Sindarov Wins 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament with Round To Spare

Chess is just something I am interested in. 2026 FIDE Candidates Round 13: Sindarov Clinches With Round To Spare; Women's Still Wide Open

Javokhir Sindarov, age 20, is an FIDE grandmaster from Uzbekistan.

GM Javokhir Sindarov has won the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament with a round to spare after a draw against GM Anish Giri in round 13. More important than the €70,000 prize, he will be the next challenger to GM Gukesh Dommaraju for the world title.

€70,000 is a pretty good payday.

FIDE stands for Fédération Internationale des Échecs, or in English, The International Chess Federation. It is the governing body for chess.

Sindarov doesn't have much time to celebrate or even to rest, as in two weeks he'll play in the Grand Chess Tour's Super Rapid & Blitz Poland. Not to mention the preparation for the most important match of his life.

As I type this, there is one more day left in the tournament, thoug Sindarov has won. The remaining players are playing to determine how the purse will be distributed. The timing and the venue for the World Championship between Javokhir Sindarov and Gukesh Dommaraju has not been announced.

FIDE Women’s Candidates 2026

The other Candidates tournament, aside from the Open tournament, is the Woman's tournament. FIDE Women’s Candidates 2026: A clash of generations

FIDE, stands for the Fédération Internationale des Échecs or the World Chess Federation in English. It is the governing body for chess on the world stage.

Also taking place in Cyprus this year, the field is as follows:

• Zhu Jiner (China, 2578)
• Tan Zhongyi (China, 2535)
• Aleksandra Goryachkina (FIDE, 2534)
• Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine, 2522)
• Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kazakhstan, 2516)
• Kateryna Lagno (FIDE, 2508)
• Divya Deshmukh (India, 2497)
• Vaishali Rameshbabu (India, 2470)

Kateryna Lagno and Aleksandra Goryachkina are both Russian grandmasters, but are not competing with any association to the Russian Federation. Aleksandra Goryachkina is the highest rated Russian woman in chess history

The article linked above is from early March. Since then Hump Koneru of India has indicated she won't participate due to security issues in Cyprus. Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine has replaced her.

The winner of the Candidate's tournament will face GM Ju Wenjun, a Chinese grandmaster, and the reigning Women’s Champion. She has been Champion since May 2018.

The purse for the tournament is €300,000. It will be distributed as follows. The winner will recieve €28,000. The runner up will recieve €17,000. Third place will take home €8,600. The rest will recieve €2,200 for every half point scored.

FIDE Candidates Tournament for 2026

The winner of the tournament will have the right to compete against the reigning world champion, Gukesh Dommaraju of India, in the 2026 world championship match.

The winner will also take home €70,000. The runner up will get €45,000. Third place will collect €25,000. The rest will receive some funds based on their score in the tournament.

The Open tournament starts 29 March and runs through 16 April. FIDE Candidates 2026: Eight contenders, one dream

FIDE, stands for the Fédération Internationale des Échecs or the World Chess Federation in English. It is the governing body for chess on the world stage.

The players, and their associated federation and current rating, are as follows:

• Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 2810)
• Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2795)
• Wei Yi (China, 2754)
• Anish Giri (Netherlands, 2753)
• Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan, 2745)
• Praggnanandhaa R (India, 2741)
• Matthias Bluebaum (Germany, 2698)
• Andrey Esipenko (FIDE, 2698)

Esipenko is Russian, but is competing without association to that country or its chess federation.

Magnus Carlsen of Norway, with a current classical rating of 2840, also qualified for the tournament. He was world champion from 2013 through 2023, and has stopped competing for the classical world championship. He did not defend his title in 2023.

This year's tournament will be taking place in Cyprus, at the Cap St Georges Hotel and Resort in Pegeia.

The tournament is a double round robin, which means each player will play every other player twice, once playing as the white pieces, and once as black. As this is a classical tournament, as opposed to Rapid or Blitz Chess, players will have 120 minutes for the first 40 moves. This will be followed by 30 minutes sudden-death, with a 30 second increment for each move starting with the 41st move. (That is notated as 120/40, SD 30+30)

2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament

The FIDE Candidates Tournament for the current round has been set. The location was announced previously, and now the players are known.

