The Opening: Daily Chess News from First Look Chess
- Épisodes
- 59
- Parution
- quotidienne
- Dernier épisode
- 14 Nov 2026
À propos du podcast
Daily chess news in about five minutes: the results, the players and the decisions that matter to American chess, every morning.
The Opening is the audio edition of First Look Chess, a daily newsletter for players, organizers, coaches and serious fans. Each episode covers the top five stories of the day — the Olympiad and the world championship cycle, the US Championships and US Chess national events, norms and rating milestones, federation news and the business of chess — drawn from the newsletter's morning edition, with facts checked against sources before they are read.
The full edition, with links, games and PGNs to download, is available for subscribers at firstlookchess.com.
Read by a synthetic voice. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
(Note: Some names will be mispronounced at first; we fix each one as we hear it.)
Épisodes 59
The Opening, Nov 14: Fabiano Caruana beats Vincent Keymer in Budapest
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Fabiano Caruana beat Vincent Keymer with Black in 57 …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- Fabiano Caruana beat Vincent Keymer with Black in 57 moves and drew the return in 72 to reach 14 points and a four-point lead in Group B of Total Chess's Fast Classic groups in Budapest, lifting his live rating to 2800.0 — 7.2 points behind Magnus Carlsen's No. 1 spot — while Andrew Hong beat Group A leader Alireza Firouzja and Wesley So lost a won game to Arjun Erigaisi.
- Haik Martirosyan beat Magnus Carlsen with White in 41 moves in Group C — their first classical meeting, ChessBase and India Today report — and drew the return to lead the group on 10 points, leaving Carlsen fifth on 5 after five draws and a loss, with a live rating of 2807.2 that ChessBase says is below his lowest official figure of the past decade, 2822 in August 2017.
- IM Alice Lee beat IM Nicholas Vettese of Canada in round four and drew GM Samant Aditya S of India in round five of the Fallsview International Chess Open's Masters section in Niagara Falls, with the event's standings still unpublished, while GM Brandon Jacobson beat GM Luka Budisavljevic at the Copa Revolución and GM Kirk Ghazarian drew GM Robert Hovhannisyan in the Schachbundesliga.
- The Saint Louis Chess Club announced its 2027 invitational schedule on Friday and named Hendrik du Toit, an International Arbiter from South Africa who led Chess South Africa for six years across three terms, as its Technical Director, with tournament operations and broadcast production in his portfolio.
- Chess Life's November feature on the Atlanta Checkmate Club — a weekly social chess night that began with four people in a barbershop's cocktail bar on January 12, 2021, and now puts at least 100 players at the boards of a Beltline tavern on a Wednesday — went online at US Chess on Friday, as the ratings desk newly rated 41 events across 20 states, led by a 323-player scholastic in Doral, Florida.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Nov 13: Caruana and Niemann score double wins in Budapest
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Fabiano Caruana beat Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu twice …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- Fabiano Caruana beat Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu twice and Hans Niemann beat Vaishali Rameshbabu twice on the second day of Total Chess's Fast Classic groups in Budapest, putting Caruana alone atop Group B on 10 points and Niemann level with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in Group D on 8, while Abhimanyu Mishra held Magnus Carlsen to two draws, the second from a two-pawn-up endgame, and Bibisara Assaubayeva beat Arjun Erigaisi with Black.
- FIDE's Council has made 60 minutes plus a 30-second increment a standard time control, eligible for classical ratings and title norms without special approval, and opened 45+30 to FIDE Circuit events and to tournaments where no player is rated 2400 or above — a resolution in force immediately but sent to national federations for review before an extraordinary General Assembly in December.
- IM Alice Lee, No. 1 on the US Chess Girls Under 21 list, beat FM Chenxuan Ling and drew GM Sion Radamantys Galaviz Medina of Mexico in rounds two and three of the Fallsview International Chess Open's Masters section in Niagara Falls, while GM Brewington Hardaway beat GM Sergey A. Fedorchuk at the Tournament of Peace and GM Brandon Jacobson won his second and third games at the Copa Revolución.
- US Chess warned Thursday that a global Microsoft 365 outage was disrupting its email, with membership and tournament reporting services also possibly affected and slower replies to inquiries expected, a day after it throttled its data API; the ratings desk still newly rated 35 events across 24 states, median size 15, led by a 173-player Veterans Day scholastic in Honolulu.
- Russia beat top seed India 3-1 in the fourth round of the Asian Nations Cup in Abu Dhabi on Thursday evening to take the sole lead, Andrey Esipenko beating Nihal Sarin with White on board one and 2006-born Aleksey Grebnev beating Pranesh M on board three, after India had opened the double-round day by beating Kazakhstan 3.5-0.5.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Nov 12: Fabiano Caruana shares the Group B lead
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Fabiano Caruana beat Richard Rapport with Black and …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- Fabiano Caruana beat Richard Rapport with Black and drew the return game to share the Group B lead with Le Quang Liem on 4 points after the first day of Total Chess's Fast Classic groups in Budapest, where Alireza Firouzja beat Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Ian Nepomniachtchi beat Abhimanyu Mishra before a 98-move draw, and Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri drew twice.
- US Chess has temporarily lowered the usage limits on its data API, saying automated requests from third-party vendors were overloading the tournament system and disrupting event submissions for tournament directors and players, and it will issue a data usage policy and agreement governing outside sites and vendors.
- Two American juniors beat grandmasters in the Masters section of the Fallsview International Chess Open 2026: Chenxuan Ling, born in 2014 and No. 32 on the US Chess Under 16 list, beat GM Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux (FIDE 2520), and Megan Althea Paragua, born in 2012 and No. 2 on the Girls Under 16 list, beat GM Razvan Preotu (FIDE 2478), while GM Steven Zierk, No. 39 on the overall list, beat WGM Maili-Jade Ouellet of Canada.
- Chess will be part of the Esports World Cup for a third straight year in 2027, the Esports Foundation announced Thursday, with the event back in Riyadh after a year in Paris, Magnus Carlsen guaranteed a place to chase a third title, and chess.com again choosing the field through its Champions Chess Tour 2026-2027 cycle.
- Team USA goes to the eighth Chessboxing World Championship in Istanbul, November 16-21, without its super heavyweight champion: FM James Canty III will not defend the title he won in Serbia last year, coach Matt Thomas confirmed to chess.com, which expects more than 200 fighters from at least 25 countries a year after a CBS 60 Minutes segment on the sport.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Nov 11: Carlsen wins Total Chess opening blitz in Budapest
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Magnus Carlsen won the Total Chess pilot's opening …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- Magnus Carlsen won the Total Chess pilot's opening blitz Swiss in Budapest unbeaten on 7/9, half a point clear of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, with Levon Aronian third on 6, Fabiano Caruana and Hans Niemann in the five-way tie for fourth on 5.5 and Abhimanyu Mishra beating Nodirbek Abdusattorov — a Tuesday that fixed the tiebreaks for the Fast Classic groups, which open today at 9 a.m. ET.
- Hikaru Nakamura is staying with chess.com under a new long-term contract, continuing ties that date to 2013. He joins the site's commentary team for key games of the Geneva world championship and will cover every day on his Kick channel, and a Hikaru vs. The World match is planned for 2027.
