2025 in chess

Major chess events in 2025 include the annual Tata Steel Chess Tournament, Norway Chess and Grand Chess Tour. Ju Wenjun defended her title against challenger Tan Zhongyi in the Women's World Chess Championship 2025. The FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament in Samarkand in September will determine two qualifiers for the Candidates Tournament 2026, while the Chess World Cup in Goa, India in November will determine three qualifiers. The 2025 FIDE Circuit, comprising top tournaments in 2025, will determine one qualifier. The annual World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships will take place in Doha in December.

January 2025 FIDE Rankings

Rank	Prev	Player	Rating	Change
1	1	Magnus Carlsen	2831	0
2	2	Fabiano Caruana	2803	-2
3	3	Hikaru Nakamura	2802	0
4	4	Arjun Erigaisi	2801	0
5	5	Gukesh Dommaraju	2777	-6
6	6	Nodirbek Abdusattorov	2768	-9
7	7	Alireza Firouzja	2763	0
8	8	Ian Nepomniachtchi	2754	-1
9	9	Wei Yi	2751	-2
10	10	Viswanathan Anand	2750	0

• Jan 4 – World number one Magnus Carlsen married Ella Victoria Malone in a ceremony in Oslo.^[1]
• Jan 8 – Vladimir Fedoseev won the Freestyle Chess play-in to qualify for the Weissenhaus Grand Slam, the first leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour.^[2]
• Jan 11 – 9-year-old Roman Shogdzhiev became the youngest player to score an International Master norm.^[3]
• Jan 11 – Magnus Carlsen made his debut for FC St. Pauli in the Chess Bundesliga, where he played for the first time since 2008, scoring 1½/2.^[4][5]
• Jan 17 – The President of India, Droupadi Murmu conferred the Khel Ratna Award on World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju.^[6]
• Jan 24 – The FIDE Council decided to allow the participation of teams consisting of neutral athletes, particularly Russian and Belarusian athletes, in youth competitions and events for players with disabilities.^[7]
• Jan 27 – In a decision by the FIDE Ethics and Disciplinary Commission, Andrejs Strebkovs' ban from all FIDE-rated events was extended to 12 years, and his FIDE title of International Master was revoked.^[8][9]

February 2025 FIDE Rankings

Rank	Prev	Player	Rating	Change
1	1	Magnus Carlsen	2833	+2
2	2	Fabiano Caruana	2803	0
3	3	Hikaru Nakamura	2802	0
4	4	Arjun Erigaisi	2801	0
5	5	Gukesh Dommaraju	2777	0
6	6	Nodirbek Abdusattorov	2766	-2
7	7	Alireza Firouzja	2760	-3
8	9	Wei Yi	2755	+4
9	8	Ian Nepomniachtchi	2754	0
10	10	Viswanathan Anand	2750	0

• Feb 2 – R Praggnanandhaa defeated Gukesh Dommaraju 2–1 in a blitz playoff to win the Tata Steel Masters, after both players finished on 8½/13. Gukesh lost his first game as world champion in the final round against Arjun Erigaisi. Thai Dai Van Nguyen won the Challengers and qualified for the 2026 Masters.^[10][11]
• Feb 10 – FIDE announced that the Women's World Chess Championship 2025 between Ju Wenjun and Tan Zhongyi would take place in Shanghai and Chongqing from April 1 to 23.^[12]
• Feb 14 – Vincent Keymer won the first leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour after defeating Magnus Carlsen in the semifinals and Fabiano Caruana in the finals.^[13]
• Feb 21 – Magnus Carlsen won the Chessable Masters, the first leg of the Champions Chess Tour 2025. The top three – Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, and Ian Nepomniachtchi, qualified for the 2025 Esports World Cup.^[14]
• Feb 27 – Aleksandra Goryachkina won the third leg of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024–25 on tiebreaks, ahead of Koneru Humpy and Batkhuyag Munguntuul, who all scored 5½/9. Goryachkina took the lead in the Grand Prix standings.^[15]

March 2025 FIDE Rankings

Rank	Prev	Player	Rating	Change
1	1	Magnus Carlsen	2833	0
2	3	Hikaru Nakamura	2802	0
3	5	Gukesh Dommaraju	2787	+10
4	2	Fabiano Caruana	2783	-20
5	4	Arjun Erigaisi	2777	-24
6	6	Nodirbek Abdusattorov	2773	+7
7	8	Wei Yi	2760	+5
8	14	R Praggnanandhaa	2758	+17
9	7	Alireza Firouzja	2757	-3
10	8	Ian Nepomniachtchi	2753	-1

