2025 in chess
Major chess events in 2025 include the annual Tata Steel Chess Tournament in January, Norway Chess in May–June, and Grand Chess Tour from May–October. The Women's World Chess Championship 2025 will be played in Shanghai and Chongqing in April between defending champion Ju Wenjun and challenger Tan Zhongyi. The FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament in Samarkand in September will determine two qualifiers for the Candidates Tournament 2026, while the Chess World Cup in New Delhi 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.
Timeline
[edit]| 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 |
January
[edit]- 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Andrejs Strebkovs' ban from all FIDE-rated events was extended to 12 years, and his FIDE title of International Master was revoked.[8][9]
| 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 |
February
[edit]- 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]
| 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 |
March
[edit]- 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]
| 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 |
April
[edit]- 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 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.[29][30]
- Apr 23 – Koneru Humpy won the fifth leg of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024–25 on tiebreaks, ahead of Zhu Jiner.[31]
Events
[edit]Major tournaments
[edit]| Tournament | City | System | Dates | Players (2700+) | Winner | Runner-up | Third |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tata Steel Masters[32] |  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 | 5 – 17 May | 10 | |||
| TePe Sigeman & Co tournament |  Malmö
|
Round robin | 20 – 26 May | 8 | |||
| Norway Chess | Stavanger
|
Double round robin | 26 May – 6 Jun | 6 (6) | |||
| Biel Chess Festival |  Biel/Bienne
|
Multi-stage | 12 – 25 Jul | 6 | |||
| Chennai Grand Masters | Chennai
|
Round robin | 8 – 15 Aug | 8 | |||
| Sinquefield Cup | St. Louis
|
Round robin | 16 – 29 Aug | 10 | |||
| FIDE Grand Swiss | Samarkand
|
Swiss | 3 – 15 Sep | 114 | |||
| GCT Finals |  São Paulo
|
Single elimination | 26 Sep – 4 Oct | 4 | |||
| Chess World Cup | New Delhi
|
Single elimination | 31 Oct – 27 Nov | 206 |
Opens
[edit]| 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
|
Rapid & Blitz events
[edit]| Tournament | City | System | Dates | Players (2700+) | Winner | Runner-up | Third |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chessable Masters | Online | Double elimination | 18 Feb – 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
|
| CCT Leg 2 | Online | Double elimination | 28 – 23 May | 16 | |||
| GCT Croatia | Zagreb
|
Round robin[a] | 30 Jun – 7 Jul | 10 | |||
| Esports World Cup[33][b] |  Riyadh
|
TBD | 31 Jul – 3 Aug | 16 | |||
| GCT St. Louis | St. Louis
|
Round robin[a] | 9 – 16 Aug | 10 | |||
| World Rapid Championship |  Doha
|
Swiss | 25 – 31 Dec | TBD | |||
| World Blitz Championship | Multi-stage |
Women's events
[edit]| 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 | 5 – 16 May | 10 | |||
| Norway Chess | Stavanger
|
Double round robin | 26 May – 6 Jun | 6 (6) | |||
| FIDE Grand Swiss | Samarkand
|
Swiss | 3 – 15 Sep | 114 | |||
| Chess World Cup |  Batumi
|
Single elimination | 5 – 29 Jul | 103 | |||
| World Rapid Championship | Doha
|
Swiss | 25 – 31 Dec | TBD | |||
| World Blitz Championship | Multi-stage |
National events
[edit]
Deaths
[edit]- 5 January — Robert Hübner, four-time World Championship candidate[34]
- 2 February — Peter Enders, German grandmaster[35]
- 27 February — Boris Spassky, 10th World Chess Champion[36]
- 4 April — Friðrik Ólafsson, Icelandic grandmaster and President of FIDE (1978–1982)[37]
- 28 April — Petr Neuman, Czech grandmaster[38]
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b c The rapid portion of the tournament is a single round robin, while the blitz portion is a double round robin.
- ^ Part of the 2025 Esports World Cup tournament series held in Riyadh. This tournament is part of the Champions Chess Tour 2025, which uses Chess.com and not a standard board.
References
[edit]- ^ Svensen, Tarjei J. (2025-01-04). "Chess King Magnus Carlsen Marries His Queen Ella Victoria". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-01-13.
- ^ McGourty, Colin (2025-01-08). "Fedoseev Joins Carlsen & Co. In Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess Grand Slam After Armageddon Thriller". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-01-13.
- ^ Svensen, Tarjei J. (2025-01-11). "9-Year-Old Roman Shogdzhiev Becomes Youngest Ever To Score IM Norm". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-01-13.
- ^ Stafford-Bloor, Sebastian. "Why superstar Magnus Carlsen is playing chess for St. Pauli". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-01-17.
- ^ Schulz, André (2025-01-14). "Magnus Carlsen plays in the Bundesliga and makes headlines". ChessBase. Retrieved 2025-01-17.