- Tata Steel Chess named its 2027 fields on Tuesday: Levon Aronian, Hans Niemann and 16-year-old Andy Woodward, last year's Challengers winner, play the Masters at Wijk aan Zee from January 15 to 31, and Alice Lee, the US women's No. 1, plays the Challengers — a 14-player round robin that gives the owner-priority watch on her grandmaster title a dated event.
- Sam Sevian led the November 10 Titled Tuesday outright going into the last round and lost it with White to Denis Lazavik, finishing sixth on nine points, as Sina Movahed took first on tiebreak from Lazavik for his fourth win of the year, level with Jan-Krzysztof Duda, chess.com reports.
- US Chess newly rated 48 events across 20 states, median size 19, led by three Brite Chess tournaments in Brownsville, Texas, on November 7 — 267 secondary players in three sections, 255 elementary players in two and an 82-player K-1 event — and posted a Tactics Tuesday column built from the Clutch Chess Champions Showdown.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Nov 10: US Chess opens nominations for its Executive Board
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: US Chess will elect four at-large Executive Board …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- US Chess will elect four at-large Executive Board members in 2027 for terms running to 2031, and Monday's announcement opens nominations: a petition signed by at least 50 voting-eligible members, among them 15 or more delegates from at least five states, with a $100 filing fee, postmarked by Thursday, December 31.
- GM Liam Putnam (FIDE 2495), No. 7 on the US Chess Under 21 list, closed the 20th SPICE Cup in Bellevue with a round-eight draw against GM Harikrishnan.A.Ra (2502) and a round-nine win over CM Vidip Kona (2150), having led TWIC's weekly snapshot on 6 points, half a point clear of two players, before the final rounds; Landon Meadors (FIDE 2018), born in 2016 and No. 60 on the Under 16 list, beat CM Vihaan Jammalamadaka (2245) and Siddharth Singh (2426) in rounds eight and nine.
- Magnus Carlsen opens the Total Chess pilot in Budapest today, a nine-round 3+2 blitz Swiss among 24 players with first games at 5:00 PM UTC. He will also play the London Chess Classic's open Super Rapid on December 5 and 6, the organizers announced Monday, as preparation for defending his world rapid and blitz titles in Istanbul.
- Three in four women and girls who answered the FIDE Women's Commission survey reported discrimination or harassment in chess settings and 44 percent had considered leaving the game, chess.com reports, and the Women in Chess Foundation's president is pressing FIDE and Timur Turlov to "finally establish an international SafePlay Policy."
- TWIC #1670 arrived Monday evening with 8391 games from 47 events and Mark Crowther's verdict on the pilot that opens today — he backs the classical Candidates and title match and writes that Total Chess "seems like a long-term attempt to replace that" — alongside his farewell to Bernard Cafferty, British Chess Magazine's editor from 1981 to 1991, dead at 92.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Nov 9: Hikaru Nakamura takes another Bullet Brawl title
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Hikaru Nakamura won his 73rd Bullet Brawl title on …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- Hikaru Nakamura won his 73rd Bullet Brawl title on Saturday, scoring 165 points in a 225-player arena to finish 12 ahead of 17-year-old Turkish GM Ediz Gurel, who had led for most of the two hours, with Parham Maghsoodloo third on 141 and Faustino Oro a point behind him, chess.com reports.
- Anuj Shrivatri, 22, became India's 100th grandmaster on Sunday by winning the 7th ASEAN Plus Individual Open Championship in Misamis Occidental, Philippines, on 7/9 — a direct title under the event's FIDE-approved conditions rather than the usual three norms and a 2500 rating — and the first grandmaster from Madhya Pradesh.
- GM Liam Putnam (FIDE 2495), No. 7 on the US Chess Under 21 list, beat Russian GM Vladimir Belous (2452) in round seven of the 20th SPICE Cup in Bellevue, a day after beating Emilio Cordova, while GM Jianchao Zhou (FIDE 2556), No. 23 on the US Chess overall list, lost to Armenian GM Arman Mikaelyan (2499) and Siddharth Singh (FIDE 2426), No. 2 on the Under 16 list, drew Indian GM Harikrishnan.A.Ra (2502).
- Krishnan Sasikiran won the 29th Open Bavarian Championship at Tegernsee on tiebreak after four players finished on 7½/9 — Frederik Svane second, Roven Vogel third and 17-year-old Indian FM Arun Daakshin fourth — and G.N. Gopal, who had led after round six, beat IM Evan Park (FIDE 2452), No. 13 on the US Chess Under 21 list, in Sunday's final round to finish fifth on 7.
- US Chess newly rated 115 events across 33 states, median size 17, led by the 359-player Hunter November tournament in New York, where Jordan Kim, Dylan Lam and Andrew Chan shared the Future Masters section on 3.5, the 318-player Illinois All Grade State Championship in Naperville and the 295-player 21st Los Angeles Open in Irvine.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Nov 8: Josh Smith takes a game from Dubov
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Josh Smith, the 49-year-old Arizona businessman who …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- Josh Smith, the 49-year-old Arizona businessman who plays bullet as "BulletGrandpa," won game 28 of Saturday's 100-game match against Daniil Dubov, so the grandmaster's 99-1 finish paid him $10,000 rather than the $20,000 promised for a clean sweep, chess.com reports.
- IM Evan Park (FIDE 2452), No. 13 on the US Chess Under 21 list, beat GM Nijat Abasov (2585) in round eight of the Open Bavarian Championship at Tegernsee, a round in which Frederik Svane ended G.N. Gopal's lead and nine players reached 6½/8 ahead of Sunday's final round at 10:00.
- GM Liam Putnam (FIDE 2495), No. 7 on the US Chess Under 21 list, beat Peruvian GM Emilio Cordova (2490) in round six of the 20th SPICE Cup in Bellevue, IM Rose Atwell (FIDE 2319), No. 4 on the Girls Under 21 list, beat WIM Laurie Qiu (2145) in an all-American pairing, and GM Jianchao Zhou (FIDE 2556), No. 23 on the US Chess overall list, drew GM Vladimir Belous (2452).
- GM Irina Krush (FIDE 2415), No. 3 on the US Chess Women's list, beat WCM Alice Chovanec (1984) and drew FM Megan Althea Paragua (2281) in rounds two and three of the Marshall Chess Club's Mona Karff Memorial Women's Championship. US Chess newly rated 78 events across 22 states, median size 24, led by a 459-player scholastic in Mission, Texas, and the 409-player CIS Manhattan Chess Day.
- FIDE's own preview of the Geneva match, an essay by Yannick Pelletier, says Gukesh Dommaraju has slipped to 26th on the rating list at 2710 after inconsistent results since the middle of 2025, and frames the defense against Javokhir Sindarov as "the greatest challenge of his career: rediscovering his best form."
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Nov 7: Jay Rockefeller, sponsor of National Chess Day, dies
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: John D. "Jay" Rockefeller IV, the former West Virginia …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- John D. "Jay" Rockefeller IV, the former West Virginia senator who sponsored the 2010 Senate resolution that made National Chess Day official and the father of US Chess Vice President John Rockefeller V, died Friday at 89, US Chess reports.
