1/29/2024 – Leon Luke Mendonca was the surprise winner of the Tata Steel Challenger tournament in Wijk aan Zee. He started with 3 out of 6 points, and was lost in the lower part of the table, until he recovered with 6.5 points out of his last 7 games, to reach first place! The Indian Grandmaster and ChessBase Host, Arne Kaehler, started a video series in 2023, on how a typical day in a life of a professional chess player looks like. The insights of young Leon (turning 18 in March) are tremendous, and you can learn a lot in this first video. | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024

1/29/2024 – It was a thrilling event from start to finish. The final round of the Tata Steel Masters saw four co-leaders grabbing wins to set up a four-way blitz playoff. Wei Yi, Gukesh D., Anish Giri and Nodirbek Abdusattorov played the knockout tiebreaker, which saw 24-year-old Wei claiming overall victory after showcasing his well-known tactical sharpness in the deciding stage. Meanwhile, Leon Luke Mendonca took clear first place in the Challengers after beating Divya Deshmukh with the white pieces. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Lennart Ootes

1/28/2024 – Five out of seven games ended decisively in the penultimate round of the Tata Steel Masters, leaving five players tied for first place going into the last day of action. Vidit Gujrathi defeated former sole leader Nodirbek Abdusattorov to create the exciting scenario for Sunday. Vidit and Abdusattorov are joined by Gukesh D., Wei Yi and Anish Giri in the lead. Similarly, in the Challengers, Leon Luke Mendonca caught former sole leader Marc’Andria Maurizzi atop the standings. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Jurriaan Hoefsmit

3/25/2023 – Generally after winning a tournament in a dominating fashion, players tend to relax. That's not what GM Leon Luke Mendonca did. After clinching 27th Hit Open 2023 on the previous day, the teenager went on to defeat FM Domen Tisaj to score a perfect 9/9. Leon, who has just turned 17, performed at 3196, which earned him 26.4 Elo rating points. This is Leon's second consecutive tournament triumph this month: he remains undefeated after winning 38th ChessOrg Festival Bad Woerishofen 2023 on 11th March. Report with full post-match interview.

3/23/2023 – Leon Luke Mendonca has won the 2023 Hit Open with a round to spare after scoring eight wins in as many games. In the penultimate round, the teenager defeated GM Nigel Davies in just 19 movies. The veteran grandmaster from England neglected the safety of his king and paid a heavy price for it. The youngster from Goa turned 17 years old just ten days ago. | Photo: Nova Garica Chess Club

5/31/2022 – The Hamburg Chess Club hosted a GM tournament and an IM tournament last week. Leon Mendonca from India won the GM tournament. Frederick Svane scored a GM norm — 24 hours later Svane's third and last GM norm in the Bundesliga was also official. In the IM tournament, Brandon Clarke was the clear winner. | Photo: Hugo Schulz, Vasilios Kotronias, Leon Mendonca, Frederik Svane and Frank Bracker (Frank Bracker)

7/14/2020 – We want you to find a caption for this picture. It shows the Balaton tournament director IM Janos Rigo congratulating winner IM Leon Luke Mendonca, who is fourteen years old. Due to the pandemic Leon has been trapped in Budapest, together with his father, for almost four months now. Fortunately it is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, and fortunately the legendary Judit Polgar has helped make their stay more pleasant – this time by sharing a culinary adventure.