• Mar 6 – Ian Nepomniachtchi won the Aeroflot Open for the fourth time, ahead of Richárd Rapport and Andrey Esipenko.^[16]
• Mar 7 – Aravindh Chithambaram won the Prague Chess Festival Masters, going undefeated with three wins and six draws. Nodirbek Yakubboev won the Challengers after defeating Jonas Buhl Bjerre 1½-½ in a playoff.^[17]
• Mar 7 – Pranav V and Anna Shukhman became the World Junior Chess Champions.^[18]
• Mar 8 – Daniil Dubov played an exhibition blitz match against Hans Niemann in Moscow, winning 9½-8½.^[19]
• Mar 15 – Vidit Gujrathi won the Freestyle Chess play-in to qualify for the Paris Grand Slam, the second leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour.^[20]

• Mar 23 – Hikaru Nakamura won the American Cup, after beating Fabiano Caruana in the grand final. It was the second time he won the event, after first winning it in 2023. He also won the blitz tournament held the following day.^[21]
• Mar 24 – Anna Muzychuk won the fourth leg of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024–25, edging out Zhu Jiner on tiebreaks.^[22][23]
• Mar 26 – The FIDE Ethics and Disciplinary Commission sanctioned Kirill Shevchenko with a worldwide ban of three years, with one year of the sanction suspended, after finding him guilty of breaching Article 11.7(e) of the Disciplinary Code by attempting to cheat using an electronic device in the Spanish Team Championship.^[24][25]
• Mar 27 – Matthias Blübaum won the European Individual Chess Championship, becoming the first player to win it twice. Frederik Svane and Maxim Rodshtein finished on the same score as Blübaum, but came second and third on tiebreaks, respectively.^[26]

April 2025 FIDE Rankings

Rank	Prev	Player	Rating	Change
1	1	Magnus Carlsen	2837	+4
2	2	Hikaru Nakamura	2804	+2
3	3	Gukesh Dommaraju	2787	0
4	5	Arjun Erigaisi	2782	+5
5	4	Fabiano Caruana	2776	-7
6	6	Nodirbek Abdusattorov	2773	0
7	7	Wei Yi	2758	-2
8	8	R Praggnanandhaa	2758	0
9	10	Ian Nepomniachtchi	2757	+4
10	9	Alireza Firouzja	2757	0

• Apr 2 – Vidit Gujrathi married Nidhi Kataria in a wedding held at the Oxford Golf Resort in Pune. It was attended by World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju, five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand, Arjun Erigaisi and Anish Giri, among others.^[27][28]
• Apr 14 – Magnus Carlsen won the second leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour after defeating Fabiano Caruana in the semifinals, and Hikaru Nakamura in the final.^[29]
• Apr 16 – Ju Wenjun defeated Tan Zhongyi by a score of 6½-2½ to win the Women's World Chess Championship 2025, retaining her title and becoming world champion for the fifth time.^[30][31]
• Apr 21 – Magnus Carlsen scored a perfect 9/9 in the inaugural Grenke Freestyle Open and won the tournament. Aswath S tied with Brandon Jacobson with 8/9 in Classical Open but won on tiebreaks.^[32]
• Apr 23 – Koneru Humpy won the fifth leg of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024–25 on tiebreaks, ahead of Zhu Jiner.^[33]
• Apr 27 – Vasily Ivanchuk won the 4th Menorca Open with 8/9.^[34]
• Apr 30 – Vladimir Fedoseev won the GCT Rapid & Blitz Poland with three rounds to spare, scoring 26½/36. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave finished second with 21½/36, while R Praggnanandhaa finished third with 20½/36.^[35]

May 2025 FIDE Rankings

Rank	Prev	Player	Rating	Change
1	1	Magnus Carlsen	2837	0
2	2	Hikaru Nakamura	2804	0
3	3	Gukesh Dommaraju	2787	0
4	5	Arjun Erigaisi	2782	0
5	4	Fabiano Caruana	2776	0
6	6	Nodirbek Abdusattorov	2771	-2
7	7	Wei Yi	2758
8	8	R Praggnanandhaa	2758	0
9	10	Ian Nepomniachtchi	2757	0
10	9	Alireza Firouzja	2757	0

