Round robin | 7 – 9 Jan | 10 | Nihal Sarin | Viswanathan Anand | Arjun Erigaisi |
| Tata Steel India Blitz | Double round robin | 10 – 11 Jan | 10 | Wesley So | Nihal Sarin | Arjun Erigaisi | |
| 2025 Speed Chess Championship finals | London | Single elimination | 7 – 8 Feb | 4 | Magnus Carlsen | Alireza Firouzja | Denis Lazavik |
| Menorca Master Tournament | Menorca | Double round robin | 7 – 12 Apr | 6 | |||
| Chess.com Open | TBD | Double elimination | 23 – 26 Apr | 16 | |||
| GCT Poland | Warsaw | Round robin[b] | 3 – 10 May | 10 | |||
| GCT Croatia | Zagreb | Round robin[b] | 29 Jun – 6 Jul | 10 | |||
| Naroditsky Memorial – Rapid | Charlotte | Swiss | 3 Jul | TBD | |||
| Naroditsky Memorial – Blitz | Multi-stage | 4 – 5 Jul | TBD | ||||
| GCT St. Louis | St. Louis | Round robin[b] | 31 Jul – 7 Aug | 10 | |||
| Esports World Cup | Riyadh | Multi-stage | 11 – 15 Aug | 16 | |||
| Esports Nations Cup | Multi-stage | 2 – 8 Nov | 128 | ||||
| World Rapid Championship | TBD | Swiss | December | TBD | |||
| World Blitz Championship | Multi-stage | TBD |
Women's events
| Tournament | City | System | Dates | Players (2500+) | Winner | Runner-up | Third |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tata Steel India Rapid | Kolkata | Round robin | 7 – 9 Jan | 10 (2) | Kateryna Lagno | Aleksandra Goryachkina | Divya Deshmukh |
| Tata Steel India Blitz | Double round robin | 10 – 11 Jan | 10 (2) | Carissa Yip | Vantika Agrawal | Stavroula Tsolakidou | |
| Candidates Tournament | Paphos | Double round robin | 28 Mar – 16 Apr | 8 (6) | |||
| Norway Chess | Oslo | Double round robin | 25 May – 5 Jun | 6 | |||
| Cairns Cup | St. Louis | Round robin | 7 – 20 Jun | 10 | |||
| World Rapid Championship | TBD | Swiss | December | TBD | |||
| World Blitz Championship | Multi-stage |
National events
Deaths
- 6 February — Bruno Parma, Slovene-Yugoslav grandmaster[21]
- 18 February — Jan Timman, Dutch grandmaster and author[22][23]
- 8 March — Slavoljub Marjanović, Serbian grandmaster[24]
Notes
References
- ^ "January 2026 rating list published". FIDE. 1 January 2026. Retrieved 8 January 2026.
- ^ "Xu Xiangyu dominates 53rd Rilton Cup". ChessBase. 6 January 2026. Retrieved 8 January 2026.
- ^ "FIDE sued by five federations". ChessBase. 6 January 2026. Retrieved 9 January 2026.
- ^ "The first official FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship to be hosted in Weissenhaus". www.fide.com. Retrieved 2026-01-08.
- ^ Levin (AnthonyLevin), Anthony (2026-01-10). "Nihal, Lagno Win 2026 Rapid Titles In Kolkata". Chess.com. Retrieved 2026-01-12.
- ^ "21-year-old Nihal Sarin clinches Tata Steel Chess Rapid title; Russia's Kateryna Lagno wins women's event". The Times of India. 2026-01-10. Retrieved 2026-01-12.
- ^ Levin (AnthonyLevin), Anthony (2026-01-12). "Wesley So, Yip Win Maiden Blitz Titles". Chess.com. Retrieved 2026-01-12.
- ^ Alberto Colodro, Carlos (2026-01-12). "US duo shines in Kolkata: So and Yip win Tata Steel India blitz tournaments". ChessBase. Retrieved 2026-01-12.
- ^ "Nodirbek Abdusattorov secures final spot at FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship". FIDE. 2026-01-15. Retrieved 2026-02-01.
- ^ "February 2026 rating list published". FIDE. 1 February 2026. Retrieved 1 February 2026.
- ^ McGourty (Colin_McGourty), Colin (2026-02-01). "Abdusattorov Wins 'Dream' Tata Steel Masters, Woodward Takes Challengers". Chess.com. Retrieved 2026-02-01.
- ^ "Magnus Carlsen beats Alireza Firouzja to win fifth Speed Chess Championship". The Athletic. Retrieved 2026-02-09.
- ^ Levin (AnthonyLevin), Anthony (2026-02-08). "Carlsen Defends 5th SCC Title, Lazavik Upsets Nakamura". Chess.com. Retrieved 2026-02-09.
- ^ McGourty (Colin_McGourty), Colin. "Carlsen Stuns Caruana To Win 21st World Championship Title". Chess.com. Retrieved 2026-02-16.
- ^ Schormann, Conrad. "Magnus Carlsen Wins 2026 FIDE Freestyle World Championship". Chess.com. Retrieved 2026-02-16.
- ^ "Magnus Carlsen wins 2026 FIDE Freestyle World Championship". FIDE. Retrieved 2026-02-16.
- ^ "March 2026 rating list published". FIDE. 1 March 2026. Retrieved 2 March 2026.
- ^ Levin (AnthonyLevin), Anthony. "Antipov Leapfrogs Caruana To Win 2026 Saint Louis Masters". Chess.com. Retrieved 2026-03-02.
- ^ "Aeroflot Open – Invitations, regulations, events and prizes". Chess News. 2011-11-21. Retrieved 2025-04-21.
- ^ McGourty, Colin. "Abdusattorov Wins His 2nd Prague Masters". Chess.com. Retrieved 2026-03-07.
- ^ L, M. "Umrl je šahovski velemojster Bruno Parma". rtvslo.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2026-03-02.
- ^ "Obituary: Grandmaster Jan Timman (1951–2026)". European Chess Union. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
- ^ "Dutch chess grandmaster Timman, 'the best of the West', dies at age 74". Reuters. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
- ^ Преминуо велемајстор и један од најуспешнијих српских шахиста Славољуб Марјановић (in Serbian)