12/16/2022 – The FIDE Council has approved a major reform of the qualification paths to the Candidates Tournament, the event that decides the challenger for the World Championship match. The main innovation is creating a new qualification path through different FIDE-rated tournaments. Tournaments that meet certain criteria will grant points towards the “FIDE Circuit”. | Photo: FIDE

12/6/2022 – After achieving her third Grandmaster norm in the Grand Swiss Tournament in Riga 2021 Germany's number one women player Elisabeth Pähtz (pictured) finally seemed to have secured the title, but when it turned out that her second norm might not have been valid, things got complicated. But in FIDE's decisions of the Council meeting on 25 November Pähtz's title was now confirmed. And Mexico was mentioned indirectly as possible host for the World Championship match between Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi in 2023. | Photo: Lars OA Hedlund

11/24/2022 – The FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championship will take place in Almaty, Kazakhstan, from December 25-31 at the Baluan Sholak Sports Palace, the arena that has hosted many international sports competitions as well as live concerts and various shows. You can now register for the event!

11/7/2022 – FIDE is happy to confirm the dates and the venue for the World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2022. The prestigious event will take place in Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest metropolis, set in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains. The championship will be played on its traditional dates, between December 25 (arrival and opening) and December 30 (last playing day and closing). | Photo: advantour.com

10/4/2022 – At the beginning of October the FIDE published its new ranking list. With a rating of 2856 Magnus Carlsen continues to lead the list though he lost 5 points in the Sinquefield Cup. Currently, Carlsen is 44 ratings points away from 2900 but also 45 rating points ahead of Ding Liren, who has a rating of 2811 and is the world's number two. Hou Yifan continues to lead the women's ranking list, five juniors have a rating of 2700 or more, and Zhu Jiner from China is number one on the list of female juniors.

9/30/2022 – After an initial statement that acknowledged the current controversy shaking the chess world, FIDE has now announced the creation of a panel by its Fair Play Commission to investigate the "the World Champion's claims of alleged cheating by Niemann and Niemann's self-statement regarding online cheating."

9/23/2022 – The International Chess Federation has shared a statement regarding the scandal that has taken over the chess over. FIDE wrote: “As the world’s chess governing body, it is our duty to protect the integrity of the game and its image, and in view that the incident keeps escalating, we find it necessary to take a step forward”. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

9/23/2022 – FIDE has announced a new world championship: an Open World Team Championship in which club teams can participate. The partner of the World Championship, which will offer a prize fund of 250,000 euros, is the logistics company WR Group based in Düsseldorf, Germany, where the tournament is "tentatively" scheduled to be played in May 2023.

9/1/2022 – The Chess Olympiad has brought movement into the world rankings. The top junior players in particular gained a lot of rating points while a number of established top players lost rating points. Magnus Carlsen remains the clear number one by a large margin.

7/4/2022 – On 1 July the FIDE published the new world ranking list. Magnus Carlsen and Hou Yifan continue to lead the "Top 100" and "Top 100 Women" by a large margin. Alireza Firouzja, who turned 19 at the beginning of the Candidates, is still the best junior, while Zhu Jiner from China continues to lead the "Girls'" list.

6/16/2022 – The 2022 FIDE Presidential election will be held on August 7, 2022, at the FIDE General Assembly in Chennai, India. The Electoral Commission, after a preliminary exam, approved the following list of valid Presidential ticket candidacies: Mr. Andrii Baryshpolets and Mr. Peter-Heine Nielsen; Mr. Inalbek Cheripov and Mr. Lewis Ncube; Mr. Arkady Dvorkovich and Mr. Anand Viswanathan; Mr. Bachar Kouatly and Mr. Ian Wilkinson.