• May 3 – Christopher Yoo won the Sardinia Chess Festival with a score of 7.5/9.^[36]
• May 6 – Aleksandar Inđić won the Baku Open 2025 with a score of 7/9.^[37]
• May 9 – Christopher Yoo was slapped with a 60-day provisional suspension (9 May – July 8) after multiple harassment complaints, previously under USCF domestic ban since November 14, 2024.^[38][39]
• May 15 – Bardiya Daneshvar won the Asian Chess Championship which was his maiden title. He had tied with Nihal Sarin by 7/9 but won by tiebreaks. The defending champion Shamsiddin Vokhidov finished third with 6.5/9. Song Yuxin won in the women's section.^[40]
• May 16 – There was a three-way tie for first between R Praggnanandhaa, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Alireza Firouzja in the Superbet Chess Classic on 5½/9. Praggnanandhaa won the blitz playoff to win the tournament.^[41]
• May 16 – Anna Muzychuk won the final leg of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024–25 on tiebreaks, ahead of Zhu Jiner. Thus Zhu Jiner and Aleksandra Goryachkina who finished as winner and runner-up of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024–25 both qualified for the Women's Candidates Tournament 2026.^[42]
• May 23 – Vincent Keymer won his maiden German Chess Championship, held in Munich.^[43]
• May 25 – Anish Giri won the Sharjah Masters ahead of Aleksandar Indjic and Nodirbek Abdusattorov.^[44]
• May 26 – Javokhir Sindarov won the TePe Sigeman & Co chess tournament ahead of Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus and Nils Grandelius.^[45]
• May 31 – Sam Shankland won the American Continental Championship for third time in his career. José Martínez and Alexandr Fier finished second and third place respectively.^[46]

June 2025 FIDE Rankings

Rank	Prev	Player	Rating	Change
1	1	Magnus Carlsen	2837	0
2	2	Hikaru Nakamura	2804	0
3	4	Arjun Erigaisi	2782	0
4	5	Fabiano Caruana	2777	+1
5	3	Gukesh Dommaraju	2776	-11
6	6	Nodirbek Abdusattorov	2767	-4
7	7	R Praggnanandhaa	2767	+9
8	9	Alireza Firouzja	2766	+9
9	8	Wei Yi	2758	0
10	10	Ian Nepomniachtchi	2757	0

• Jun 1 – World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju defeated world number one and former world champion Magnus Carlsen for the first time in a classical game in the sixth round of Norway Chess.^[47]
• Jun 4 – Aleksey Grebnev won the Dubai Open with a score of 7/9, ahead of Alan Pichot.^[48]
• Jun 6 – Aravindh Chithambaram won the Stepan Avagyan Memorial on tiebreaks ahead of R Praggnanandhaa and climbed into the world's top ten in live ratings for the first time.^[49]
• Jun 6 – Magnus Carlsen won Norway Chess for the seventh time, while Anna Muzychuk won the women's event.^[50]
• Jun 13 – Team MGD1, led by Arjun Erigaisi, won the World Rapid Team Championship.^[51]
• Jun 15 – The WR Chess Team defended their title at the World Blitz Team Championship.^[52]
• Jun 27 – There was a three-way tie between R Praggnanandhaa, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Javokhir Sindarov for first place in the UzChess Cup Masters with 5½/9. Praggnanandhaa won after two blitz playoffs to win the tournament. Nikolas Theodorou won the Challengers section with 6½/9.^[53]
• Jun 30 – Alexey Sarana won the Aktobe Open with a score of 7/9, ahead of Aryan Chopra, Zhamsaran Tsydypov and P. Iniyan.^[54]

July 2025 FIDE Rankings

Rank	Prev	Player	Rating	Change
1	1	Magnus Carlsen	2839	+2
2	2	Hikaru Nakamura	2807	+3
3	5	Fabiano Caruana	2784	+7
4	7	R Praggnanandhaa	2779	+1
5	3	Arjun Erigaisi	2776	-6
6	5	Gukesh Dommaraju	2776	0
7	6	Nodirbek Abdusattorov	2771	+4
8	8	Alireza Firouzja	2766	0
9	9	Wei Yi	2748	-10
10	12	Anish Giri	2748	0