- Pranav Venkatesh, 20, won the World Junior Blitz Championship in Al Ain on 10.5/13, a point clear of three players, adding blitz gold to the rapid silver he took earlier in the week and the classical World Junior title he won last year; Valeria Kleymenova of Russia took the girls' title on 10/13.
- Siddharth Singh (FIDE 2426), No. 2 on the US Chess Under 16 list, beat GM Francesco Sonis (2547) in round four of the 20th SPICE Cup, then lost to GM Arman Mikaelyan (2499) of Armenia; GM Jianchao Zhou (FIDE 2556) and GM Liam Putnam (FIDE 2495) each followed a round-four draw with a round-five win, and IM Evan Park (FIDE 2452) drew GM Emre Can (2528), one of Thursday's co-leaders, at the Open Bavarian Championship.
- Hikaru Nakamura won the first of Thursday's three 3 0 Thursday tournaments with 10 points, beating Ian Nepomniachtchi and Magnus Carlsen on the way, as chess.com confirmed that chess returns to the Esports World Cup in Riyadh in 2027 with Carlsen the only player yet guaranteed a place and twelve more to come through a reworked Champions Chess Tour.
- US Chess newly rated 42 events across 18 states, median size 12, led by the 43-player Halloween Swiss in West Chester, PA, where Kritarth Acharya won the Upper section on 4, and the 41-player Knights of Cypress in Texas; in Alton, Illinois, a middle school club in its fourth year hosted Devanshi Chowdada, 15, whom RiverBender places among the top 30 players nationally in her age range.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Nov 6: Liam Putnam draws Sonis at the SPICE Cup
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: GM Liam Putnam (FIDE 2495), No. 7 on the US Chess …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- GM Liam Putnam (FIDE 2495), No. 7 on the US Chess Under 21 list, drew Italian GM Francesco Sonis (2547) in round three of the 20th SPICE Cup in Bellevue, where 25 Americans are on the relay, and Siddharth Singh (FIDE 2425), No. 2 on the Under 16 list, held Peruvian GM Emilio Cordova (2490); at Tegernsee, IM Evan Park (FIDE 2452), No. 13 on the Under 21 list, beat Slovak GM Milan Pacher (2301) in round six of the Open Bavarian Championship.
- FIDE has appointed Emil Sutovsky chief executive of FIDE Enterprises, a Swiss company wholly owned by the federation that will run its commercial activities, and named three more members of the president's team: Håkan Jalling as representative for Olympic Games inclusion, Darcy Lima as representative for institutional dialogue and Alexander Martynov as senior adviser.
- Xiao Tong, born in 2008 and rated 2476, beat defending champion Yu Yangyi (2679) in the first game of the Chinese Rapid Championship final in Shaoxing, after eliminating Ding Liren in the quarterfinals, and Yu answered with a win of his own on the relay; at Tegernsee, G.N. Gopal became the Open Bavarian Championship's first sole leader, on 5½/6, by beating 15-year-old IM Hussain Besou.
- Saint Louis University, on 4½/5, has the inside track to the Collegiate Chess League's top seed over defending champion UTD, on 5/6, with quarterfinals set for November 14, chess.com reports, and an r/chess post carries the title of a Chess Life farewell to organizer Bill Goichberg, 1942-2026.
- Magnus Carlsen will be top seed when the Total Chess pilot opens in Budapest on November 10, and Leonard Barden writes that he is approaching it more seriously than any event since defending his classical title in 2021; Peter Svidler, who will commentate Geneva, puts Javokhir Sindarov's chances against Gukesh Dommaraju at 55-45 and says 60 percent would be too high.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Nov 5: US Chess membership sets a new record
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: US Chess membership stood at 118,303 on October 31 …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- US Chess membership stood at 118,303 on October 31, which the federation calls a new all-time high: an increase of 2,184 over September that passes the March 2024 record of 117,716.
- Ding Liren is out of the Chinese Rapid Championship in Shaoxing, eliminated in the quarterfinals by Xiao Tong (2476) in a blitz tiebreak after four drawn rapid games, and defending champion Yu Yangyi (2679), whom ChessBase calls the only rating favorite to survive the round, won the first three games of his semifinal against Xu Xiangyu (2594) on the relay.
- GM Liam Putnam (FIDE 2495), No. 7 on the US Chess Under 21 list, beat Canadian CM Karson Lu (2049) as the 20th SPICE Cup Open opened with 20 Americans on its relay, and IM Evan Park (FIDE 2452), No. 13 on the Under 21 list, drew reigning German champion GM Leonardo Costa (2557) in round five of the Open Bavarian Championship at Tegernsee.
- Khumoyun Begmuratov of Uzbekistan won the World Junior Rapid Championship in Al Ain on 7.5/9, ahead of V. Pranav, who had opened with six wins from six, and Azerbaijan's Read Samadov, while Eline Roebers of the Netherlands took the girls' title; the two reports of her final score differ.
- IM Hussain Besou, 15, beat Hungarian GM Peter Acs (2555), the 2001 World Junior champion and seventh seed, in round five of the Open Bavarian Championship to join five grandmasters on 4½/5, and in Chennai GM Pranesh M (2673) beat GM Leon Luke Mendonca (2617) to take the sole lead in the Chola Chess Open after six rounds.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Nov 4: Firouzja wins Titled Tuesday over Caruana
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Alireza Firouzja beat Fabiano Caruana in the last …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- Alireza Firouzja beat Fabiano Caruana in the last round of Titled Tuesday to take the event ahead of Hikaru Nakamura, Hans Niemann and Caruana, as chess.com confirmed the first eight qualifiers for Speed Chess Championship XI — a $250,000, 16-player knockout whose live finals go to London's 180 Studios on February 5-7, 2027.
- Denis Lazavik won the KazChess Masters in Almaty on 6½/9 without a loss, needing only Tuesday's 58-move draw with Aram Hakobyan, while 14-year-old Kazakh IM Mark Smirnov, youngest and lowest rated of the ten players, earned his first grandmaster norm by beating GM Denis Makhnev (2581) with Black for a 2666 performance.
- IM Evan Park (FIDE 2452), No. 13 on the US Chess Under 21 list, beat German FM Matthias Tonndorf (2218) in round four of the Open Bavarian Championship at Tegernsee, where three Indians who have won every game lead, and at the FIDE World Senior Championship in Vrnjačka Banja, Serbia, Frederick Rhine (FIDE 1983) beat Israeli IM Nathan Birnboim (2294) in the 65+ Open.
- US Chess newly rated 23 events across 16 states, median size 12, led by the 62-player 21st Oktoberfest Open in New Britain, Connecticut, where Nelson Castaneda, No. 61 on the US Chess Age 50+ list, won the Open section on 4½; in Indianapolis, Madison Brown, No. 40 on the Girls Under 16 list, won the Kings section of the 29-player Tuesday Weekly on 3.
- Total Chess has named the broadcast team for its Budapest pilot, which opens November 10: IM Levy Rozman, known as GothamChess, fronts a new daily Total Chess Highlight Show, with Jovanka Houska, David Howell, Fiona Steil-Antoni and Anna Rudolf on the main broadcast of the 24-player event at the Anantara New York Palace Budapest Hotel.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Nov 3: US Chess awards Women’s Program grants
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: US Chess has awarded 23 Women's Program grants for …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- US Chess has awarded 23 Women's Program grants for 2026-27, the same count as a year ago, to nonprofit affiliates running programs for women and girls, with the money again coming from the Saint Louis Chess Club.
