Weekly Recap: Firouzja Takes Over Online While Geneva Gets Closer

Alireza Firouzja won two online events this week, both ahead of Hikaru Nakamura, and the World Championship match in Geneva kept pulling attention toward late November. Around those two threads, we ran junior titles in Al Ain, open events in Bavaria and Almaty, and a few birthdays and calendar items.

Firouzja on the online circuit

Hikaru Nakamura’s Bullet Brawl streak is over. Firouzja won Saturday’s arena on 170 points, four clear of Nakamura, in a field Chess.com called arguably the strongest the event has had.

Days later, Firouzja went 10/11 to win Titled Tuesday outright and undefeated. He beat tournament leader Nakamura in round 10, then won the last game easily.

Nodirbek Yakubboev took a different weekly event. He won Freestyle Friday with 9.5 points, half a point ahead of Ian Nepomniachtchi. Nobody else got past eight, and it was his second win in the event after April 24.

On Saturday, amateur Josh Smith, the “Bullet Grandpa”, won game 28 against Daniil Dubov in their 100-game bullet match. Dubov won the other 99 but missed the bonus for a clean sweep.

Chess.com also announced Speed Chess Championship XI, the tenth-anniversary edition. It starts in November with a $250,000 prize fund. The live finals are at 180 Studios in London from February 5 to 7, 2027.

Gukesh v Sindarov, three weeks out

Jon Speelman used his ChessBase column to weigh the chances of Gukesh and Sindarov. He calls Sindarov “likely to prevail” but expects the defending champion to fight ferociously.

Alisher Suleymenov lands on the same side. Speaking to ChessBase India from Chennai, the Kazakh GM named Sindarov the favourite and explained his reasoning.

FIDE has settled the broadcast. Peter Leko and Peter Svidler will commentate the match in Geneva, where game one is set for 24 November.

Junior and senior championships

In Al Ain, five Open players and three Girls players opened the World Junior Rapid & Blitz with 3/3. Eline Roebers sat half a point off the Girls lead at that stage.

The rapid section is now decided. Khumoyun Begmuratov won the Open on 7.5/9 without losing a game, and Roebers took the Girls title on 7/9.

Older players are busy in Serbia. At the World Senior Championships in Vrnjačka Banja, each of the four sections had perfect scores at the top after three rounds. The field is 385 players from 65 federations, and Gaprindashvili sits half a point back in the Women 65+.

Open tournaments and rapid upsets

Denis Lazavik won the KazChess Masters in Almaty on 6½/9. The 19-year-old Belarusian GM stayed unbeaten, and a last-round draw with Aram Hakobyan secured outright first.

At the Bavarian Championship on Lake Tegernsee, six players were tied on 4½/5 after round five, among them 15-year-old German IM Hussain Besou. In round six, G.N. Gopal beat Besou to lead alone on 5½/6, with Piorun among 12 players half a point behind.

After round seven, Krishnan Sasikiran caught Gopal on 6/7, with top seed Frederik Svane among 21 players on 5½.

The Chinese Rapid in Shaoxing lost two big names early. Ding Liren fell to Xiao Tong in a blitz tiebreak and Wang Hao lost to Xu Xiangyu. Three of the four rating favourites missed the semifinals.

October events and federation business

Our October roundups covered a wide range of sizes. The 1st Manchester City International Open in Coimbatore drew 403 players over five days. The South American Championship in Bogota had 234 registered, the largest field in that month’s selection.

In the US, two invitational norm events and a 142-player Thanksgiving Open gave norm-seekers the most options.

FIDE President Timur Turlov met Akaki Iashvili to discuss competition formats, the 2027-28 calendar and some Georgian projects.

Anniversaries

Eugenio Torre turned 75 on 4 November. ChessBase marked the birthday of the first Asian to earn the grandmaster title, in 1974. He was born in Iloilo City, the seventh of ten children.

Vasily Panov would have been 120 on 1 November. Besides the Panov Attack, his career included a darker chapter as an informant against Paul Keres, which ChessBase’s profile examines.