• Jul 1 – FIDE extends the domestic suspension of Christopher Yoo to take effect worldwide, banning him from FIDE-rated events until 14 November, following a request by the USCF. Additionally, he has been put on probation until 14 November 2030.^[55]
• Jul 1 – For the first time since the inception of FIDE rating lists, Russian players were absent from the world's top ten, after Ian Nepomniachtchi dropped to number 14.^[56] On the other hand, Anish Giri returned to the top ten after over a year.^[57]
• Jul 6 – Magnus Carlsen won the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia with a score of 22½/36. Wesley So finished second with 20/36, while Gukesh Dommaraju finished third with 19½/36.^[58]
• Jul 20 – Levon Aronian won the fourth leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour after defeating Fabiano Caruana in the semifinals, and Hans Niemann in the final.^[59]
• Jul 23 – IM Divya Deshmukh defeated former Women's World Champion Tan Zhongyi in the semi-finals of Women's Chess World Cup 2025.^[60]
• Jul 24 – Vladimir Fedoseev won the Biel Masters Triathlon on tiebreaks, ahead of Aravindh Chithambaram. Nikolas Theodorou won the Challengers Triathlon.^[61] The traditional open tournament was won by Karthikeyan Murali with a score of 8/10.^[62]
• Jul 27 – Former Women's World Champion Tan Zhongyi defeated Lei Tingjie in the match for third place in the Women's Chess World Cup 2025 and qualified for the Women's Candidates Tournament 2026.^[63]
• Jul 28 – Divya Deshmukh defeated Koneru Humpy in final of the Women's Chess World Cup 2025 with 2½–1½ and became the third Women's World Cup Champion. Both the winner and the runner-up secured a spot for the Women's Candidates Tournament 2026.^[64]

August 2025 FIDE Rankings

Rank	Prev	Player	Rating	Change
1	1	Magnus Carlsen	2839	0
2	2	Hikaru Nakamura	2807	0
3	3	Fabiano Caruana	2784	0
4	4	R Praggnanandhaa	2779	0
5	5	Arjun Erigaisi	2776	0
6	6	Gukesh Dommaraju	2776	0
7	7	Nodirbek Abdusattorov	2771	0
8	8	Alireza Firouzja	2766	0
9	9	Wei Yi	2753	+5
10	10	Anish Giri	2748	0

• August 1 – Magnus Carlsen, signed with Team Liquid, won the inaugural chess event at the Esports World Cup, defeating Alireza Firouzja (Team Falcons) in the final.^[65]
• August 7 – There was an exhibition Blitz match between Jan-Krzysztof Duda & Gukesh D hosted in Katowice, Poland. Duda won the match with a score of 5–1 despite losing the first game.^[66]
• August 15 – Vincent Keymer won the Chennai Grand Masters with one round to spare and reached into the World's Top ten in live ratings for the first time. Pranesh M won the Challengers section with 6½/9.^[67]
• August 15 – Levon Aronian won the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz with 24½/36. Fabiano Caruana finished second with 21½/36 while Maxime Vachier-Lagrave finished third with 21/36. ^[68]
• August 24 – Denis Lazavik won Abu Dhabi Masters on tiebreaks with 7/9, tying with four other players Zeng Chongsheng, Arkadij Naiditsch, Aleksey Grebnev & IM Maksim Tsaruk.^[69]
• August 24 – Nodirbek Yakubboev won the 61st Rubinstein Memorial with 6½/9 ahead of Radosław Wojtaszek & Matthias Blübaum.^[70]
• August 26 – FIDE announced that the Chess World Cup 2025 would take place in Goa, India from October 31 to November 27.^[71]
• August 28 – There was a three-way tie for first place between Wesley So, R Praggnanandhaa & Fabiano Caruana at the Sinquefield Cup. Wesley So won the tournament after blitz playoffs, with the help of a victory against R Praggnanandhaa.^[72]
• August 29 – FIDE revokes the Grandmaster title of Kirill Shevchenko in their final decision regarding the cheating scandal.^[73]