- Fabiano Caruana said on the C-Squared Podcast that the United States "didn't really have a realistic chance of gold" at the Samarkand Olympiad, where the team finished fourth on 17 match points, and that "All of us underperformed except for Levon," RookReview reports.
- TWIC #1669 closes the week with 8,091 games from 51 events: Javokhir Sindarov's Clutch Chess title in Saint Louis, Gawain Maroroa Jones's fourth English Championship, Marc'Andria Maurizzi's 8/9 at Cap d'Agde, Andy Woodward's Titled Tuesday win on tiebreak, and a 3 0 Thursday event in which Caruana beat Evan Yin, Rose Atwell and Zachary Tanenbaum.
- FIDE has named Peter Leko and Peter Svidler as commentators for the Salesforce FIDE World Championship in Geneva, ChessBase India reports from the federation's post on X, three weeks before Gukesh Dommaraju and Javokhir Sindarov open at the Fondation Martin Bodmer in Cologny on November 24.
- Denis Lazavik (2636) beat IM Sauat Nurgaliyev (2526) in round eight of the KazChess Masters in Almaty to lead on 6 points, half a point ahead of Daniil Dubov and Shamsiddin Vokhidov (2649), who beat IM Alua Nurman (2460), Trend reports; an r/chess post says Lazavik went on to win the event with an unbeaten classical run of 38 games, but Tuesday's final round is not yet on the relay.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Nov 2: Shankland unbeaten at the Mechanics’ Institute blitz
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Anaiy Somalwar, rated 2051 on the relay, beat GM …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- Anaiy Somalwar, rated 2051 on the relay, beat GM Patrick Wolff (2528) in round seven of the 2026 November FIDE Blitz at the Mechanics' Institute. GM Sam Shankland, No. 12 on the US Chess Overall list, finished the day unbeaten; his only draw was with GM Balaji Daggupati.
- The November FIDE list's US tables go beyond the changes reported here Sunday. WIM Rachael Li's 50-point gain lifts her from 100th to 69th among active Americans on the standard list, and Ethan Sheehan climbs from 96th to 84th on 2410. Hans Niemann stays sixth despite losing 20 points to 2697.
- US Chess newly rated 85 events across 24 states, median size 17. The largest was the 519-player Packer November 2026 Tournament in Brooklyn, where Joshua Colas and Milo Su shared the Premier Championship (2000+) section on 3 points. The 2026 Chicago Fall Open in Schaumburg, Illinois, closed with 194 players in seven sections.
- Denis Lazavik beat IM Alua Nurman to rejoin Daniil Dubov at the top of the KazChess Masters in Almaty, both on five points after seven rounds; Dubov drew Sauat Nurgaliyev. Aram Hakobyan (2638) beat Mahammad Muradli (2662), and 14-year-old Mark Smirnov beat Edgar Mamedov with Black. ChessBase's German site puts Smirnov on course for a GM norm with a 2626 performance.
- IM Evan Park (FIDE 2452), No. 13 on the US Chess Under 21 list, beat Austrian FM Gunnar Schnepp (2194) in round two of the Open Bavarian Championship at Tegernsee. It was his second win, which keeps him among the 50 players ChessBase counts on a perfect score after two days.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Nov 1: Alice Lee on the November FIDE list
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: The November FIDE rating list makes IM Alice Lee the …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- The November FIDE rating list makes IM Alice Lee the US women's No. 1 at 2474, world No. 14, after her second place in the U.S. Women's Championship, while champion WIM Rachael Li gained 50 points to 2430 and world No. 31, Carissa Yip lost 31 points, and Hans Niemann fell 20 points and ten places to 2697, out of the 2700 group.
- Alireza Firouzja ended Hikaru Nakamura's run of Bullet Brawl titles on Saturday, scoring 55/73 for 170 points in the 232-player arena, four ahead of Nakamura, with Ediz Gurel third, Matthias Bluebaum fourth and WIM Melika Mohammadi taking the $100 women's prize, chess.com reports.
- FM Peter Giannatos's Charlotte Chess Center teaches about 500 students a week across its two sites and reaches roughly 2,000 children a week through some 60 school programs, he tells ChessBase's Sagar Shah in an interview conducted during the Naroditsky Memorial.
- US Chess newly rated 62 events across 22 states, median size 20, led by a 343-player scholastic at Hendricks Elementary in McAllen, Texas, and three ICN team tournaments in New York of 147, 143 and 140 players, while at the Chicago Fall Open FM Artemii Khanbutaev, No. 12 on the US Chess Under 16 list, won his second and third games and Hardy Gu, No. 54 on that list, beat Cuban IM Liordis Quesada Vera (FIDE 2290).
- Daniil Dubov leads the KazChess Masters in Almaty alone on 4½/6 after wins in rounds five and six, the latter over IM Alua Nurman, half a point ahead of Shamsiddin Vokhidov and Denis Lazavik; in Chennai 10-year-old FM Sarbartho Mani beat GM Dimitris Alexakis in round two of the Chola Chess Open as top seed Aravindh Chithambaram beat Sandipan Chanda; and the Open Bavarian Championship opened at Tegernsee with 551 players and 16 grandmasters.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Oct 31: Rooks and Roots expands to Texas and online
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Rooks and Roots, the girls' math-and-chess nonprofit …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- Rooks and Roots, the girls' math-and-chess nonprofit co-founded by WGM Iris Mou and Lisa Sun, used a US Chess Women's Grant this year to stage a free festival for 60 girls in New York City and has since added chapters in Texas and online, US Chess reports.
- Wadim Rosenstein, who lost September's FIDE presidential runoff to Timur Turlov 110-85, told RBC-Ukraine he does not recognize the result and has filed complaints with the federation's Ethics Commission, alleging a side agreement between Turlov and Malcolm Pein, the deputy-president candidate on Jan Henric Buettner's ticket, and saying he was "blackmailed and threatened with the imposition of Ukrainian sanctions" to make him withdraw.
- US Chess newly rated 48 events across 21 states, median size 14, led by the 286-player 2026 CPS All-Stars in Chicago, and Brewington Hardaway and Maxim Dlugy, No. 4 on the US Chess Age 50+ list, shared first in the 51-player Marshall FIDE Blitz in New York on 8 points.
- GM Alexey Sarana won the first of Thursday's three 3 0 Thursday events on 10/11 and GM Arjun Erigaisi the other two, while IM Rose Atwell took the top women's prize in the third on 7 points — and GM Sina Movahed won Friday's Freestyle Friday for the second time in three weeks, chess.com reports.
- Volodar Murzin (2656) beat Wang Yue (2619) and Yu Yangyi (2704) held Wei Yi (2758) in round 10 of the Chinese Chess League's Division A round robin, and at the KazChess Masters in Almaty Daniil Dubov (2654) beat Denis Makhnev (2581), who had shared the lead after four rounds, while Shamsiddin Vokhidov (2649) beat 14-year-old IM Mark Smirnov (2451) and Mahammad Muradli (2662) beat IM Alua Nurman (2460).
