7/21/2026 – Arjun Erigaisi defeated world champion Gukesh Dommaraju with black to join Alireza Firouzja in the lead with two rounds remaining at the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters. Nodirbek Abdusattorov also won with the black pieces, beating Nihal Sarin to move within half a point of first place. Firouzja drew Dmitry Andreikin, while Pranesh M held Hans Niemann after a 104-move struggle. | Photo: Tushar Damor

7/20/2026 – Arjun Erigaisi moved into sole second place at the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters after scoring the only win across rounds three and four. His victory over Hans Niemann left him half a point behind leader Alireza Firouzja (pictured), who has 3/4. All four games in Sunday's fourth round were drawn. The seven-round tournament runs until Wednesday. | Photo: Tushar Damor

7/18/2026 – Alireza Firouzja defeated world champion Gukesh Dommaraju to reach 2/2 and establish a one-point lead at the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters. The remaining games were drawn, though Nodirbek Abdusattorov recovered from another difficult opening against Arjun Erigaisi, while Nihal Sarin saved a draw in what turned out to be a 132-move struggle against Hans Niemann. Dmitry Andreikin and Pranesh M agreed a quick draw. | Photo: Tushar Damor

7/16/2026 – Alireza Firouzja was the only winner in the opening round of the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters, defeating Pranesh M with black to move into the top ten in the live ratings list. The remaining three games were drawn after hard-fought battles, with Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Gukesh Dommaraju and Dmitry Andreikin all having to defend accurately against Hans Niemann, Nihal Sarin and Arjun Erigaisi respectively. | Photo: Tushar Damor

7/16/2026 – The fourth Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters brings together an eight-player field headed by world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Arjun Erigaisi and Alireza Firouzja. The seven-round single round-robin also includes Hans Niemann, Nihal Sarin, Dmitry Andreikin and Pranesh M. Played from 16 to 22 July, the tournament features seven players rated above 2700. | Photo: Tushar Damor

7/14/2026 – Levon Aronian and Vaclav Finek took the early lead in the two triathlon events at the Biel Chess Festival by winning their respective rapid sections. Aronian scored 9/10 in the Masters, finishing 3 points clear of Aydin Suleymanli, while Finek topped the Generations Challenge with 8/10, 1 point ahead of Xiao Tong and Marco Materia. The classical sections of both competitions begin on Tuesday. | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

7/10/2026 – Alexey Sarana won the KazChess Masters in Almaty after finishing level with Alexander Donchenko on 6/9 points and taking first place on tiebreaks. The ten-player round-robin, held from 30 June to 8 July, paired five established international grandmasters with five rising Kazakhstani players. Igor Kovalenko finished third on 5½/9, while Denis Makhnev achieved the best score among the local representatives with 5/9. | Photo: Official website

7/7/2026 – The Naroditsky Memorial featured rapid and blitz tournaments in tribute to Daniel Naroditsky, whose association with fast chess made the format a fitting choice. Javokhir Sindarov won the rapid after a playoff against Aravindh Chithambaram, then took first place outright in the Blitz Final. The event also raised funds for the Daniel Naroditsky Memorial Fund and the Naroditsky Fellowship for young players. | Pictured: Javokhir Sindarov and Daniel Naroditsky's mother Lena Schuman | Photo: Charlotte Chess Center

7/6/2026 – Alireza Firouzja won the Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia after a playoff against Nodirbek Abdusattorov in Zagreb. The French grandmaster began the final day with a three-point lead, lost it for a while during the second half of the blitz section, but then recovered to finish tied for first on 23½ points. After two drawn tiebreak games, Firouzja held the Armageddon game with black to secure the title. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

7/5/2026 – Jaime Santos won the 39th edition of the León Masters after obtaining a convincing 3½-½ victory over defending champion Le Quang Liem in the final match. The 30-year-old GM from León, who had already won the event in 2023, reached the title match by beating Faustino Oro, while Le needed tiebreaks to overcome Kirill Alekseenko. | Photo: Official website

7/3/2026 – Alireza Firouzja increased his lead at the Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia in Zagreb after scoring two wins and a draw for the second day in a row. He now has 10/12 points, 3 more than Vincent Keymer, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Gukesh Dommaraju and Bogdan-Daniel Deac. Firouzja won both his games with black on Thursday, while Gukesh and Deac both scored 4/6 to move into shared second place. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

7/2/2026 – Alireza Firouzja took the sole lead after the first day of the Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia in Zagreb, scoring two wins and a draw in the opening three rapid rounds. His victories over Ivan Saric and Bogdan-Daniel Deac were not straightforward, while a third-round draw against Anish Giri left him on 5/6. Four players are one point behind: Giri, Vincent Keymer, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

7/1/2026 – The 39th edition of the "Ciudad de León" Masters will take place from 3 to 5 July, with Le Quang Liem, Kirill Alekseenko, Faustino Oro and Jaime Santos in the four-player knockout. Le returns as defending champion, while Oro arrives with grandmaster-elect status and Santos once again represents the host city. The XI Open Internacional "Magistral de León" will be played alongside the main event. | Image: Official website

7/1/2026 – The KazChess Masters Almaty has begun in Kazakhstan's largest city, with five established international grandmasters facing five rising local players in a ten-player single round-robin. The opening round produced two decisive results, as Igor Kovalenko defeated Alexander Donchenko with a strong attacking display, while Sam Shankland converted an endgame against Aldiyar Ansat. | Photo: Official website

6/30/2026 – The Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia, the third leg of the Grand Chess Tour, will take place in Zagreb from 1 to 5 July. The 10-player field includes six members of the world top 20, among them Gukesh Dommaraju, Vincent Keymer, Alireza Firouzja, Anish Giri (pictured) and Nodirbek Abdusattorov. After events in Warsaw and Bucharest, the tournament will offer another chance to gain ground in the overall standings. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

6/29/2026 – The second volume of the FritzTrainer Master Class series revisits the games and career of Mikhail Tal (pictured in 1959), the eighth world chess champion, combining biographical context with training material. The FritzTrainer examines Tal's openings, strategy, endgame play and tactical imagination through video lessons by Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Oliver Reeh and Karsten Müller. Two examples, against Antonio Medina and Boris Spassky, show how Tal's calculation and attacking instinct shaped his best-known games. | Photo: Anefo / Dutch National Archive

6/28/2026 – The inaugural Naroditsky Memorial Rapid & Blitz will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina, from 3 to 5 July 2026, combining open tournaments with elite showcase events across a three-day festival. Featuring a guaranteed $50,000 prize fund and offering FIDE Circuit and US Chess Grand Prix points, the competition is open to players of all ratings, with participation limited to 300 entrants. Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Javokhir Sindarov headline a programme that also includes a Creator Invitational and blitz finals.

6/26/2026 – Jan Henric Buettner has announced that he will run for President of FIDE, with Malcolm Pein standing on his ticket as candidate for Deputy President. Buettner, a German entrepreneur and co-founder of Freestyle Chess, has become active in elite event organisation in recent years. Pein, an International Master, organiser and journalist, previously stood for FIDE Deputy President in 2018. | Photo: Freestyle Chess