September 2025 FIDE Rankings

Rank	Prev	Player	Rating	Change
1	1	Magnus Carlsen	2839	0
2	2	Hikaru Nakamura	2807	0
3	3	Fabiano Caruana	2789	+5
4	4	R Praggnanandhaa	2785	+6
5	5	Arjun Erigaisi	2771	-5
6	6	Gukesh Dommaraju	2767	-9
7	12	Wesley So	2756	+12
8	8	Alireza Firouzja	2754	-12
9	9	Wei Yi	2753	+5
10	21	Vincent Keymer	2751	+21

• September 1 – Pranav V won the inaugral Fujairah Global Championship scoring 7/9, with the big upsets of top seeds Nihal Sarin & Amin Tabatabaei.^[74]

Tournament	City	System	Dates	Players (2700+)	Winner	Runner-up	Third
Tata Steel Masters[75]	Wijk aan Zee	Round robin	17 Jan – 2 Feb	14 (9)	R Praggnanandhaa	Gukesh Dommaraju	Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Prague Chess Festival	Prague	Round robin	25 Feb – 7 Mar	10 (6)	Aravindh Chithambaram	Anish Giri	Wei Yi
GCT Romania	Bucharest	Round robin	7 – 16 May	10 (9)	R Praggnanandhaa	Alireza Firouzja Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	—
TePe Sigeman & Co tournament	Malmö	Round robin	20 – 26 May	8 (2)	Javokhir Sindarov	Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus Nils Grandelius	—
Norway Chess	Stavanger	Double round robin	26 May – 6 Jun	6 (6)	Magnus Carlsen	Fabiano Caruana	Gukesh Dommaraju
Stepan Avagyan Memorial	Jermuk	Round robin	29 May – 6 Jun	10 (2)	Aravindh Chithambaram	R Praggnanandhaa	Dmitrij Kollars
UzChess Cup Masters	Tashkent	Round robin	18 – 28 Jun	10 (7)	R Praggnanandhaa	Javokhir Sindarov	Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Biel Masters	Biel/Bienne	Multi-stage	12 – 25 Jul	6 (2)	Vladimir Fedoseev	Aravindh Chithambaram	Salem Saleh
Chennai Grand Masters	Chennai	Round robin	7 – 16 Aug	10 (4)	Vincent Keymer	Anish Giri	Arjun Erigaisi
Rubinstein Memorial	Polanica-Zdrój	Round robin	15 – 24 Aug	10 (1)	Nodirbek Yakubboev	Radosław Wojtaszek	Matthias Blübaum
Sinquefield Cup	St. Louis	Round robin	16 – 29 Aug	10 (9)	Wesley So	R Praggnanandhaa Fabiano Caruana	—
FIDE Grand Swiss	Samarkand	Swiss	3 – 15 Sep	116
GCT Finals	São Paulo	Single elimination	26 Sep – 4 Oct	4
Chess World Cup	Goa	Single elimination	31 Oct – 27 Nov	206
London Chess Classic	London	Round robin	26 Nov – 2 Dec	8

Tournament	City	TAR	Dates	Players	Winner	Runner-up	Third
Aeroflot Open	Moscow	2704+5⁄8	28 Feb – 7 Mar	140	Ian Nepomniachtchi	Richárd Rapport	Andrey Esipenko
European Individual Championship	Eforie	2671+5⁄8	14 – 27 Mar	375	Matthias Blübaum	Frederik Svane	Maxim Rodshtein
Tashkent Open, Agzamov Memorial	Tashkent	2643+5⁄8	19 – 30 Mar	158	Nihal Sarin	Sanan Sjugirov	Abhimanyu Puranik
Reykjavik Open	Reykjavík	2612+3⁄4	9 – 15 Apr	419	Parham Maghsoodloo	Vasyl Ivanchuk	Mahammad Muradli
Grenke Chess Open	Karlsruhe	2638+3⁄8	17 – 21 Apr	875	Aswath S	Brandon Jacobson	Ivan Šarić Daniil Yuffa
Menorca Open	Menorca	2644	22 – 27 Apr	326	Vasyl Ivanchuk	Lu Shanglei	Karthikeyan Murali
Asian Individual Championship	Al Ain	2652+1⁄2	7 – 15 Apr	157	Bardiya Daneshvar	Nihal Sarin	Shamsiddin Vokhidov
Sharjah Masters	Sharjah	2690+3⁄8	17 – 25 May	82	Anish Giri	Aleksandar Inđić	Nodirbek Abdusattorov
American Absolute Championship	Foz do Iguaçu	2606+1⁄8	23 – 31 May	218	Sam Shankland	José Martínez Alcántara	Alexandr Fier
Dubai Open	Dubai	2620+1⁄4	27 May – 4 Jun	82	Aleksey Grebnev	Alan Pichot	Ivan Zemlyanskii
Vladimir Dvorkovich Memorial - Aktobe Open	Aktobe	2652+5⁄8	21 – 30 Jun	80	Alexey Sarana	Aryan Chopra	Zhamsaran Tsydypov
Dole Open	Aix-en-provence	2646+3⁄4	19 – 27 Jul	272	P. Iniyan	Jan Malek	Pavel Eljanov
Oskemen Open	Oskemen	2603+1⁄8	20 – 30 Jul	77	Aleksey Grebnev	Richard Rapport	S.P. Sethuraman
Fujairah Global Championship	Fujairah	2660	25 Aug – 2 Sep	44	Pranav V	Brandon Jacobson	José Martínez Alcántara
U.S. Masters	Charlotte		26 – 30 Nov