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Oct 30: Javokhir Sindarov wins Clutch Chess in St. Louis
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Javokhir Sindarov won Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- Javokhir Sindarov won Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown in St. Louis on 20.5 points, overturning a 2½-point deficit on the final day with three wins and three draws — among them a King's Indian against Hikaru Nakamura that chess.com calls the game of the tournament — while Fabiano Caruana finished third on 16.5 after trapping Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu's queen in the last game and Nakamura, Tuesday's leader, was last on 12.
- US Chess staged a chess exhibition at a National Squash League match in Atlanta on October 24 — blitz, bughouse and a three-board blindfold simul before the Carolina Pirates met the Atlanta Tornados — as a one-match trial after NSL co-founder Timmy Brownell proposed chess at all 16 league matches this season.
- FIDE named Istanbul the host of the 2026 World Rapid and Blitz Championships on Thursday, with play December 26-30 and Freedom Holding Corp. as title sponsor, and the same day filled out Timur Turlov's new President's Office — Emil Sutovsky as Chief Executive Adviser, Victor Bologan and Dana Reizniece as Special Representatives, and four Representatives including Zhu Chen, who will head a FIDE Shenzhen Office.
- The XTX Markets London Chess Classic has its ten Masters: last year's winner Nodirbek Abdusattorov heads a field with Levon Aronian and 16-year-old Andy Woodward of the United States, Vasyl Ivanchuk in what the organizers call his Classic debut at 57, Nihal Sarin, Ihor Samunenkov and England's Michael Adams, Gawain Maroroa Jones, Luke McShane and Shreyas Royal, from November 24 at Hammersmith.
- US Chess newly rated 37 events across 24 states, median size 16, led by a 103-player K-6 scholastic in Chico, California, and Karl Dehmelt, No. 94 on the US Chess Age 50+ list, won the Open section of the 43-player Chaturanga Championship in Hatboro, Pennsylvania, on 6 points.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Oct 29: Praggnanandhaa goes from last to first
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu went from last to first at …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu went from last to first at Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown in St. Louis, scoring 9 of the 12 points on offer on day two — two wins over Hikaru Nakamura and one each over Javokhir Sindarov and Fabiano Caruana — to lead on 11 points going into Thursday's final six games, with Sindarov and Caruana on 8.5 and Nakamura, Tuesday's leader, last on 8.
- FM Jennifer Yu (FIDE 2354), No. 5 on the US Chess Women's list, beat GM Lei Tingjie (2552) of China in round eight of the Chinese Chess League's Division A, a day after her round-seven loss to Jiang Tianyu (2300).
- US Chess newly rated 44 events across 20 states, median size 18, led by Honolulu's October Scholastic Open and Adult Quads with 123 players in six sections, and West Newsmagazine profiles Devanshi Chowdada, a Missouri player holding a FIDE Candidate Master title who has self-published a graphic novel to draw more girls into competitive chess.
- 9z Globant won chess.com's October Chess Club Showdown for the second month running, beating Team Liquid 79-21 in a 50-board final in which GM Faustino Oro took the top board 1.5-0.5 from American GM Christopher Yoo, with Liquid missing Magnus Carlsen, who withdrew at the last minute, and Fabiano Caruana and Praggnanandhaa, who were playing in St. Louis.
- Uzbekistan's second Olympiad gold rests on state money as much as on talent, Eurasianet reports from Samarkand: President Shavkat Mirziyoyev presented the five gold medalists with checks for $200,000, a car and an apartment on September 28, top national team members draw monthly payments of up to $1,500, and chess classes entered many public elementary schools between 2018 and 2025 — the system behind Javokhir Sindarov's challenge in Geneva.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Oct 28: Hikaru Nakamura leads Clutch Chess after day one
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Hikaru Nakamura leads Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- Hikaru Nakamura leads Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown in St. Louis after day one on 4/6, half a point ahead of Javokhir Sindarov on 3.5, with Fabiano Caruana on 2.5 and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu on 2, after beating Caruana and Praggnanandhaa with White in his return to the board — "I seem to be the sharpest player," he told the broadcast's Maurice Ashley, as ChessBase reports.
- GM Andy Woodward won his first Titled Tuesday, taking the October 27 event on tiebreak from Arjun Erigaisi after losing his opening game — a mate in one blundered while two pawns up — and going unbeaten afterward, with rook sacrifices against Dmitry Andreikin in round nine that impressed commentator Hess, chess.com reports.
- US Chess newly rated 44 events across 21 states, with a median size of 15, led by Tuesday club nights in Denver and Charlotte of 111 and 110 players, and Jacorey Bynum, No. 89 on the US Chess Under 21 list, shared first in the Open section of the 64-player Gator Chess Club Classic in Gainesville, Florida, on 4 points with Raghav Venkat.
- Roman Shogdzhiev, 11, earned a second grandmaster norm with 6/9 on Partizan Belgrade's top board at the Serbian Super League, leaving him one norm and the 2500 rating threshold short of a title that would break Abhimanyu Mishra's age record — 12 years, 4 months and 25 days in June 2021 — if he completes it before late June 2027, ChessBase reports.
- Al Ain's organizers expect 150 players from 40 countries at the World Junior U20 Rapid and Blitz Championships from November 1 to 7, with a prize fund tripled from the previous edition and new prizes for the best Arab players, Gulf Today reports from Tuesday's press conference — where Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Bin Sultan Bin Shakhboot Al Nahyan, president of the Asian Chess Federation, said "we look forward to hosting the Chess Olympiad in 2028."
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Oct 27: Timur Turlov unveils a new FIDE structure
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: FIDE President Timur Turlov unveiled a new …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- FIDE President Timur Turlov unveiled a new organizational structure for the federation on Monday — a Governance Secretariat to serve the Council and commissions, a President's Office under Adil Kozhikhov, an Advisory Board chaired by Kazakh GM Darmen Sadvakasov and a Secretary General, Alina Dvoretskaya, to run the administration — and the same day convened an Extraordinary General Assembly online for December 27 to settle the business left unfinished at Samarkand.
- Three in four women and girls in chess report at least one form of discrimination or harassment, and 44 percent have thought about leaving the game, FIDE's Commission for Women's Chess finds in the federation's first global survey of women in chess — 672 responses from 127 federations — with reported gender bias highest among respondents who compete in North America, at 83 percent.
- Affiliates ran 40 rated tournaments with 1,791 players under the National Chess Day name on Saturday, October 10, by US Chess's count of events carrying the title on MUIR — leaving out dozens more that weekend and the unrated exhibitions and meet-ups — and the federation's wrap-up gathers organizers' reports from Princeton to the New Orleans French Quarter.
- GM Vasyl Ivanchuk has been inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis, the Ukrainian Chess Federation announced, one of five players in this year's class — with Boris Gelfand, Ulf Andersson, Nana Ioseliani and Alexandra Kosteniuk — honored across the U.S. Championships' October 8 opening ceremony and the Saint Louis Chess Conference's October 24 closing, the Saint Louis Chess Club's wrap-up release says.
