England GM David Howell announced his retirement from professional chess on March 20 on X. According to his compatriot, England GM Simon Williams, he has started a career as a florist.
March 20, 2026
WR Chess CEO Wadim Rosenstein published a proposal to FIDE to relocate the 2026 Candidates Tournament from Cyprus to Germany in his X account on March 19. Rosenstein offers to cover the event’s expen…
Indian GM Aravindh Chithambaram scored 10 points with 10 wins to win the First 3 0 Thursday on March 19. Polish GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Iranian GM Sina Movahed scored 10.5 points to win the Second …
FIDE published official regulations for FIDE World Team Rapid & Blitz Championships 2026 on March 18. The event will take place in Hong Kong from June 16 to 22.
March 19, 2026
Norwegian footballer Erling Haaland has become an investor in the new Total Chess World Championship Tour. The deal was concluded before Manchester City's match against West Ham on March 14.
American GM Levon Aronian shared his memories of participating in the Candidates Tournaments. Aronian says his memories are mostly negative, and mentions how he was accused of throwing a match.
Actor Keanu Reeves spent more than five years helping high school student Bianca Mitchell-Avila create a documentary film about chess. Bianca's parents shared the story on Reddit on March 16.
Indian GM Srinath Narayanan discussed Gukesh Dommaraju's performance and World Champion title. Narayanan states that Gukesh became Champion early, and notes that he needs to try to enjoy the game and…
French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave commented on the conflict over the clash of dates between the Grand Chess Tour and the Esports World Cup. MVL explains that contracts for both tournaments were signed…
The Sharjah Masters 2026 will take place at the Sharjah Cultural & Chess Club, UAE, from April 30 to May 10. Chess training cloud platform Chessify sponsors the event for the first time.
March 18, 2026
12th World Champion Anatoly Karpov shared his opinion on reigning World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Indian chess. Karpov claims that Gukesh was not supposed to become World Champion in 2024, and no…
Swedish WFM Anna Cramling released a video about her trip to Oslo, Norway on March 16. Cramling investigated how popular chess is in the home country of Magnus Carlsen.
Russian GM Andrey Esipenko evaluated the skills of elite GMs in a FIDE cards format during a video on the Virtus.pro Chess channel. Esipenko rated the opening, middlegame, endgame play, awareness, sa…
Indian GM Koneru Humpy added to her statement about the possibility of withdrawing from the 2026 Women’s Candidates Tournament on her X account on March 18:
Hikaru Nakamura shared his thoughts on the participants of the 2026 Candidates Tournament in an interview with Chess.com. Nakamura stated that in his opinion, Andrey Esipenko should be replaced by Ar…
Indian GM Nihal Sarin commented on his victory in Titled Tuesday on March 17. Sarin apologized to Nils Grandelius for flagging him, and noted that such situations happen in Blitz time control.
March 17, 2026
Hikaru Nakamura commented on Jan Henric Buettner's statement about Hikaru not wanting to participate in the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2026. Nakamura claims Buettner's conclusion is fake…
Dutch GM Anish Giri commented on Fabiano Caruana's tweet about the Proctor system disconnecting him in the first Play-in of the Chess.com Open 2026. Giri questions the lack of major online tournament…
Indian GM Nihal Sarin scored 10 points with 10 wins to win Titled Tuesday on March 17. Runner-up Serbian GM Aleksandar Indjic won 8 times and drew 3 times, which led him to finish second with 9.5 poi…
Uzbek GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov shared his thoughts on the Chess.com Open 2026 playoff participants during the official tournament stream. Abdusattorov was surprised by opponent Ian Nepomniachtchi’s c…