Tournament	City	System	Dates	Players	Winner	Runner-up	Third
Chessable Masters	Online	Double elimination	16 – 21 Feb	16	Magnus Carlsen	Hikaru Nakamura	Ian Nepomniachtchi
GCT Poland	Warsaw	Round robin[a]	24 April – 1 May	10	Vladimir Fedoseev	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	R Praggnanandhaa
Chess.com Classic	Online	Double elimination	18 – 23 May	16	Magnus Carlsen	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	Hikaru Nakamura
GCT Croatia	Zagreb	Round robin[a]	2 – 6 Jul	10	Magnus Carlsen	Wesley So	Gukesh Dommaraju
Esports World Cup[76][b]	Riyadh	Multi-stage	29 Jul – 1 Aug	16	Magnus Carlsen	Alireza Firouzja	Hikaru Nakamura
GCT St. Louis	St. Louis	Round robin[a]	11 – 15 Aug	10	Levon Aronian	Fabiano Caruana	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
World Rapid Championship	Doha	Swiss	25 – 31 Dec	TBD
World Blitz Championship		Multi-stage

Tournament	City	System	Dates	Players (2500+)	Winner	Runner-up	Third
Monaco Grand Prix	Monaco	Round robin	17 – 28 Feb	10 (4)	Aleksandra Goryachkina	Koneru Humpy	Batkhuyag Munguntuul
Nicosia Grand Prix	Nicosia	Round robin	14 – 25 Mar	10 (4)	Anna Muzychuk	Zhu Jiner	Harika Dronavalli
World Championship	Shanghai, Chongqing	Match	3 – 16 Apr	2 (2)	Ju Wenjun	Tan Zhongyi	—
Pune Grand Prix	Pune	Round robin	14 – 25 Apr	10 (3)	Koneru Humpy	Zhu Jiner	Divya Deshmukh
Großlobming Grand Prix	Großlobming	Round robin	6 – 15 May	10 (4)	Anna Muzychuk	Zhu Jiner	Tan Zhongyi
Norway Chess	Stavanger	Double round robin	26 May – 6 Jun	6 (4)	Anna Muzychuk	Lei Tingjie	Koneru Humpy
Cairns Cup	St. Louis	Round robin	10 – 20 Jun	10 (4)	Carissa Yip	Alice Lee	Harika Dronavalli Koneru Humpy
Chess World Cup	Batumi	Single elimination	5 – 29 Jul	107(8)	Divya Deshmukh	Koneru Humpy	Tan Zhongyi
FIDE Grand Swiss	Samarkand	Swiss	3 – 15 Sep	56
World Rapid Championship	Doha	Swiss	25 – 31 Dec	TBD
World Blitz Championship		Multi-stage