As for the location, they usually play in nice places at level. (Or as Murray Head said, "Don't you know when you play at this level, there's no ordinary venue.") Mediterranean Stage Set for Chess History: The 2026 FIDE Candidates Come to Cyprus

FIDE stands for Fédération Internationale des Échecs, or in English, The International Chess Federation. It is the governing body for chess.

The FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 is an eight-player double round-robin chess tournament scheduled to take place between March 25 and May 1, 2026, to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2026 against reigning champion D. Gukesh. Organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), the tournament follows a revamped qualification system introduced in 2024, that follows a merit-based qualification pathways through major events, ratings, and the FIDE Circuit.

A double round-robin tournament is one in which each player will play every other player twice. That means there are 14 rounds.

The regulations are a bit complicated, but the time constraints are as follows.

The time control is 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game, plus a 30-second increment per move starting from move 41. Players get 1 point for a win, ½ point for a draw and 0 points for a loss.

Tie breakers are handled via rapid chess with each player getting 10 or 15 minutes, depending on the number of players tied, plus a time increment. If more rounds are required then the move to blitz chess with 3 minutes, and a shorter increment.

That is only ties for first place, other ties will be settled by more esoteric considerations of scores from the main tournament.

And it appears that the field is complete: Esipenko Grabs Last Candidates Spot, Final Goes To Tiebreaks

Player	Country	Rating (Nov 2025)	Qualification Path
Fabiano Caruana	United States	2795	Winner – 2024 FIDE Circuit
Anish Giri	Netherlands	2769	Winner – 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss
Matthias Blübaum	Germany	2680	Runner-up – 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss
Wei Yi	China	2752	Top 3 – 2025 FIDE World Cup
Javokhir Sindarov	Uzbekistan	2721	Top 3 – 2025 FIDE World Cup
Andrey Esipenko	FIDE	2681	Third place – 2025 FIDE World Cup
Hikaru Nakamura	United States	~2810 avg	Likely Rating Qualifier (99%)
R. Praggnanandhaa	India	~2775 avg	Likely Rating Qualifier (99%)

Whoever wins the Candidates Tournament will go on to face Gukesh Dommaraju, the reigning champion, in the FIDE World Chess Championship 2026. The dates and location of that match have not been announced.

Among the notable absences is Magnus Carlsen. He was world champion for a number of years (2013-2023), but he has said he has no intention of participating in that championship in any way. He is still competing, just not for the FIDE Championship.

For those of you who don't know Murray Head, I refer you to "One Night In Bangkok."

... when you
Play at this level there's no ordinary venue

It's Iceland or the Philippines or Hastings or
or this place!

That song came from the musical Chess, which is apparently somewhat about chess. (I still haven't seen it.)

Boris Vasilievich Spassky - 30 January 1937 to 27 February 2025

If you are old enough to remember 1972 you probably remember Boris Spassky. 10th World Chess Champion Boris Spassky, 1937-2025

GM Boris Spassky, the 10th world champion of chess who defeated “Iron” GM Tigran Petrosian in 1969 to reach the chess Olympus and who lost his title to GM Bobby Fischer in the Match of the Century in 1972 in Reykjavik, died on Thursday aged 88. His death was confirmed by the Chess Federation of Russia.

I've been trying to find a short video on that match that would appeal to a non-chess-playing audience, but I can't, and it's late. There are plenty of documentaries on that match in Iceland, if you're interested.

It was a long match, as it streched to 21 games with Fischer finally reaching 12½ points to win against Spassky's 8½ points in the best of 24 games.

There was also a bit of drama, as Fischer objected to the chess set, the lighting, the cameras, and was late for 1 match due to traffic. Fischer forfeited the 2nd game over the cameras.

Youngest-Ever Undisputed Chess World Champion

From Chess-dot-com: 18-Year-Old Gukesh Becomes Youngest-Ever Undisputed Chess World Champion

18-year-old Indian GM Gukesh Dommaraju is the world champion after the defending title holder GM Ding Liren (32) from China collapsed in game 14 of the 2024 FIDE World Championship. Gukesh won 7.5-6.5, taking $1.35 million, after a game where Ding seemed to have a risk-free chance to press for a win but instead liquidated into a pawn-down endgame.

