6/6/2025 – The 13th edition of the Norway Chess super-tournament is taking place from 26 May to 6 June in Stavanger. An open event and a women's event are being played concurrently with an identical number of players, the same format and an equivalent prize fund. Both world champions — Ju Wenjun and Gukesh Dommaraju — are participating, besides world number one Magnus Carlsen. | Follow the games live starting at 17.00 CEST (11.00 ET, 20.30 IST)

6/6/2025 – From 10 to 16 June, London will host the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships, now in its third edition. With 55 teams, top grandmasters, and an expanded format including a new Blitz tournament, it promises to be one of the largest chess events ever held in the city. Notably, many teams feature rising stars, including 9-year-old Sarbartho Mani and 10-year-old Roman Shogdzhiev, reflecting a generational shift in competitive chess.

6/5/2025 – This year, Valencia is celebrating the 550th anniversary of the birth of modern chess. The date of birth is considered to be 15 May 1475, when the book by Francesch Vicent, who came from Segorbe, was printed in Valencia. For this reason, 15 May has now been declared Chess Day in Valencia. Viswanathan Anand was the guest of honour at the celebrations.

5/31/2025 – The fifth Hungarian Parachess Championship, held from 22–25 May, brought together visually impaired, hearing impaired, physically disabled players and organ transplant recipients in a unique national event. Organised by the Hungarian Chess Federation, FODISZ and the Hungarian Paralympic Committee, the tournament celebrated inclusion and sporting spirit. FM Zoltán Zambó won overall gold, with strong performances across categories and a record 24 participants, highlighting growing support for parachess in Hungary.

5/31/2025 – The First Continental Chess Championships for Prisoners, held from 13 to 23 May 2025, brought together 77 teams from across five continents in a milestone event under FIDE's Chess for Freedom initiative. Incarcerated players competed in high-level, organised tournaments across Open, Women's and Youth sections. With standout performances from Zimbabwe, El Salvador, Serbia and India, the event highlighted the global reach and rehabilitative potential of chess in correctional facilities.

5/25/2025 – GM Bilel Bellahcene of Algeria and WGM Shrook Wafa of Egypt have won the 2025 African Chess Championships, held from 13–20 May at the Pyramids Park Hotel in Egypt. Bellahcene claimed his first continental title on tiebreaks after a closely fought Open event, while Wafa secured her fifth African crown with a dominant 8/9 performance in the Women's tournament. Players from 17 countries competed in the nine-round Swiss tournaments across both sections. | Photos: Egyptian Chess Federation

5/26/2025 – The TePe Sigeman & Co tournament is taking place on 20-26 at the Elite Plaza Hotel in Malmö, Sweden. The tournament is an 8-player single round-robin featuring Richard Rapport, Javokhir Sindarov and Ray Robson as the top seeds. Living legend Vasyl Ivanchuk and former women's world champion Tan Zhongyi are also in the mix. | Follow the games live starting at 15.00 CEST (9.00 ET, 18.30 IST)

5/23/2025 – The Chess.com Classic is the second and final leg of the 2025 Champions Chess Tour. The deciding stage is taking place from Tuesday to Friday, as sixteen players, including Magnus Carlsen, world champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Hikaru Nakamura, battle in a double-elimination bracket. | Follow the games live with expert commentary starting at 17.00 CET (11.00 ET, 21.30 IST)

5/18/2025 – GM Daneshvar Bardiya of Iran and IM Song Yuxin of China emerged as the champions of the 2025 Asian Chess Championship, held on 6-15 May at the Danat Resort Hotel in Al Ain, UAE. Bardiya claimed gold in the open section with 7/9 points, edging out top seed Nihal Sarin on tiebreaks. In the women's section, Song Yuxin secured the title after a tightly contested final round, prevailing based on the highest average opponent rating. | Photos: Asian Chess Federation