- ^ "Watch: World chess champion D Gukesh receives Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award". The Times of India. 2025-01-17. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2025-01-17.
- ^ Svensen, Tarjei J. (2025-01-24). "FIDE Eases Restrictions On Russian And Belarusian Athletes". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-02-11.
- ^ "FIDE extends ban and revokes title of Andrejs Strebkovs over harassment of female players". ChessBase. 2025-01-29. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
- ^ Levin, Anthony (2025-01-28). "Andrejs Strebkovs Stripped Of IM Title & Ban Extended To 12 Years From FIDE-Rated Events". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
- ^ "R Praggnanandhaa stuns World Champion D Gukesh to win Tata Steel Chess Masters". India Today. 2025-02-03. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
- ^ PTI (2025-02-03). "Praggnanandhaa beats Gukesh in tiebreaker to clinch Tata Chess title". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
- ^ "Shanghai and Chongqing to host 2025 FIDE Women's World Championship Match". www.fide.com. Retrieved 2025-02-11.
- ^ Barden, Leonard (2025-02-14). "Chess: Vincent Keymer knocks out Magnus Carlsen in Freestyle Grand Slam". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-03-10.
- ^ Colodro, Carlos Alberto (2025-02-22). "Carlsen beats Nakamura convincingly, wins Chessable Masters". ChessBase. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
- ^ Colodro, Carlos Alberto (2025-02-28). "Goryachkina wins Monaco GP on tiebreaks, ahead of Humpy and Munguntuul". ChessBase. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
- ^ "Ian Nepomniachtchi Becomes Aeroflot Open 2025 Winner". Федерация шахмат России. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
- ^ PTI (2025-03-07). "Aravindh wins Prague Masters as Indian juggernaut rolls on". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2025-03-10.
- ^ Colodro, Carlos Alberto (2025-03-08). "Pranav and Shukhman are the 2025 world junior champions". ChessBase. Retrieved 2025-03-10.
- ^ Levin, Anthony (2025-03-10). "Dubov Wins Match Vs. Niemann With Outstanding 64.g4!? Breakthrough". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
- ^ McGourty, Colin (2025-03-14). "Vidit Qualifies For Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Honeymoon". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
- ^ Colodro, Carlos Alberto (2025-03-24). "Lee and Nakamura claim 2025 American Cup titles". ChessBase. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
- ^ Crowther, Mark (2025-03-24). "Nicosia FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2025 | The Week in Chess". theweekinchess.com. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
- ^ McGourty, Colin (2025-03-24). "Nicosia FIDE Women's Grand Prix: Anna Muzychuk Wins On Tiebreaks". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
- ^ Svensen, Tarjei J. (2025-03-26). "Kirill Shevchenko Receives 3-Year Ban For Cheating Incident, Admits to Hiding Phone". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
- ^ "FIDE EDC Chamber decision on the incident involving GM Kirill Shevchenko – International Chess Federation". FIDE. 2025-03-26. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
- ^ Fischer, Johannes (2025-03-27). "Matthias Bluebaum wins European Championship for a second time". ChessBase. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
- ^ "In pics: Chess Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi marries Nidhi Kataria in a dreamy wedding; Who is she?". The Times of India. 2025-04-04. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
- ^ Levin, Anthony (2025-04-03). "Vidit Gujrathi Marries Nidhi Kataria, World Champions Dance At Wedding". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
- ^ Sands, David R. (2025-04-22). "Ju retains women's world crown with convincing win over chess rival". The Washington Times. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
- ^ Schulz, André (2025-04-16). "Ju Wenjun retains Women's World Championship title in lopsided match". ChessBase. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
- ^ McGourty, Colin (2025-04-23). "Humpy Koneru Wins Pune Women's Grand Prix On Tiebreaks". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
- ^ Doggers, Peter (2024-11-19). "Caruana Tops Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025 Lineup; Oro Plays Challengers". Chess.com. Retrieved 2025-01-08.
- ^ Šimić, Ivan (18 December 2024). "Chess joins Esports World Cup 2025, Magnus Carlsen appointed as ambassador". Esports Insider. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
- ^ Schulz, André (2025-01-05). "Robert Hübner has passed away". ChessBase. Retrieved 2025-01-05.
- ^ "† Peter Enders - Deutscher Schachbund - Schach in Deutschland". www.schachbund.de (in German). 2025-02-06. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
- ^ McClain, Dylan Loeb (27 February 2025). "Boris Spassky, Chess Champion Who Lost 'Match of the Century,' Dies at 88". The New York Times.
- ^ McClain, Dylan Loeb (2025-04-10). "Fridrik Olafsson, Grandmaster Who Led Iceland's Rise in Chess, Dies at 90". The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-04-22.
- ^ Schulz, André (2025-04-30). "Czech grandmaster Petr Neuman has passed away". ChessBase. Retrieved 2025-05-03.