FIDE, stands for the Fédération Internationale des Échecs or the World Chess Federation in English. It is the governing body for chess on the world stage.

What do you do with your life when you achieve your dream at 18 years of age? When Ding won last year, he disappeared for several months, due to depression.

Halfway Through the World Chess Championship

I know most of you aren't interested in chess, but I am.... Ding Escapes In Game 7 Thriller To Tie Gukesh At Halfway Of World Chess Championship

The 2024 FIDE^‡ World Chess Championship is underway, and game 7 just finished in the Best of 14 match. The score is tied at 3.5 each for India GM Gukesh Dommaraju and defending champion China GM Ding Liren. Each player has won one game, and there have been 5 draws. (1 point for a win; ½ for a draw.)

[Ding] did it again, however, finding another deep resource to escape what should have been a technically lost endgame. The match is level at 3.5-3.5 at the halfway mark.

The match is taking place in Singapore, so the games take place in the middle of the night night. (Game 8 was at 4 AM Wednesday morning Eastern Standard Time.) But the Chess24 YouTube channel has the reviews of the games. A Grandmaster-level chess game can take many hours. The reviews are less than 10 minutes.

You can also find the games live on on that YouTube channel (click on the "live" tab). Game 7 lasted more than 6 hours, so you could watch part of it, even if you didn't want to get up in the early morning hours.

‡ FIDE, stands for the Fédération Internationale des Échecs or the World Chess Federation in English. It is the governing body for chess on the world stage. The organization's name is pronounced like Fee-day.

2024 World Chess Championship: 25 November - 13 December

The World Chess Championship match starts Monday. FIDE World Chess Championship 2024 - All the Information

FIDE, stands for the Fédération Internationale des Échecs or the World Chess Federation in English. It is the governing body for chess on the world stage. The organization's name is pronounced like Fee-day.

The match will take place at Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore, and consist of best-of-14 classical games. There are tie-breaker protocols in place. Each player will receive 1 point of a win, and ½ point for a tie.

The Players are as follows.

The Defending Champion: Grandmaster (GM) Ding Liren, of China, is the current world champion. Ding finished second in the 2022 Candidates Tournament, but he earned the right to play for the crown when GM Magnus Carlsen decided not to defend his title.

The Challenger: Grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju, of India, is the youngest Challenger in chess history. He is 18 years old. The Indian prodigy qualified to play in the 2024 FIDE Candidates Tournament through the FIDE Circuit.

Much has been written about the match, but this article details the time limits. Gukesh Vs Ding: Here's What The Numbers Say

The 2024 FIDE World Chess Championship match will consist of a best-of-14 game match for the world championship between November 25 and December 13 at the Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore. If the match is tied after 14 games, the players will compete in rapid tiebreaks and, if needed, blitz tiebreaks.

The standard games have a classical time control of 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 more minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move starting on move 41. The players cannot agree to a draw during the first time control, so you can expect to see fighting chess.

I haven't looked to be sure, but the match is usually available to watch on Chess-dot-com. Given that a classic chess game between Grandmasters can be several hours long, I usually read about them the next day. Also given that they are being held in Singapore, I don't know what time of the day they will be live in the US.

The exact rules for becoming a Grandmaster are complicated. A lot of things in chess are that way.

In essence, you need a 2600+ performance rating in a nine-round FIDE tournament, and several of your opponents must be from federations/countries other than your own and also be titled.

There is a $2.5 million prize fund. Each player gets $200,000 up front. (In the past this was done, at lower levels of payout, to offset travel expenses. That is deducted from the prize fund. Each player gets $200,000 for each game they win, At the completion of the tournament, the balance is divided between the players. There are rules in the event the match is settled by a tie breaker. The winner would get slightly more than the loser.

