6/3/2024 – The FIDE has published its new world ranking list as of 1 June. There are hardly any changes at the top of the list. Magnus Carlsen (open) and Hou Yifan (women) continue to occupy the top positions. However, a number of prominent players lost a lot of points and thus also dropped down the rankings in the most recent open tournaments in Dubai and Sharjah. The name Karjakin is no longer on the list – apparently due to inactivity.

5/14/2024 – Two players from the leading quintet won their games in the final round of the Dubai Masters on Sunday: Aravindh Chithambaram (with Black against Alexander Donchenko) and Pranav V (with White against Abhimanyu Puranik). With 7.0/9 each, the Indians Aravindh and Pranav shared first place, but thanks to his better tiebreak Pranav V won the tournament. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

5/2/2024 – In the new world rankings published by FIDE on 1st May, Gukesh D, the winner of the Candidates, has made a big leap forward: 20 extra rating points have lifted the 17-year-old Indian from 16th to 6th place. Gukesh is now one point ahead of Ding Liren, the reigning FIDE World Champion, whom he will challenge later this year. Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Ian Nepomniachtchi have also picked up a few points in the Candidates and are now ranked second to fourth behind Magnus Carlsen.

4/1/2024 – FIDE published an updated world ranking list on 1 April. The climber of the month is undoubtedly Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who won the Masters at the Chess Festival in Prague and is now fourth in the world rankings after having gained 15 rating points. Also, joining the top ten is Arjun Erigaisi in ninth place, who earned 8 rating points in March, in Shenzhen and in the Bundesliga.

3/11/2024 – The Jubilee Tournament of the Werder sports club in Bremen’s “Werder-Halle” came to an end on Sunday with a victory for India’s Aditya Mittal. For the 17-year-old, who is also a member of the Werder Bremen team in the Bundesliga, a draw against Czech GM Vojtech Plat was enough to win the tournament with a full-point advantage over Polish GM Pawel Teclaf. | Photos: Werder Bremen Sports Club

1/9/2024 – The 51st edition of the Rilton Cup came to an end in Stockholm on Friday. The winner of the nine-round event was the Ukrainian GM Vitaly Sivuk, who now plays for Sweden, with a score of 7½/9. Israeli IMs Yahli Sokolovsky and Yair Parkhov (both with 7/9) finished second and third, respectively. | Photos: Lars OA Hedlund

1/8/2024 – The Caplin Masters, part of the Hastings International Chess Congress, came to an end on Friday with a triumph for Abhijeet Gupta. The 34-year-old Indian grandmaster was the only one of 100+ participants in the event to achieve a score of 7½/9, thus getting outright victory. Pengxiang Zhang from China (7/9) came second. Behind Zhang, a group of nine players finished with 6½/9 points each. | Photo: Official website

12/31/2023 – The traditional chess tournament in the English seaside resort of Hastings has been held immediately after Christmas for over 100 years. The event has reached its 97th edition, with rounds taking place on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The most important tournament, the Masters, which includes a number of titleholders, ends on January 5. French grandmaster Maxime Lagarde is the tournament’s top seed.

12/23/2023 – The Chessable Sunway Sitges Festival took place in the municipality of Sitges, not far from Barcelona, directly on the Mediterranean. The main event, a large open tournament, came to an end on Friday after ten rounds of play with the victory of Abhimanyu Puranik. The 23-year-old Indian grandmaster was the only one of the 329 participants to achieve a score of 8½/10, leaving a four-player chasing pack half a point behind. | Photo: David Llada

10/7/2023 – In the second round of the US Championships in Saint Louis, Hans Niemann won with black against Sam Sevian, who had beaten Ray Robson one round earlier to take the lead. For the time being, Niemann is sharing the lead with Abhimanyu Mishra, who won against Andrew Tang. Niemann and Abhimanyu now both have a 1½/2 score. In the women’s section, a quartet consisting of Carissa Yip, Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova, Nazi Paikidze and Tatev Abrahamyan (all on 1½/2 points) are topping the standings. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

9/10/2023 – The Tata Steel Chess India Blitz tournament came to an end after rounds 10 to 18 were played on Saturday. Russian grandmaster Alexander Grischuk was the outright winner with a 12/18 score. Grischuk finished ahead of Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, who both collected 11/18 points. Arjun Erigaisi and rapid-tournament winner Maxime Vachier-Lagrave were the two remaining players to end with a plus score. | Photo: Vivek Sohani

9/4/2023 – On 1st September FIDE published its new rating list. Magnus Carlsen is still the clear number one, although he only gained 4 rating points by winning the prestigious World Cup. Carlsen tops the list with a rating of 2839 points, 53 points ahead of Fabiano Caruana, who has replaced Hikaru Nakamura as world number 2.

9/2/2023 – Magnus Carlsen won the winners’ final of the Julius Baer Generation Cup with a smooth 3-0 victory over Alireza Firouzja. The Norwegian has thus reached the Grand Final set to take place on Sunday. His opponent will be the winner of the losers’ bracket, where Denis Lazavik and Nodirbek Abdusattorov will first play in the semifinals on Saturday; the winner will then face Firouzja.

7/23/2023 – In the seventh round of the US Junior Championship played on Saturday, Arthur Guo (pictured) defeated Andrew Hong, who entered the round tied with him in first place. Since Abhimanyu Mishra, the third member of the former leading trio, had to settle for a draw against Justin Wang, Guo became the sole leader with two rounds to go. Melikset Khachiyan continues to lead the Seniors category, while Alice Lee extended her lead to a full point in the Girls’ Championship. | Photo: Bryan Adams

7/17/2023 – In the eighth game of the FIDE Women’s World Championship on Sunday, Ju Wenjun finally managed to score a win against challenger Lei Tingjie. A day earlier, the defending champion had failed to make the most of a big advantage in game 7. With four more games to go, the score is now tied. | Photo: Stev Bonhage / FIDE

7/16/2023 – The protagonists of the Women’s World Championship moved to Chongqing to play the second half of the all-Chinese match. Game 7 was played on Saturday. Challenger Lei Tingjie still has a 1-point lead over defending champion Ju Wenjun after the latter could not convert a clear advantage into a win while marshalling the black pieces. Lei had won game 5, the only decisive encounter of the match so far. | Photo: Stev Bonhage / FIDE

7/16/2023 – In the Grand Final of the Aimchess Rapid, Magnus Carlsen defeated Wesley So by a 3-1 score on Friday. The 15+3 rapid tournament was the fourth event of the Champions Chess Tour and was played online. In the overall tour standings, Carlsen now has a 95-point lead over his closest chaser, Fabiano Caruana. Denis Lazavik won Division II, while Yu Yangyi prevailed in Division III.

7/9/2023 – In the longest game of the Women’s World Championship match so far, Lei Tingjie surprised Ju Wenjun in the opening. Ju struggled at first, but later got to put pressure on her opponent in the endgame. A fourth draw in Shanghai means the score remains tied in what has so far been a high-quality, tense confrontation. | Photo: Stev Bonhage / FIDE