Tournament	City	System	Dates	Players	Winner	Runner-up	Third
Armenian Championship	Yerevan	Round robin	14 – 22 Jan	10	Robert Hovhannisyan	Artur Davtyan	Sargis Sargsyan
Israeli Championship	Eilat	Swiss	20 – 28 Jan	32	Yair Parkhov	Yahli Sokolovsky	Yannay Ben Ari
Montenegrin Championship	Podgorica	Swiss	31 Jan – 9 Feb	50	Nikita Petrov	Nemanja Vukcevic	Denis Kadrić
Georgian Championship	Tbilisi	Round robin	3 – 12 Feb	10	Levan Pantsulaia	Giga Quparadze	Tornike Sanikidze
Azerbaijani Championship	Baku	Single elimination	31 Jan – 15 Feb	26	Rauf Mamedov	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	Misratdin Iskandarov
Singaporean Championship	Singapore	Swiss	2 – 18 Feb	30	Tin Jingyao	Siddharth Jagadeesh	Enrique Paciencia
Romanian Championship	Craiova	Swiss	15 – 23 Feb	84	David Gavrilescu	Constantin Lupulescu	Filip Magold
Vietnamese Championship	Bắc Giang	Swiss	1 – 6 Mar	55	Dang Hoang Son	Nguyen Duc Hoa	Banh Gia Huy
American Cup[c]	St. Louis	Double elimination	15 – 24 Mar	8	Hikaru Nakamura	Fabiano Caruana	Levon Aronian
Canadian Championship	Toronto	Swiss	17 – 22 Apr	90	Nikolay Noritsyn	Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux	Razvan Preotu
Uzbekistani Championship	Qiziltepa District	Single elimination	18 – 28 Apr	16	Nodirbek Yakubboev	Ortik Nigmatov	Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov
Polish Championship	Kraków	Round robin	6 – 15 May	10	Paweł Teclaf	Jakub Kosakowski	Radosław Wojtaszek
German Championship	Munich	Round robin	15 – 23 May	10	Vincent Keymer	Matthias Bluebaum	Dennis Wagner
Kazakhstani Championship	Astana	Round robin	21 May – 1 Jun	14	Kazybek Nogerbek	Denis Makhynov	Aldiyar Ansat
Serbian Championship	Pirot	Round robin	31 May – 6 Jun	10	Ivan Ivanisevic	Suat Atalik	Robert Markuš
Chinese Championship	Xinghua	Swiss	22 Jun - 3 Jul	60	Xiao Tong	Kong Xiangrui	Zhang Di
Swedish Championship	Uppsala	Round robin	28 Jun – 6 Jul	10	Seo Jung-Min	Erik Blomqvist	Hampus Sörensen
Norwegian Championship	Bergen	Swiss	4 – 12 Jul	18	Jon Ludvig Hammer	Aksel Bu Kvaløy	Aryan Tari
Dutch Championship	Venlo	Single elimination	5 – 12 Jul	16	Jorden van Foreest	Loek van Wely	Liam Vrolijk Arthur De Winter
Belgian Championship	Westerlo	Round robin	5 – 13 Jul	10	Sim Maerevoet	Elias Ruzhansky	Mher Hovhannisyan
Scottish Championship	Dunfermline	Swiss	7 – 13 Jul	42	Andrew Greet	Kanishka Bhatia	Ross Blackford
Slovak Championship	Piešťany	Round robin	8 – 16 Jul	10	Viktor Gažík	Juraj Druska	Jerguš Pecháč
Austrian Championship	Linz	Round robin	19 – 27 Jul	10	Dominik Horvath	Konstantin Peyrer	Valentin Dragnev
British Championship	Liverpool	Swiss	2 – 10 Aug	99	Michael Adams	Stuart Conquest	Peter Roberson
French Championship	Vichy	Single elimination	15 – 24 Aug	16	Marc'Andria Maurizzi	Laurent Fressinet	Étienne Bacrot
Czech Championship	Pilsen	Round robin	23 – 31 Aug	10	Stepan Hrbek	Jan Vykouk	Tadeas Kriebel
Indian Championship	Guntur	Swiss	21 – 30 Sep
Russian Championship	Moscow	Round robin	1 – 12 Oct	12
U.S. Championship	St. Louis	Round robin	10 – 26 Oct	12

• 5 January — Robert Hübner, four-time World Championship candidate^[77]
• 2 February — Peter Enders, German grandmaster^[78]
• 27 February — Boris Spassky, 10th World Chess Champion^[79]
• 4 April — Friðrik Ólafsson, Icelandic grandmaster and President of FIDE (1978–1982)^[80]
• 28 April — Petr Neuman, Czech grandmaster^[81]
• 12 May — Vlastimil Hort, Czech-German grandmaster^[82]
• 18 June — Tigran Nalbandian, Armenian grandmaster^[83]