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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
European Youth Chess Championship 2026
The European version of the World Youth — U8 through U18 categories, organised by the European Chess Union.
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.
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.
46th FIDE Chess Olympiad 2026
The biennial team championship — 190+ federations, four-board open and women's teams, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The single largest event in the chess year.
World Championship cycle
World Chess Championship 2026
Gukesh Dommaraju's first title defence — the eighteenth world champion against Javokhir Sindarov, the Uzbek who won the 2026 Candidates. Fourteen classical games in Geneva, and the youngest match for the crown ever played.
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.
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
Continental championships
National championships
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2026
German Chess Championship 2026
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.
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.
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.
SuperUnited Croatia Rapid & Blitz 2026
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Superbet Romania Chess Classic 2026
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.
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.
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 Candidates Tournament 2026
FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament 2026
Reykjavík Open 2026
Grenke Chess Open 2026
European Individual Chess Championship 2026
Prague Chess Festival 2026 — Masters
Aeroflot Open 2026
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.