5/23/2022 – At the FIDE Congress during the upcoming Chess Olympiad in Chennai, the elections for the FIDE Presidium are on the agenda. Arkady Dvorkovich is standing for re-election and is supported by Viswanathan Anand. In view of the candidacy of the Russian President, the election has a strong political colour. Now a Ukrainian, GM Andrii Baryshpolets, has announced his candidacy. | Photo: US Chess Federation

5/19/2022 – Munich will host the third leg of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2022-23, to be held from February 1-14, 2023. The venues, dates, and details for the other three legs in the WGP Series will be announced at the end of May. | Photos: FIDE

4/4/2022 – At the beginning of April, the FIDE published its new ranking list. With a rating of 2864 Magnus Carlsen continues to lead the Top 100 by a wide margin - he is exactly 60 points ahead of Alireza Firouzja, who has a rating of 2804 and is officially the world's number two. Richard Rapport climbed to seventh place and now has a rating of 2776. Hou Yifan leads the women's ranking list, Firouzja is the best junior and Zhu Jiner is number one on the girl's list.

3/16/2022 – FIDE has followed the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee and excluded the teams of Russia and Belarus from participating in all official FIDE tournaments.

3/15/2022 – The American magazine "Mother Jones", seven times winner of the "Magazine of the Year" award from the American Society of Magazine Editors, just published interviews with 36 prominent personalities from the world of chess about the war in Ukraine. One of them is FIDE President and former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, who spoke out against the war: "My thoughts are with Ukrainian civilians. ... Wars do not just kill priceless lives. Wars kill hopes and aspirations, freeze or destroy relationships and connections." | Photo: David Llada

3/8/2022 – In light of the ongoing war in Ukraine, and under the roof of the Year of the Woman in Chess, the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess established a fundraiser for Ukrainian chess players and their families affected now by war. Also, the FIDE Women’s Commission, in partnership with Chess24, has prepared a series of events on the Women’s Day to support Ukrainian chess players and their families.

3/2/2022 – FIDE published its new World Ranking List. World Champion Magnus Carlsen remains the clear number one but did not make any significant progress towards the 2900 mark - Carlsen gained points by winning in Wijk but lost these points again in one game in the Norwegian league. The winner of the Challengers in Wijk, Arjun Erigaisi, is now among the top 100, and Hikaru Nakamura is back in the top 20.

1/19/2022 – The International Chess Federation has declared 2022 the Year of the Woman in Chess. According to the FIDE Women’s Commision, this is a chance to take a leap forward in their mission of forming gender equity policies, practices and programs. | Pictured: Eva Repkova / Chair of FIDE Women’s Commission

1/7/2022 – Parallel to the Rapid and Blitz World Championships in Warsaw, FIDE held its annual congress. Delegates participated mostly online. On its website, FIDE recently published the "results and decisions" of the congress. Despite the Corona pandemic, FIDE is solidly financed, now largely from sponsorship, donations and broadcasting rights, less so from membership fees. The World Chess Federation has reacquired the rights to the World Championships. | Photos: David Llada

12/20/2021 – A pre-requisite for an organization to become world class is to have competent people working for it in key managerial positions. This is exactly what FIDE has done by roping in Dana Reizniece-Ozola as the managing director. A look at her credentials and you can have no doubts about her competency. Dana is a former Minister of Economics of Latvia as well as its Finance Minister! She has a Masters in Business Administration, has been the head of space programs and her list of achievements is quite huge. To add to all of this, she is also a strong chess player - a WGM with an Elo of 2283. At the World Championship 2021 in Dubai, IM Sagar Shah met with Dana and had a detailed interview about her journey of life, becoming FIDE's managing director, her vision for FIDE and much more.

12/10/2021 – A few days ago the FIDE announced that the World Rapid and Blitz Championships due to Corona restrictions could not take place in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan, as was originally planned. Now FIDE announced that they found a new venue: the World Rapid and Blitz Championships will take place in Warsaw on the planned dates (December 25 - December 31, 2021). | Photo: Qbolewicz

12/9/2021 – The FIDE Rapid and Blitz World Championships cannot take place in Nur Sultan (Kazakhstan) in December as originally planned. Due to the tightened Corona security measures imposed by the Kazakh government, FIDE has cancelled the tournament in Kazakhstan and is currently looking at alternative venues.

12/1/2021 – With Alireza Firouzja, the chess world now has a new number two behind Magnus Carlsen. On the new World Ranking from December 2021, which the FIDE just published, the 18-year-old, who was born in Iran but is living in France, is ahead of Ding Liren and Fabiano Caruana.