- TWIC #1668 arrived overnight with 7,159 games from 51 events — the U.S. Championship's 18 games and its two-game tiebreak, the European Club Cup, Titled Tuesday and the three 3 0 Thursday events among them — and names the winners of events our broadcasts never carried: Lalit Babu M R at Münsterland, Li Min Peng at Annemasse, Christian Bauer with 9/9 at Perpignan, V S Rathanvel at Chefchaouen, Mladen Palac at Hvar and Murad Ibrahimli at Shirvan.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Oct 26: Andrew Tang shares first at Eastern Chess Congress
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: GM Andrew Tang, No. 21 on the US Chess overall list …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- GM Andrew Tang, No. 21 on the US Chess overall list, shared first in the Premier section of the 30th Annual Eastern Chess Congress in Princeton, New Jersey, on 4.5 points with Jianchao Zhou and Viktor Matviishen, in a 432-player event that led a weekend in which US Chess newly rated 102 events across 29 states.
- GM Alexander Ivanov (FIDE 2365), No. 17 on the US Chess Age 50+ list, shared first in the Greater Boston Open's Premier section on 3 points with Jerry Chen and Hrishikesh Sai Vedula, who beat WIM Kateryna Odnorozhenko (2084) of Ukraine along the way; at the 54th Capps Memorial, GM Christopher Yoo (2588), No. 3 on the Under 21 list, beat Vivaan Pavuluri and FM Andrew Boekhoff on Sunday to stay perfect.
- Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown opens Tuesday in St. Louis with Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Javokhir Sindarov playing 18 rapid games over three days for $425,000, under rules that bar draw offers before Black's 60th move and make a last-day win worth three first-day ones — Sindarov's final event before the world championship match, ChessBase India notes; the outlets split on the clock, 10 minutes plus 5 seconds a move at ChessBase, 15 plus 10 at ChessBase India.
- Asked by the Times of India to size up the Geneva match a month out, Ian Nepomniachtchi called Sindarov "of course a clear favourite" and said Gukesh's progress over the past couple of years has been negative, while Magnus Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian and Wei Yi each argued against writing the champion off.
- The English Chess Federation, which supports Bodhana Sivanandan, names the full grandmaster title as her next target after her International Master qualification in Budva at 11 years and seven months, with international director Malcolm Pein crediting Rishi Sunak and Rachel Reeves for government support of chess through the DCMS and setting the FIDE Swiss at the 16th London Chess Classic as her next event; across the table, Luxembourg's Gambit Bonnevoie calls its women's silver "a historic first" for the country's sport.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Oct 25: Hikaru Nakamura takes a seventh straight Bullet Brawl
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Hikaru Nakamura won Bullet Brawl for a seventh …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- Hikaru Nakamura won Bullet Brawl for a seventh consecutive Saturday, scoring 178 points to finish ahead of 218 titled players after a 23-game winning streak early in the arena — his 72nd win in the event by chess.com's count — while runner-up Oleksandr Bortnyk, in an interview with Chess with Mustreader, said Magnus Carlsen remains the best online blitz player and placed Nakamura no higher than second or third.
- US Chess newly rated 90 events across 28 states, with a median size of 19, led by Saturday scholastics of 269 players in La Feria, Texas, and 264 at CIS Bronx Chess Day in New York; in California, San Diego Chess & Social's Chula Vista chapter draws 30 to 40 players to a brewery every Wednesday and the club's paid membership has passed 500, the Star-News reports; and GM Christopher Yoo won both of his opening games at the 54th Capps Memorial.
- FIDE's final report on the European Club Cup, won Friday by Bayegan Pendik over Novy Bor on tiebreak as reported here Saturday, puts the Budva field at a record 130 teams, 108 open and 22 women's, against 122 in Rhodes in 2025, and names the board winners: Marc-Andria Maurizzi, Nihal Sarin, FM Lennert Lenaerts, Benjamin Gledura, Ihor Samunenkov and Volodar Murzin on boards one to six of the open, and Aleksandra Goryachkina, Humpy Koneru, Nurgyul Salimova and Gulnar Mammadova in the women's event.
- The outlets' numbers for Bodhana Sivanandan, who completed the requirements for the International Master title in Budva on Friday as reported here Saturday, split two ways — a rating of 2406 at the Daily Jagran against a live 2413 at ChessBase's German site, a 2465 performance at Newsband and Vietnam.vn against 2504 at the German site — and the Daily Jagran's table of the 10 youngest IMs of either sex ranks America's Abhimanyu Mishra third, at 10 years, 9 months and 3 days in 2019, behind Roman Shogdzhiev and Faustino Oro, with Sivanandan seventh.
- Al Ain will host the fourth World Junior U20 Rapid & Blitz Championships from November 1 to 7 — four world titles across rapid and blitz, open and girls — organized by the Al Ain Chess and Mind Games Club together with FIDE and the UAE Chess Federation, GulfToday reports; the organizers hold a press conference at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium on Tuesday, October 27, the day FIDE's extended registration and payment deadline, carried here, expires.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Oct 24: Lichess ends its boycott of US Chess
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Lichess has ended its 2023 boycott of US Chess and …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- Lichess has ended its 2023 boycott of US Chess and will resume official broadcasts of the federation's events, saying the changes it wanted have been made — the confirmation of the resumption reported here Thursday from an r/chess post — as RookReview reports from Lichess's announcement.
- Bodhana Sivanandan, 11, completed the requirements for the International Master title on Friday in Budva, beating WIM Viktoria Johansson with Black in the last round of the European Club Cup for her third norm at 11 years, seven months and 16 days — younger than Judit Polgar was when she took the title in 1988, chess.com reports, and the seventh-youngest player of all time to qualify.
- Bayegan Pendik of Turkey won the European Club Cup in Budva on Friday, beating holders SuperChess Romania 3.5-2.5 in the final round as Anish Giri beat Nodirbek Abdusattorov on top board and Amin Tabatabaei beat Haik Martirosyan; Novy Bor finished level on 13 match points after beating Elektroprivreda 4.5-1.5 and took silver on tiebreak, Rishon LeZion A bronze — and both Americans on the open relay won their last games.
- Hans Niemann won Freestyle Friday on October 23 with nine points, taking the tiebreak over Sina Movahed after beating him in round 10 — his first win in the Freestyle Friday Championship era and third overall, chess.com reports — a day after Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana won two of the three 3 0 Thursday events, Nakamura opening with Lionel Messi's "GOAT Horns" line in every game as Black.
- FIDE's Council has extended its waiver of rating fees for all rapid and blitz tournaments through 2027, a concession FIDE says has spared federations close to €2 million since it began in 2021; at home US Chess newly rated 42 events across 19 states, and Bryan Enming Lin, No. 1 on the US Chess Under 16 list, shared first in the Marshall FIDE Blitz.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Oct 23: Wesley So takes the national title
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Wesley So is U.S. Champion for a fourth time, beating …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- Wesley So is U.S. Champion for a fourth time, beating Fabiano Caruana 1.5-0.5 in Thursday's rapid playoff in St. Louis — a draw with Black, then a win in 33 moves after Caruana's gambit misfired — to take the title and $56,000 one day after his last-round loss to Sam Sevian had let Caruana catch him on 7/11; it is So's first national title since 2021 and ends Caruana's run of four straight.
