Major chess events

The match for the world title: the reigning champion against the winner of the Candidates, held about every two years.

Next: November 24 – December 12, 2026 · Champion: Gukesh Dommaraju (2024)

The eight-player tournament that decides who challenges the world champion.

Champion: Javokhir Sindarov (2026)

A giant knockout tournament, with more than 200 players, that sends its top finishers to the Candidates.

Champion: Javokhir Sindarov (2025)

An 11-round Swiss tournament of the world’s strongest players, with two Candidates places at stake.

Champion: Anish Giri (2025)

The tournament that decides who challenges the women's world champion.

Champion: Vaishali Rameshbabu (2026)

The match for the women's world title, between the reigning champion and the winner of the Women's Candidates.

Next: Dates to be announced · Champion: Ju Wenjun (2025)

A knockout tournament for the world's leading women players, with places in the Women's Candidates at stake.

Champion: Divya Deshmukh (2025)

FIDE’s annual world championships in rapid and blitz chess, played together over the last days of December.

Champion: Magnus Carlsen (2025)

The national championship of the United States: an invitation-only round robin in Saint Louis that now draws a field of world-class grandmasters, with the U.S. Women's Championship played alongside.

Next: October 8–23, 2026 · Champion: Fabiano Caruana (2025)

The oldest elite invitational in chess: a January round-robin in the Dutch seaside village of Wijk aan Zee, held since 1938.

Next: January 15–31, 2027 · Champion: Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2026)

A Swiss summer festival held every July since 1968, with an elite Grandmaster Tournament and a large open.

Champion: Levon Aronian (2026)

India's elite round-robin, held in Chennai since 2023, with a Challengers event alongside.

Champion: Alireza Firouzja (2026)

A season-long circuit of elite classical and rapid-and-blitz events, ending in a finals for the top four.

Champion: Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (2026)

An elite invitational in London every December, the centrepiece of a festival that runs events for all levels.

Champion: Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2025)

An elite six-player double round-robin, with armageddon after every draw, held in Norway every spring since 2013.

Champion: Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (2026)

A ten-player Masters round-robin in Prague every winter, with a Challengers group alongside.

Champion: Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2026)

The Saint Louis Chess Club's elite round-robin and the classical centrepiece of the Grand Chess Tour.

Champion: Wesley So (2026)

Thailand's big international open, held every April around the Songkran new year.

Champion: Dau Khuong Duy (2026)

A spring open in Ciutadella, Menorca, with an elite Masters section, held since 2022.

Champion: Abhimanyu Mishra (2026)

Iceland's international open, held since 1964 and now one of the most popular open tournaments in Europe.

Champion: Amin Tabatabaei (2026)

Stockholm's strong Swiss open over the New Year, held since 1971 and now the opening event of the FIDE Circuit.

Champion: Xu Xiangyu (2025)

Germany's top team league and the strongest chess league in the world: 16 clubs, eight boards, and world-class grandmasters on many of the rosters.

Next: October 9, 2026 – April 4, 2027 · Champion: SC Viernheim (2026)

Europe's club championship: a week-long team Swiss where the strongest professional clubs and ordinary club sides play in the same hall, with a women's event alongside.

Next: October 17–23, 2026 · Champion: SuperChess (2025)

The biggest event in chess: national teams from around 190 countries, in open and women’s sections, every two years.

Next: October 28 – November 11, 2028 · Champion: Uzbekistan (2026)