Chess tournaments
Every major event of 2026 and 2027 — from the World Championship cycle to the Olympiad, super-tournaments, continental and national titles, major opens, rapid and blitz championships, and the youth circuit. We aggregate, we contextualise, we link out.
This month
Champions Chess Tour 2026
Chess.com's flagship annual online tour — multiple legs of rapid and blitz tournaments across the year, culminating in a Tour Finals.
European Fischer Random Chess Championship 2026
The European continental Chess 960 championship — a relatively new format that the ECU has run since 2024, hosted in 2026 in Thessaloniki.
UzChess Cup 2026 — Masters
Tashkent's annual round-robin — the Uzbek federation's flagship event, now in its third year and featuring the country's three world-elite players (Sindarov, Abdusattorov, Yakubboev) at home.
Casablanca Chess 2026
Morocco's invitational rapid event with a historical-position twist — each game starts from a famous position from chess history rather than the standard opening setup.
FIDE World Team Rapid & Blitz Championships 2026
A new annual FIDE event combining a team rapid championship with a parallel team blitz, hosted in 2026 in Hong Kong as the inaugural edition.
2026 Naroditsky Memorial — Rapid & Blitz
The inaugural memorial event for Daniel Naroditsky — held at Charlotte Chess Center, the institution he most closely identified with as a teacher and streamer.
SuperUnited Croatia Rapid & Blitz 2026
Zagreb's annual Grand Chess Tour leg — the rapid-and-blitz combined event that has become the GCT's most-watched stop.
59th Biel International Chess Festival 2026
Switzerland's annual chess festival on the lakeshore — the Grand Masters Triathlon (classical + rapid + blitz combined scoring), Masters Open Swiss, and a fortnight of side events.
American Continental Chess Championship 2026
The Americas' annual continental championship — open Swiss covering North, Central, and South America, with FIDE World Cup qualification on the line.
Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters 2026
Chennai's annual round-robin — India's premier classical event, founded after the 2022 Olympiad win and now in its third year as a category-19 invitational.
World Championship cycle
FIDE World Rapid Championship 2026
FIDE's annual end-of-year championship at rapid time control — 15-round Swiss, 200+ players, the strongest annual non-classical event in chess.
FIDE World Blitz Championship 2026
FIDE's annual blitz championship — 21-round Swiss at 3+2, the most dramatic chess event of the year by sheer per-second decision count.
World Chess Championship 2027
Gukesh Dommaraju's first title defence — the eighteenth world champion's match against the 2026 Candidates winner. Location, dates, and challenger to be confirmed.
FIDE World Cup 2027
FIDE's 206-player knockout where the top three finishers qualify for the 2028 Candidates Tournament. Dates and host city to be announced by FIDE.
FIDE Grand Swiss 2027
The biennial 154-player Swiss that qualifies the top two finishers directly for the 2028 Candidates Tournament — held in autumn 2027, location to be confirmed.
Super-tournaments
Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2026
The traditional Sinquefield Cup warm-up — combined rapid and blitz Grand Chess Tour leg held the week before the Sinquefield Cup.
13th Sinquefield Cup 2026
Saint Louis's marquee Grand Chess Tour classical event — the strongest annual non-championship tournament in the world for over a decade.
Grand Chess Tour Finals 2026
The annual season-closer of the Grand Chess Tour — top four from the season's five legs, single-elimination matches, $1.2M prize pool, Saint Louis as host city for the eleventh straight year.
Tata Steel Chess 2027
Wijk aan Zee's January classical festival — the calendar's first super-tournament, two-week classical round-robin, traditionally the strongest field of the year.
Olympiad
Continental championships
Asian Continental Chess Championship 2026
Asia's annual continental championship — the qualifier for Asian players into the FIDE World Cup, a strong open Swiss across South and East Asia.
European Team Chess Championship 2026
The biennial four-board team championship for Europe — open and women's sections, 30+ federations, classical time control.
National championships
German Chess Championship 2026
Germany's annual national championship — eleven-round Swiss in a single weekend each summer, with parallel open and women's sections.
Russian Chess Championship Superfinal 2026
Russia's national championship final — 12-player round-robin held in autumn, the highest-profile annual chess event held in Russia.
US Chess Championship 2026
Saint Louis's annual round-robin to determine the national champions of the United States — open and women's sections, 12 players each.
Indian National Chess Championship 2026
India's national championship — the round-robin that has launched the careers of every major Indian grandmaster since Anand. The 60+ edition.
Rapid, Blitz & online
Global Chess League Season 4 — 2026
The franchise-based team league — six city-named teams of six players each, played as a double round-robin of rapid matches with a playoff final.
Tata Steel Chess India 2026
Kolkata's annual super-tournament — rapid and blitz over six days, hosted by the West Bengal Chess Association under the Tata Steel banner.
European Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships 2026
The annual European Rapid and Blitz championships — held back-to-back in late December, in 2026 at the Lisbon Congress Centre.