- The November US Chess rating supplement arrived with 1,320,281 names on the rating list, 5,873 more than the October list; among top-100 players the biggest regular-rating moves are Elizabeth C Smith's 128-point climb to 1543 on the Women 50+ list and Abigail Zhou's 106 points to 2096 on Girls Under 16, where three more listed players gained between 88 and 100 points.
- Three teams share the lead on 11/12 going into Friday's final round of the European Club Cup in Budva after SuperChess Romania and Novy Bor drew their top-table match 3-3 and Bayegan Pendik beat Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai 3.5-2.5 despite Pranesh M beating Anish Giri on board one with a bishop sacrifice Giri took after four and a half minutes' thought; Bodhana Sivanandan, 11, plays Friday for a third IM norm that would break Judit Polgar's female age record for the title, set 38 years ago, the Guardian says.
- Jeroen van den Berg, tournament director of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament since 1999, will step down after the 89th edition in January 2027 and hand the Wijk aan Zee event to GM Erwin l'Ami from 2028, the organizers announced; the two will run the coming edition together, and van den Berg stays on as an adviser until January 2030.
- Both Americans on the European Club Cup relay won on Thursday, Gennadie Slavin (FIDE 2201) beating IM Pavel Govciyan (2408) of France and GM Kirk Ghazarian (2530) also scoring, while FM Evan Sammons beat IM Vadym Petrovskiy of Germany at the Annemasse Masters; at home US Chess newly rated 42 events across 25 states, led by a 333-player scholastic in Pharr, Texas, and three US Chess outreach grants are among four grants worth $3,000 for McAllen elementary chess programs.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Oct 22: Rachael Li is US Women’s Champion
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Rachael Li, 16, is U.S. Women's Champion in her debut …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- Rachael Li, 16, is U.S. Women's Champion in her debut, drawing Anna Zatonskih in round 11 to finish on 8½/11, half a point ahead of Alice Lee, who beat Anna Sargsyan with Black on demand; Irina Krush beat Tatev Abrahamyan for sole third, and Li leaves St. Louis with $45,000, a first IM norm and a FIDE Women's World Cup place she shares with Lee.
- Wesley So lost to last-placed Sam Sevian in the final round of the U.S. Championship, ending a 48-game unbeaten run in the event, while Fabiano Caruana beat Awonder Liang on demand to tie him on 7/11 and force a rapid playoff Thursday at 12 p.m. in St. Louis, 1 p.m. ET; Jeffery Xiong beat Hans Niemann to share third with Grigoriy Oparin, who drew Ray Robson.
- Novy Bor beat second seed Alkaloid 4-2 in round five of the European Club Cup in Budva — David Anton over Aravindh Chithambaram, Pentala Harikrishna over Yu Yangyi in 103 moves — and meets holders SuperChess Romania on Thursday with both on 10/10 match points after SuperChess beat Vasyl Ivanchuk's Nitra 5.5-0.5; Nihal Sarin took a draw in a winning position against Wei Yi, and Vaclav Finek, 16, beat Pranav Venkatesh.
- Malaysia's Youth and Sports Ministry says it will not reverse the exclusion of an Israeli player from next month's FIDE World Amateur Chess Championship in Klang whatever the criticism, a source told Scoop — the first Malaysian government response since the case was carried here Sunday — as Israel's Foreign Ministry demanded on the country's official X account that FIDE strip Malaysia of hosting rights and move the event; FIDE has not commented publicly, Algemeiner reports.
- Kazakhstan topped the medal table at the FIDE World U7-U17 Championships in Roquetas de Mar with seven golds, two silvers and four bronzes among 721 players from 82 countries, FIDE reports; American Siddharth Singh, the rating favorite in the Open Under 15, was one of five players level with the silver medalist on 8/11 but lost the bronze on tiebreak to Vietnam's CM Manh Duc Nguyen, and US Chess newly rated 33 events across 16 states.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Oct 21: Wesley So a draw from a fourth title
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Wesley So drew Hans Niemann in under an hour in round …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- Wesley So drew Hans Niemann in under an hour in round 10 of the U.S. Championship and leads on 7/10, a full point clear of Fabiano Caruana and Grigoriy Oparin, who also drew; a draw against Sam Sevian on Wednesday gives him clear first and a fourth title, while Sam Shankland beat Sevian and Levon Aronian beat Ray Robson in the round's two decisive games.
- Rachael Li beat Rose Atwell in round 10 to reach 8/10 in the U.S. Women's Championship, a point clear of Alice Lee, who also won, and needs only a draw against Anna Zatonskih on Wednesday to take the title outright in her debut; five of the six games were decisive, and Tatev Abrahamyan gave up a bishop, a knight and a rook to mate Zatonskih.
- Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Anish Giri and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus — three of the five highest-rated players in Budva, chess.com notes — all lost in round four of the European Club Cup: Abdusattorov to Aydin Suleymanli, Giri to Pranav V and Erdogmus to Karthikeyan Murali, the Indian pair carrying Montenegro's Elektroprivreda to a 3-3 draw with top seed Bayegan Pendik; all three Americans on the relay won.
- Hikaru Nakamura won Titled Tuesday on October 20 with 9.5/11, beating Alireza Firouzja in the final round and taking the tiebreak over Dmitry Andreikin and Sina Movahed, both also on 9.5 — his first win in the series since May, chess.com reports, and one that extended his lead in the 2026-27 CCT standings.
- FIDE has asked its Constitutional Commission whether tournaments played inside Russia during the Chess Federation of Russia's suspension can be rated, a spokesperson told World Chess, leaving the Russian Rapid and Blitz Championships in Sochi — both individual titles won by Daniil Dubov — unrecognized for now after a women's team from occupied Donetsk played the team events over a Ukrainian protest; meanwhile Israel's ambassador to Bulgaria and Susan Polgar have publicly pressed FIDE over the Klang exclusion carried here since Sunday.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Oct 20: Rachael Li beats Nazi Paikidze to lead
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Rachael Li, 16, beat Nazi Paikidze in round nine to …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- Rachael Li, 16, beat Nazi Paikidze in round nine to lead the U.S. Women's Championship alone on 7/9, a full point clear of Irina Krush and Alice Lee, and has secured her first IM norm with two rounds to spare, chess.com reports; Krush beat Lee, and all six games were decisive.
- Wesley So held Fabiano Caruana to a draw with Black in round nine of the U.S. Championship and leads on 6.5/9, a full point clear of Caruana and Grigoriy Oparin, who beat Sam Shankland in the round's only decisive game; two rounds remain, and So must get past Hans Niemann and Sam Sevian.
- Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, 15, beat Zbynek Hracek on his European Club Cup debut and rose to world No. 15 on the live list, chess.com reports, as Anish Giri and Nodirbek Abdusattorov also won their first games in Budva and 11 of the top 12 seeds reached round four on perfect match scores; Jorden van Foreest lost in one move to a 2409-rated IM.
- Players from Syria, Lebanon and Algeria are under orders to forfeit against Israeli opponents at the FIDE World Championships U7-U17 in Roquetas de Mar, EL PAÍS reports, and a Syrian boy played and won after chief arbiter Panagiotis Nikolopoulos refused his federation's written request to stop the game — a second Israeli-access dispute in the wire after the Klang exclusion carried here since Sunday.