9-Year-Old Ethan Pang - Chess Prodigy

The players are getting younger. It is not just that I am older, they are setting age records. 9-Year-Old Ethan Pang Defeats Three Grandmasters In One Event

Nine-year-old CM Ethan Pang, the youngest-ever 2200 player, defeated three grandmasters in a recent classical tournament in Hungary and came close to breaking the 2300 rating barrier for the first time.

Pang, who made headlines in July when he broke IM-elect Faustino Oro's record to become the youngest player in chess history to achieve a rating of 2200, scored a remarkable performance at the Vezerkepzo IM tournament that ended last week in Budapest, Hungary.

Ethan Pang is from London, UK.

Killer Competition in Russian Chess

Attempted killer, anyway. Chess Player Suspended After Allegedly Poisoning Her Rival

Amina Abakarova, a 40-year-old chess coach from Makhachkala in the Russian Republic of Dagestan, is accused of trying to poison her rival, 30-year-old Umayganat Osmanova.

For the geographically challenged, the Republic of Dagestan is on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, bordered by Russia to the north, Russia and Georgia to the west, and Azerbaijan to the south. It is part of The North Caucasian Federal District (one of eight federal districts) of Russia.

Ms. Osmanova was poisoned with mercury. Security cameras showed Abakorova smearing something 20 minutes prior to the match. It was determined to be mercury.

Osmanova said she began feeling unwell 30 minutes later, complaining of nausea and dizziness, prompting an immediate call for medical assistance. Doctors eventually concluded that poisoning was a likely cause. After reviewing the footage from security cameras, the arbiter reported it to the police and Abakarova was detained.

Abakarova was hostile because Osmanova had beaten Abakarova the week before in the Dagestan Rapid Championship. Abakarova claims she didn't mean to kill Osmanova, but she has been suspended from Russian Chess, has been arrested, and faces up to three years in prison.

And people still insist that chess is "only a game." It is a blood sport, though it doesn't usually sink this low.

Faustino Oro Youngest Ever International Master in Chess

I find this somewhat amazing. Faustino Oro Becomes Youngest Ever International Master At 10

He is 10 years old, from Argentina. His rating is 2351 in classical chess. By contrast the current World Chess Champion, Ding Liren of China, has a rating of 2762.

Oro went undefeated through the nine-round Club de Ajedrez Barcelona event, which took place from June 26-30 in the Spanish city. The 10-year-old won four out of his first six games and drew the last three. With 6.5/9 points, the young Argentinian finished shared first with [International Master] Cristian Andres Hernandez, half a point ahead of [Grand Master] Hipolito Asis Gargatagli.

The Club de Ajedrez Barcelona event is a 10 player round-robin tournament. That means every player plays each of the other players once, hence the 9 games. I looked but I couldn't find out how the players are invited to tournament.

At 10 years, eight months, and 16 days the Argentinian prodigy has met all the requirements for the international master (IM) title, pending formal approval by the International Chess Federation (FIDE). He had already cruised well above the 2400 rating requirement when he narrowly missed a norm in the Madrid Chess Festival earlier this month.

"Norm" in the above paragraph refers to what exactly is required to be promoted to an International Master, or a Grand Master by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs or the World Chess Federation in English. It is the governing body for chess on the world stage. The organization's name, FIDE, is pronounced like Fee-day.

The NFL and Chess

Those are two things most people probably don't associate, but that isn't really fair. A lot of people play chess, at least casually, and these guys are certainly competitive. From Chess-dot-com: BlitzChamps III May 22, 2024: Reid Emerges As NFL's Top Chess Player

So the NFL and the world of Chess got together to raise some money for charity, with a chess tournament among NFL players.

Kansas City Chiefs' safety Justin Reid was crowned the winner of BlitzChamps III after sweeping Cardinals' quarterback Kyler Murray 2-0 in the Grand Final of an eight-player double-elimination bracket on Wednesday. Outplaying BlitzChamps I winner Chidobe Awuzie en route to the title, Reid showed that the NFL is taking their chess up a notch.

For his victory, Reid won $30,000 for his charity of choice, JReid Indeed, and put on a tactical masterclass for fans tuning into the event. BlitzChamps III was broadcast live from the NFL studio which was turned Chess.com green for the day.

