The events that shape the rankings.
World Championship cycles, the Candidates, the Olympiad, and the super-tournaments where the top 20 actually meet.
- World Championship
The 2026 Candidates Tournament: Sindarov's Record, and the Match Nobody Expected
Javokhir Sindarov won the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament in Cyprus with 10/14, the highest score in modern Candidates history, clinching with a round to spare. He'll face Gukesh Dommaraju for the world title. Everything you need to know about what happened in Pegeia.
- Tournaments
Freestyle Chess Is Carlsen's Argument That Chess Has Been Playing It Wrong
Backed by $12 million in private funding, the Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge series plays Chess960, every game starts from a randomized position, eliminating opening preparation entirely. Carlsen has been its most prominent advocate, and the first major event produced a surprise winner. Here's what it is and why it matters.
- World Championship
Gukesh Dommaraju Is the Youngest World Chess Champion Ever. Here's How It Happened.
On December 12, 2024, in Singapore, 18-year-old Gukesh Dommaraju beat Ding Liren 7.5–6.5 to become the youngest undisputed world champion in chess history. The full story of a 14-game match decided by a move nobody saw coming.
- Tournaments
India Won Both Golds at the 2024 Chess Olympiad. Nobody Else Has Ever Done That.
At the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Budapest, September 2024, India won the open and women's sections simultaneously for the first time in history. A complete breakdown of the result and what it means.
- Tournaments
Norway Chess: Stavanger's Elite Annual Tournament Explained
Norway Chess is an annual invitational held in Stavanger since 2013. It features the world's top 10 players, uses a unique scoring format with tiebreak games after each classical draw, and has been dominated by Magnus Carlsen on home soil.
- Tournaments
Norway Chess 2025: Carlsen Wins His Seventh. Gukesh Wins the One That Matters.
Magnus Carlsen claimed his seventh Norway Chess title in June 2025, but Round 6 belonged to Gukesh Dommaraju: who beat Carlsen in classical chess for the first time. Carlsen slammed the table, apologized, and left without doing media.
- Tournaments
Praggnanandhaa Won Tata Steel 2025 the Hard Way: By Losing First
In the January 2025 Tata Steel Chess Masters, Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh tied at 8.5/13, then both lost their final classical games. Pragg won the playoff in sudden death. A complete breakdown of the 87th Wijk aan Zee.
- Tournaments
Carlsen Wins His Fifth Speed Chess Championship. Lazavik Ends Nakamura's Run.
Magnus Carlsen claimed his fifth Speed Chess Championship title in the 2025 finals in London, beating Alireza Firouzja 15–12. Denis Lazavik upset Hikaru Nakamura 13.5–12.5 in the third-place match. Here's the full breakdown.
- Tournaments
Tata Steel Chess: The Chess Player's Wimbledon, Every January in Wijk aan Zee
Held annually in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands since 1938, the Tata Steel Chess Tournament is the most prestigious regular-calendar chess event in the world. 14-player round-robin, all the top grandmasters, unbroken tradition since the Hoogovens era.
- Tournaments
US Chess Championship: America's Oldest and Most Storied National Title
The US Chess Championship dates to 1845: the oldest national championship in the world. Bobby Fischer won it eight consecutive times. Today it's held in St. Louis, with Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura dominating the modern era.
- Tournaments
World Chess Championship: Complete History of Every Title Match
Every World Chess Champion from Steinitz in 1886 to Gukesh in 2024. The 1972 Fischer-Spassky Cold War match, the Kasparov-Karpov decade, the 1993 split, and how the modern format works.