5/16/2025 – The 2025 Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest marks the second stage of this year's Grand Chess Tour and the first of two classical tournaments in the series. Held on 6–16 May, the event brings together ten top grandmasters in a single round-robin format. Reigning tournament champion Fabiano Caruana and world champion Gukesh Dommaraju are part of the star-studded lineup. | Follow the games live with expert commentary starting at 14.00 CEST (8.00 ET, 17.30 IST)

5/15/2025 – The sixth and final leg of the 2024/25 Women's Grand Prix series is taking place in Grosslobming, Austria, on 6-15 May. A 10-player single round-robin, the event will decide who wins the series and who gets the two spots in the next edition of the Women's Candidates Tournament. Among the participants, Zhu Jiner, Anna Muzychuk and Tan Zhongyi have the best chances to fight for the coveted top spots in the series. | Follow the action live with expert commentary starting at 15.00 CEST (9.00 ET, 18.30 IST)

5/13/2025 – FIDE's Ethics and Disciplinary Commission has imposed a provisional 60-day suspension on GM Christopher Yoo, effective from 9 May 2025, following a second complaint alleging harassment. The suspension relates to two separate complaints, including one filed by the US Chess Federation (USCF), which previously banned Yoo for a year and placed him on five years' probation. The USCF has requested that FIDE recognise and enforce its sanction globally, a matter still under investigation by the EDC. | Photo: Niklesh Jain / ChessBase India

5/6/2025 – The final stage of the 2024/2025 FIDE Women's Grand Prix opened in Grosslobming, Austria, with a festive ceremony featuring local music, traditional dress and regional wine. Set in a 19th-century manor near the Red Bull Ring, the tournament marks the conclusion of the series and will determine both the overall Grand Prix winner and two qualifiers for the 2026 Women's Candidates. | Photo: Przemysław Nikiel

5/4/2025 – The 2025 Canadian Chess Championships took place in Toronto on 17-22 April, bringing together 90 players from across nine provinces. IM Nikolay Noritsyn (pictured) claimed his third national title in the open section, while WIM Li Yunshan secured her first women’s title on tiebreak. The championships featured strong performances from both established and emerging players in two parallel 9-round Swiss tournaments. Close contests in both events led to final-round deciders. | Photo: John Upper

5/3/2025 – On 4 October 2025, Arlington, Texas will host "Checkmate: USA vs. India", a major international chess event at Esports Stadium Arlington. Featuring top stars such as Hikaru Nakamura, Gukesh Dommaraju, Fabiano Caruana and Arjun Erigaisi, the match blends elite competition with high-end production and entertainment. With youth and women's matchups, and a face-off between top chess streamers, the event aims to present chess in a bold new format to a global audience. Tickets are now on sale. | Photo: FIDE / Lennart Ootes

5/2/2025 – The sixth and final leg of the 2024/2025 FIDE Women's Grand Prix begins on 6 May in Grosslobming, Austria, with three players still in contention for the overall title. Aleksandra Goryachkina currently leads the standings but will not compete in the final stage, leaving Zhu Jiner and Anna Muzychuk with a chance to overtake her. The event will also determine which two players qualify for the 2026 Women’s Candidates, making this final stage a pivotal moment in the Women's World Championship cycle.

5/1/2025 – April saw notable shifts in the FIDE Circuit 2025 leaderboard, with Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu moving into first place after a strong showing in Poland. Vladimir Fedoseev’s victory in Warsaw propelled him to third, while Vasyl Ivanchuk's success in Menorca earned him fourth. Other key movements include Lu Shanglei rising to eighth and Parham Maghsoodloo entering the top ten.

4/27/2025 – FIDE has announced the first group of recipients for its 2025 support programme for chess veterans, awarding a total of €21,500 to eleven distinguished players, coaches and organisers. Among those honoured are Grandmasters Jesús Nogueiras, Igor Zaitsev and Petar Velikov, alongside prominent figures such as Valentina Kozlovskaya and Marija Petrović. This initiative, now in its eleventh year, has so far distributed nearly €500,000, recognising the lifelong contributions of veterans to the global chess community. The next awards will be made in late 2025.