Kyler Murray got $20,000 for his charity of choice, since he came in 2nd, Mac Hollins got $15,000 for coming in 3rd, etc. Click thru for the list of players.

Searching for Bobby Fischer

Sort of ... This is about 10-year-old Faustino Oro, of Argentina. 10-Year Old Phenom Makes Podium As Kovalev, Duda Win Titled Tuesday

Faustino Oro finished 3rd in the May 21st tournament ahead of 3 of the strongest players in the world (by rating) Grand Masters Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, and Hikaru Nakamura. Oro made a name for himself last year when he become the youngest player, at 9 years, to reach a rating of 2300. He made the (chess) news in March of this year when he beat GM Magnus Carlsen, former world champ, and still one of the strongest players in the world.

Argentina loves him, and compares him to Lionel Messi, their football (soccer) star.

And the title to this post is shamelessly stolen from a movie of that name, that is one of two movies about chess that I'm aware of. Searching for Bobby Fischer is quite good, even if you don't play chess. The other movie about the game is Fresh, about a kid growing up in the ghetto learning to play and applying to rules to the world he finds himself in. I think I actually like that one more. There is also The Queens Gambit, a mini series from a couple years back. I didn't care for that as much, though a lot of people thought it was great.

FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024

The Candidates Tournament will determine who will compete to be World Chess Champion. FIDE Candidates 2024 Day 2 wrap: Vidit stuns world No. 3 Nakamura, Gukesh beats Pragg in alI-Indian clash - ESPN

The oddest thing about this article is that it is on ESPN. I don't usually associate ESPN and Chess, though most chess players do consider it a sport. Though it is ESPN India, and India does take chess seriously.

FIDE, stands for the Fédération Internationale des Échecs or the World Chess Federation in English. It is the governing body for chess on the world stage. The organization's name is pronounced like Fee-day.

The tournament is being held in Toronto, so if you are interested it is happening at a time when you can actually watch. More on that below.

The players in the open tournament are Ian Nepomniachtchi, Praggnanandhaa R, Fabiano Caruana, Nijat Abasov, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja, and Gukesh D.

In a sensational match at the FIDE Candidates 2024, Vidit Gujrathi took down one of the favourites, world no. 3 Hikaru Nakamura, with black pieces to secure an outright victory on Friday in Toronto. This was Nakamura's first loss in 47 classical games, dating back to the last Candidates tournament.

Nakamura is American (by way of his mother, Carolyn Merrow Nakamura). It is a bit amazing that he had a 47 game winning streak. Well, okay, not-losing streak. Draws are common in chess at that level.

The winner of the Candidates Tournament will take home €48,000 and compete in the Championship Match later in the year. 2nd and 3rd place finishers will get less money. The schedule for the Championship Match has yet to be set.

The tournament consists of eight players in a double round robin format. That means that each player plays each opponent twice. Once as black and once as white. So each player plays 14 games. Time constraints are 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds for each move starting with 41. In the event of a tie, there will be tie breakers with faster time constraints.

You can find the Candidates Tournament on the Chess24 YouTube Channel. The next game is scheduled for 2:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time today.

As in most sports (Chess is a blood sport) the Women's competition is neglected. It is conducted under basically the same rules with shorter time constraints, namely 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, with 30 minutes for the rest of the game plus a 30 second increment for each move starting from 41. The prize money is also less for the Women's Tournament.

The players in the Womens Tournament are Lei Tingjie, Kateryna Lagno, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Nurgyul Salimova, Anna Muzychuk, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Tan Zhongyi, and Humpy Koneru.

The Women's Candidate Tournament is streaming on the Chess.com YouTube channel. The next game is scheduled to start streaming at 2:15 PM this afternoon.

All the players get travel expenses reimbursed under reasonable constriants up to a maximum amount (that seems low to me given how expensive Toronto is). This is so that a qualifying player will not be kept away due to cost. Those traveling farther do get more money.

And for no reason, here is "One Night In Bangko" by Murray Head from Chess.

