The Week in Chess

    • by Mark Crowther
      The 6th Cairns Cup takes place in Saint Louis August 10th – 21st, 2026. For the first time this women's event is alongside the Sinquefield Cup. Players: Bibisara Assaubayeva, Anna Muzychuk, Humpy Koneru, Zhongyi Tan, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Divya Deshmukh, Rameshbabu Vaishali, Carissa Yip, Stavroula Tsolakidou and Alice Lee.
    • by Mark Crowther
      The 13th Sinquefield Cup takes place 10th to 20th August 2026. Players: Fabiano Caruana, Javokhir Sindarov, Vincent Keymer, Wesley So, Anish Giri, Praggnanandhaa R, Jorden Van Foreest, Maxime Vachier-lagrave, Levon Aronian and Samuel Sevian.
    • by Mark Crowther
      The 112th British Chess Championships took place at the University of Warwick 1st to 9th August 2026. Luke McShane, Michael Adams, Shreyas Royal, Harry Grieve etc. Most interesting is the number of young players with Bodhana Sivanandan being one of those. The event delivered on its promise with 17-year-old Shreyas Royal earning his first title and Bodhana Sivanandan winning a tie-break match against Trisha Kanyamarala to win her first title at a record […]
    • by Mark Crowther
      The WR Chess Rapid & Blitz Miami was a two day rapid and then blitz match between the USA and Uzbekistan ahead of the Olympiad. Team: Ukbekistan: Javokhir Sindarov, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Nodirbek Yakubboev, Shamsiddin Vokhidov, Mukhiddin Madaminov, USA: Hikaru Nakamura, Levon Aronian, Wesley So, Fabiano Caruana, Leinier Dominguez Perez. Each round was a team match with 2 points for a win, 1 for a draw. The USA narrowly won both days.
    • by Mark Crowther
      The Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters took place Thu 16th Jul to Wed 22nd Jul 2026. Alireza Firouzja took clear first place with 4½/7 half a point clear of Dmitry Andreikin and Arjun Erigaisi, The poor form of World Champion Gukesh continues as he finished dead last on 2/7 and is in danger of falling below 2700. Gukesh continues to play wildly ambitious chess, it's still possible to believe he'll turn this around.
    • by Mark Crowther
      Sergei Tiviakov was the surprise winner of the 2026 Netherlands Chess Championships held at the Renaissance Amsterdam Schiphol Airport Hotel. Whilst the event was missing the strongest two players, Anish Giri and Jordan van Foreest, it was a pretty respectable field and Tiviakov was the eighth seed. Tiviakov beat IM Eelke De Boer in the first round. In the second he lost the first game to Erwin L'Ami but recovered in a must […]
    • by Mark Crowther
      The Netherland Championships took place in Amsterdam Sat 4th to Sat 11th Jul 2026. The event was a KO with both an open and women's event. Sergei Tiviakov won his fourth title defeating Liam Vrolijk in the final after a tie-break. Machteld Van Foreest beat Anna-Maja Kazarian 2-0 in the final.
    • by Mark Crowther
      The KazChess Masters took place Tue 30th Jun to Wed 8th Jul 2026 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Alexey Sarana edged out Alexander Donchenko on tie-break after both scored 6/9. Igor Kovalenko finished half a point behind.
    • by Mark Crowther
      The GCT Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia took place in Zagreb 1st to 5th July 2026. Players: Vincent Keymer, Alireza Firouzja, Anish Giri, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Jorden Van Foreest, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Ivan Saric, Bogdan-Daniel Deac and Gukesh Dommaraju. Alrizeza Firouzja won an Armageddon Tie-break against Nodirbek Abdusattorov after they tied the combined standings and a two game rapid tie-break match.