Youth & junior
European Youth Chess Championship 2026
The European version of the World Youth — U8 through U18 categories, organised by the European Chess Union.
World Junior Chess Championship 2026
FIDE's annual championship for players under 20 — the U20 tournament that has launched the careers of Karpov, Kasparov, Anand, Carlsen, and Gukesh.
World Youth Chess Championship 2026
FIDE's annual championships in age categories U8, U10, U12, U14, U16, U18 — the largest single-event youth tournament in chess.
Other events
53rd International Dortmund Chess Days 2026 — Sparkassen Chess Trophy
Germany's longest-running super-tournament, founded in 1973 — a fortnight at the Westfalenhallen each summer, won by Kramnik a record ten times.
Asian Nations Cup 2026
The Asian Chess Federation's biennial team event — open, women's, and youth team competitions running in parallel, hosted in 2026 in the UAE.
Cairns Cup 2026
The women's super-tournament of the Saint Louis Chess Club — ten players, round-robin, founded in 2019 as the women's counterpart to the Sinquefield Cup.
62nd International Akiba Rubinstein Chess Festival 2026
Polanica-Zdrój's annual GM round-robin — Poland's longest-running international chess festival, honouring the Galician-born grandmaster who shaped the openings theory of the early twentieth century.
3rd FIDE Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities 2026
The triennial FIDE chess Olympiad for players with disabilities — held in 2026 in Samarkand in the week before the main 46th Chess Olympiad.
European Chess Club Cup 2026 — Open & Women
The continental clubs' championship — six-board open and four-board women's competitions in parallel, with the strongest European club rosters of the year on display.
FIDE World Senior Chess Championships 2026
The annual world championships for 50+ and 65+ age categories, in open and women's sections — the largest gathering of senior-elite grandmasters each year.
2026 US Masters
The Charlotte Chess Center's flagship Swiss — the strongest US classical open after the US Championship itself, drawing 200+ rated entries each autumn.
Recently finished
Asian Individual Chess Championship 2026
The continental open and women's championships of the Asian Chess Federation — Ulaanbaatar host city in 2026, with FIDE World Cup qualifications awarded to top finishers.
European Women's Chess Championship 2026
The 27th European Individual Women's Championship — eleven rounds of Swiss in Batumi, with World Cup qualification spots distributed to the top finishers.
Norway Chess 2026
Stavanger's annual super-tournament — Armageddon tiebreakers, classical at heart, the only event where every draw is a fight.
Norway Chess Women 2026
The women's super-tournament running alongside Norway Chess in Oslo — six players, double round-robin, Armageddon decides every drawn classical.
Commonwealth Chess Championship 2026
Annual chess championship of the Commonwealth federations — held in 2026 in Kalutara, Sri Lanka, with sections by age and rating band.
Capablanca Memorial 2026
Cuba's annual classical event in memory of José Raúl Capablanca — the 59th running of one of the longest-continuous tournaments in chess.
Superbet Romania Chess Classic 2026
Bucharest's annual classical leg of the Grand Chess Tour — ten elite grandmasters, nine rounds, late May. The opening event of the GCT calendar year.
Sardinia World Chess Festival 2026
Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland 2026
TePe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2026
Baku Open 2026
Azerbaijan's annual international open in the capital — strongest open in the Caucasus, attracting fields of 250+ players including a substantial GM contingent.
African Individual Chess Championship 2026
Africa's annual continental championship — the qualifying route for African Federation players into the FIDE World Cup.
Chinese National Chess Championship 2026
China's annual national championship — the round-robin from which Ding Liren, Wei Yi, and Yu Yangyi emerged.
FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026
The eight-player double round-robin that decided the challenger for the 2027 World Chess Championship — held in Madrid, April 2026.
23rd Karpov International Chess Tournament 2026
The Khanty-Mansiysk round-robin named after the 12th world champion — a category-17 event in the Russian Far North that has run almost annually since 2002.
FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament 2026
Reykjavík Open 2026
Iceland's annual Spring Swiss open — a 250+ player field with strong grandmaster representation, named after the 1972 Fischer-Spassky match held in the same city.
Grenke Chess Open 2026
European Individual Chess Championship 2026
The annual 400-player Swiss open that crowns Europe's individual champion and qualifies the top finishers for the FIDE World Cup.
Prague Chess Festival 2026 — Masters
Aeroflot Open 2026
Moscow's traditional spring open — one of the strongest annual opens in chess for two decades, with a famously deep grandmaster field.
Saint Louis Masters 2026
FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2026
Gibraltar Chess Festival 2026
Gibraltar's annual elite open — one of the strongest open tournaments in the world, with a famously generous prize fund and a global field.
Tata Steel Chess 2026
European Women's Rapid & Blitz Championships 2026
The European Women's Rapid and Blitz championships — held in Monaco in early January, an established January-window event in the European women's calendar.