8-Year-Old Beats 5 Chess Grandmasters at World Rapid and Blitz Championships

From the Chess World Rapid and Blitz Championships: 8-Year-Old Roman Shogdzhiev Amazes Chess World By Beating 5 Grandmasters

The exceptional feat of eight-year-old Roman Shogdzhiev, triumphing over five grandmasters in the World Rapid and Blitz Championships, earned him praise from his idol, GM Magnus Carlsen.

The event was held at the Silk Road Samarkand Resort in Uzbekistan. There were a couple of notable occurrences, one being a Polish competitor, GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, refused to shake hands with Russian GM Denis Khismatullin.

Grandmaster (GM) is a title awarded by the FIDE, or Fédération Internationale des Échecs (International Chess Federation, in English). The rules are a bit complicated but basically you have to finish a tournament with a rating of 2600 or better. Grandmaster is the highest title awarded by FIDE aside from World Champion.

Roman Shogdizhiev beat a grandmaster in round 1, and then drew against grandmasters in rounds 2, and 4.

His next victim was GM Johan-Sebastian Christiansen, who told Norwegian TV: "I had never even heard of him before—maybe I should have. It's pretty crazy to be that good when you are eight years old. When I was at that age, I had barely learned the rules," he told NRK.

Shogdizhiev finished the tournament with a score of 5.5 out of 13. You get 1 point for a win, and 1/2 point for a draw. At the end of the tournament his rating was 2429. Ding Liren, the current World Chess Champion has a rating of 2780. Magnus Carlsen has a rating of 2830.

Rapid Chess, in the world of FIDE is a game where each player has more than 10 minutes but less than 60 minutes to complete all of the moves. Blitz chess is when there is a limit of 10 minutes or less per player. The time constraints for this tournament were as follows:

• RAPID: 15 minutes + 10 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1
• BLITZ: 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1

Modern chess clocks can be programmed to handle that automatically.

Chess and the NFL

Two things that I don't usually associate, but apparently there is a push among NFL players, who are also chess players, to encourage kids to take up chess. Chidobe Awuzie Shares His Game Plan: Bengals Star Hosts Chess Workshop For Kids.

Chidobe Awuzie, the Cincinnati Bengals cornerback and all round good guy, is working with Chess.com and Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Greater Cincinnati to host a special chess workshop for kids this holiday season.

The 28-year-old professional football player and avid chess fan will be showing his game plan to children at St. Boniface School in Ohio along with FM James Canty III and IM Kassa Korley from Chess.com.

Chess.com started this push last year with BlitzChamps, and Blitz tournament amoung a group of NFL players. Chidobe Awuzie won last year, and came in 2nd this year to Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Drue Tranquill.

Click thru for details.

Students Across America Have Discovered Chess

Teachers Nationwide Are Flummoxed By Students’ Newfound Chess Obsession

Across the country, students from second grade to senior year have stumbled across a new obsession, which is, in fact, a centuries-old game. Interviews with teachers and students in eight states paint a picture of captivated students squeezing games in wherever and whenever they can: at lunch, at recess and illicitly during lessons, a phenomenon that is at once bemusing, frustrating and delighting teachers.

Data from Chess.com, whose usership is the highest it’s ever been, and anecdotal evidence nationwide suggest a fervid, growing base of young users.

And it is about time that Americans rediscovered chess. The last time was around the 1972 World Championship match between Boris Spassky of the USSR and Bobby Fischer of the USA. That was a Cold War match up that was not to be believed.

World Chess Championship Tied at 3 All

I know most of you don't follow chess, but this has been a better-than-average championship. Ding Finds Mating Net, Ties Match Score Again - Chess.com

Magnus Carlsen, the previous champion, decided not to defend his title this time around. So the current match is being fought between Grand Master Ding Liren of China, and Grand Master Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia. They were the two top competitors in the 2022 Candidates Tournament. The 2023 FIDE Championship match is taking place in Astana, Kazakhstan.

FIDE, stands for the Fédération Internationale des Échecs or the World Chess Federation in English. It is the governing body for chess on the world stage.

In the last championship match, Carlsen played a standard King's Pawn opening in every game where he played white. Ding Liren opened the most recent game with a somewhat obscure Queen's Pawn opening. (I had to look it up to remember what it was.)