- TWIC #1667 arrived with 8,561 games from 52 events, confirming GM Jianchao Zhou's 6.5/7 win at the 5th Skyline Open in Dulles, Virginia, UT Dallas-A's team title at the Texas Collegiate Superfinals in Brownsville, Fabiano Caruana's Titled Tuesday and 3 0 Thursday wins last week, and Vahap Şanal's 7/7 sweep of the 36th NATO Championship.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Oct 19: Favorites keep winning at the European Club Cup
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: The favorites kept winning in round two of the …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- The favorites kept winning in round two of the European Club Cup in Budva: Wei Yi, Arjun Erigaisi and Richard Rapport moved to 2/2, top seed Bayegan Pendik beat Crvena Zvezda 5-1 even though Temur Kuybokarov took down its leader Amin Tabatabaei on top board, and Alkaloid and holders SuperChess Romania both won 6-0; two Americans are on the broadcast, GM Kirk Ghazarian the higher-rated.
- Malaysia has kept two registered Israeli players out of FIDE's World Amateur Championship in Klang, November 4-13, The Jerusalem Post and JFeed report, confirming the question carried here Sunday from a Times of Israel headline; the published participant list omits both names, and no FIDE statement is in today's wire.
- The German Chess Federation's arbiters' commission is moving toward a general ban on hearing aids at its tournaments, including the amateur championship series, on anti-cheating grounds, and its inclusion officer Gert Schulz has vowed to stop it; a working group of the federation's new inclusion commission has taken up the dispute, the federation reports.
- US Chess newly rated 106 events across 29 states, led by a 345-player Hunter October Tournament in New York and the 194-player Eastern Class Championship in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, where Linxi Zhu, No. 6 on the US Chess Under 16 list, shared the Master section; Jason S Liang, No. 9 on the Under 21 list, shared the top section of Georgia's 114-player class championship, and Siddharth Singh beat an Egyptian IM at the World Under 15.
- Saxo Bank has signed Magnus Carlsen, with Lando Norris and seven other athletes, for an investor-psychology campaign announced Monday with financial terms undisclosed, Finance Magnates and FX News Group report; Gukesh's representation deal with OBT Sports & Entertainment, carried here since Thursday, recirculated at Sportscape Magazine.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Oct 18: Wesley So beats Andy Woodward to lead alone
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Wesley So beat Andy Woodward in a pawn endgame in …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- Wesley So beat Andy Woodward in a pawn endgame in round eight of the U.S. Championship and leads alone on 6/8, a full point clear of Fabiano Caruana, who has White against him when play resumes Monday after the rest day; Sam Shankland beat Hans Niemann in the round's only other decisive game.
- Alice Lee and Rachael Li drew their round-eight games to stay level on 6/8 at the top of the U.S. Women's Championship, Lee letting a large heavy-piece advantage against Anna Zatonskih slip, while Jennifer Yu beat Irina Krush to keep her out of the lead and Thalia Cervantes Landeiro beat defending champion Carissa Yip with Black to sit half a point behind.
- The 41st European Club Cup opened in Budva with the top seeds sweeping 6-0 while resting Anish Giri, Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus and Nodirbek Abdusattorov; Nils Grandelius lost to a 55-year-old Serbian candidate master, 11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan held Aleksandra Goryachkina for 77 moves, and American GM Kirk Ghazarian drew Vasyl Ivanchuk.
- Hikaru Nakamura won Saturday's Bullet Brawl with 190 points and a 46-point margin, his 71st title in the series and sixth in a row, chess.com reports, calling it one of the most dominant performances in the event's history.
- FIDE has allocated the Olympiad-based places for the 2027 World Cup and Women's World Cup: the United States, fourth in both of FIDE's tables, is among 83 federations with an open-section spot and 45 with a women's spot, and must name one member of its Samarkand team by July 15, 2027.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Oct 17: Wesley So leads alone after beating Ray Robson
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Wesley So is the sole leader of the U.S. Championship …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- Wesley So is the sole leader of the U.S. Championship on 5/7 after fighting back from a worse endgame to beat Ray Robson in round seven; Grigoriy Oparin beat Awonder Liang in 27 moves, Levon Aronian scored his first win of the event over Sam Shankland, and Fabiano Caruana and Andy Woodward drew to sit half a point back before Saturday's So–Woodward game.
- Alice Lee and Rachael Li lead the U.S. Women's Championship together on 5.5/7 after both won in round seven — Lee beating Rose Atwell with Black a day after losing to Li, and Li beating Megan Paragua — while Irina Krush beat Carissa Yip to sit half a point behind and Thalia Cervantes Landeiro's first loss, to Anna Sargsyan, left her on 4.5.
- Grandmasters, the documentary following Magnus Carlsen, Wesley So and Hans Niemann through the Freestyle Chess fight with FIDE, has screened at 92 AMC theaters across the United States on October 11 and 14 after a sold-out New York premiere, chess.com reports, with more locations to be added and a streaming announcement to come.
- Total Chess has published its pilot rating for the top 100 in full: Magnus Carlsen leads at 2830, Hikaru Nakamura is second at 2779 and Nodirbek Abdusattorov third at 2774, while world champion Gukesh stands at 2686 — 26th, ChessBase India says — and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, Anish Giri and Wesley So lose 94, 63 and 30 points against their classical ratings, RookReview reports.
- US Chess newly rated 39 events across 20 states, led by a 77-player Friday tournament at CGPS in New York and the 55-player North County Open 83 in Oceanside, California, where Ralph Akram Gholmieh scored 7 in a McMahon section; abroad, Gordon Randall beat FM Finn Pedersen of Denmark at the 36th NATO Chess Championship and CM Advik Manchanda won both his games in the World Youth Under 11.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
The Opening, Oct 16: Caruana and Liang join the leaders
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Fabiano Caruana beat Sam Shankland with Black and …
Notes de l’épisode
Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com
In this episode:
- Fabiano Caruana beat Sam Shankland with Black and Awonder Liang beat Levon Aronian in round six of the U.S. Championship on Thursday, joining Wesley So and Andy Woodward in a four-way tie on 4/6; the other four games were drawn, and Caruana is back at No. 3 on the live list.
- Rachael Li beat Alice Lee with Black in round six of the U.S. Women's Championship, ending Lee's run of four straight wins; Li, Lee and Thalia Cervantes Landeiro share the lead on 4.5/6, Irina Krush and Megan Paragua sit half a point back, and defending champion Carissa Yip scored her first win.
- Russian prosecutors have withdrawn their asset-seizure suit against FIDE President Timur Turlov, Meduza and RookReview report, closing the Moscow court question carried here since early October; the same day Turlov opened three Freedom Holding-funded Chess Houses in Shymkent, Kazakhstan.
- Mexico's men and India's women and youth teams won the 6th Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners, which FIDE runs with the Cook County Sheriff's Office in Chicago; FIDE calls the field of 140 teams from 56 countries a record, and Nigeria's correctional service made its debut.
- US Chess newly rated 37 events across 24 states, a 50-player Chesterfield, Missouri, tournament the largest, and Kyra Gurrola, No. 58 on the US Chess Girls Under 16 list, shared the A section at a 45-player Albuquerque Chess Club event; in the Collegiate Chess League, Saint Louis University and the University of Texas at Dallas are the only unbeaten teams after two matches each, chess.com reports.
The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.
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