Sixteen players have secured invitations to the 2026 Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot on January 6. The field includes reigning World Champions, medalists from the 2025 World Rapid and Blitz…
January 06, 2026
Popular chess content creator IM Levy Rozman shared his opinion on the World Chess Championship prize fund in an interview on the YouTube channel Prakhar Gupta. Rozman also mentioned S-Tier tournamen…
Early registration for the 2026 Charlotte Open closes on January 6. Final registration closes 75 minutes before round 1 on January 17.
January 05, 2026
German GM Niclas Huschenbeth will no longer be working on Hikaru Nakamura's team in 2026 and will not be seconding him before and during the FIDE Candidates Tournament. Niclas commented on Nakamura's…
Chinese GM Hou Yifan reflected on her career shift from professional chess to a hobby in an interview with The Hindu on January 2. The world's No. 1 female player discussed her current academic focus…
Israeli WGM Dina Belenkaya's YouTube channel exceeded 100 million views in a month, becoming the most-watched channel in the chess category globally. She announced the milestone in an X post.
FIDE summarized 2025 on its YouTube channel by conducting polls in various categories. The voting was held during FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships. A total of 63 thousand users participated in …
January 04, 2026
World No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura jokingly analyzed all players who qualified for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 in a video on his YouTube channel on January 4. In the video, he used the free website …
World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju has withdrawn from Tata Steel Chess India 2026, which will be held in Kolkata from January 7 to 11. The official announcement was posted in a Story on the official Tat…
January 03, 2026
French GM Alireza Firouzja explained why he will miss the upcoming FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 in an interview with The Indian Express on January 2. Alireza stated that the FIDE Grand Swiss Tourn…
Former World Champion Ding Liren’s Classical rating became inactive on January 1st following FIDE’s monthly rating update.
January 02, 2026
Magnus Carlsen scored 9 wins to win the January 2 Freestyle Friday tournament with 9 points. Runner-up GM Matthias Bluebaum won 8 times and drew twice, which led him to finish second with 9 points as…
GM Hikaru Nakamura discussed the lawsuit filed by former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik against FIDE. He shared his thoughts in a YouTube video on January 2, questioning Kramnik's motives and the im…
Magnus Carlsen commented on his anger outbursts during the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships 2025 in an interview with NRK. Magnus acknowledged his ongoing struggle with handling defeat and refl…
Vietnamese GM Tuan Minh Le scored 9 points with 9 wins to win the First 3 0 Thursday on January 1. American GM Hikaru Nakamura scored 10 points with 10 wins to win the Second 3 0 Thursday. Mexican GM…
Norwegian GM Frode Urkedal received over 10,000 Norwegian kroner (~$1,000) from more than 30 Norwegians during the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships 2025 in Doha. This followed an anonymous dono…
January 01, 2026
Hikaru Nakamura explained Magnus Carlsen's primary strength in Blitz in a video on his YouTube channel on December 30. Hikaru noted that ignoring Carlsen's specific traits lowered Nodirbek Abdusattor…
Following the January 2026 FIDE rating update, the twelve-year-old Argentinian IM Faustino Oro became the youngest player ever to achieve a 2500 FIDE Rapid rating. Faustino reached this rating at the…
Russian GM Alexander Grischuk visited the FERZ chess club in Dubai for a premier chess night before his departure for the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships 2025.
December 31, 2025
Magnus Carlsen earned approximately $1,200,000 in prize money in 2025. His largest earnings came from the Esports World Cup, the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, and Clutch Chess. Carlsen also regula…