When play began with 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5, commentator Howell scarcely had time to complete his sentence: "Surely he's not going for the London System" before Ding played his bishop to f4 and left the board.

This marked the first time that the London has been played in a world championship match, although it did not surprise the returning challenger Nepomniachtchi, who said he expected it in one of the games if not this game.

Scoring is 1/2 point for a draw, and one point is awarded for a win. There have been 2 draws, and each player has won 2 games, leaving the match is tied at 3 points.

The first player to reach 7.5 points will win. The winner will get 60% of a €2,000,000 prize fund, with the other 40% going to the runner-up. In case the match ends in the tiebreakers, 55% goes to the winner, and 45% goes to the runner-up. I didn't see it listed in the rules, but each player usually gets an up-front payment, on the order of 50,000 Euros to defray travel and other expenses. You can find an outline of the rules at this link, with a link to the full rules if you are interested.

The next game will be Tuesday, April 18, at 15:00 Astana time (2 a.m. PT/11:00 CEST) after a day off.

You can find updates in the News section of Chess.com.

Why Astana, Kazakhstan? Well I think Murray Head said it best in "One Night In Bangkok."

... when you
Play at this level there's no ordinary venue

It's Iceland or the Philippines or Hastings or
or this place!

That song came from the musical Chess, which is apparently all about chess. (I suppose I should make an effort to watch it...)

Of course the best song about chess is "I've Seen All Good People" by Yes from The Yes Album (1971). ("Don't surround yourself with yourself.")

Iranian Chess Player Sara Khadem Defects to Spain

From Chess-dot-com: Iranian IM Plays Without Hijab At World Championships, Defects To Spain

First, a definition or two: IM denotes the rank of International Master in the world of chess.

Each IM norm is extremely difficult to attain, and there are many rules for what constitutes a norm. In essence, you need a 2450+ performance rating in a nine-round FIDE tournament, and several of your opponents must be from federations/countries other than your own and also be titled (other rules and restrictions can be found in FIDE's handbook)—this is for one norm.

FIDE, stands for the Fédération Internationale des Échecs or the World Chess Federation in English. It is the governing body for chess on the world stage.

Now, on with our story.

IM Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (Sara Khadem), who defied the Iranian dress code for women by refusing to wear a headscarf at the 2022 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships, will not be returning home after her last tournament of the year. With her husband, film director Ardeshir Ahmadi, and the couple’s young child, she will move to an undisclosed city in Spain. At this time, she has made no public statement although two sources close to her confirmed this news to El Pais, a Spanish newspaper.

The backdrop is, of course, the protests in her home country.

Chess-dot-com currently lists Khadem as ranked in 777th place with a classical chess rating of 2490. (Though a caption on a photo in the article lists her as 804th in the world rankings.) Magnus Carlsen, the reigning world chess champion currently has a rating of 2859, for comparison.

Iran has produced many great chess players in modern times, but some of the best choose to leave the country. Khadem, their most recent loss, is the 10th highest-rated player in Iran and number 17 on the world rankings for women.

The Chess Rules No One Knows (or so it seems)

Because I love chess.... From Chess-dot-com: The Most Misunderstood Chess Rules.

En Passant is the rule that seems to warp most players' minds. I'm not sure why it is that unknown. (I always teach it when I mention that the pawn can move two squares on its first move.)

• En Passant: What Just Happened?
• Castling: What If My Rook Is Attacked?
• Stalemate: Who Wins? Nobody?
• Promotion: Can I Make A King?
• Check And Checkmate: Can I Capture The King?
• Draw By Repetition: How Many Parameters?

Draw by repetition is easy if you're playing on a computer (whether against the computer or an opponent) because the computer will catch it. It is harder to catch when playing a person over the board. Even Bobby Fischer got that wrong.

For those of us who are getting older... I find solving few chess puzzles and playing the odd game against the computers at Chess.com is better mental gymnastics than doing crossword puzzles or Wordle. Though I really find Sudoku to be my big downfall. It can suck up an awful lot of time on a cold day.