Bill Wall
Chess Archive

August, 2025

• Aug 2 - GM Magnus Carlsen won the first ever 2025 Chess Esports World Cup and won $250,000.  The event was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

July, 2025

• Jul 31 – top ratings: Carlsen (2839), Nakamura (2807), Caruana (2784), Pragggggnananshaa (2779), Engaisi (2776), Gukesh (2776), Abdusattorov (2771)

• Jul 30 – Bodhana Sivanandan of England became the youngest player ever to achieve a Woman Grandmaster norm at the age of 10

• Jul 26 – GM Alexander Fishbein won the US Senior Chess Championship, held in St. Louis.

• Jul 20 – GM Levon Aronian won the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in Las Vegas and won $200,000

• Jul 15 – Chess.com closed over 100,000 chess accounts in the past month for violating fair play rules and online cheating

• Jul 13 – 25,000 chess players will play chess on London’s Trafalgar Square for ChessFest 2025

• Jul 12 – The 58th Biel Chess Festival starts with 16 tournaments scheduked

• Jul 6 – GM Magnus Carlsen wins 2025 SuperUnited Croatia Rapid and Blitz

• Jul 4 – FIDE Women’s World Cup starts in Batumi, Georgia – ends Jul 29

• Jul 3 – GM Tigran Nalbandian (1975-2025) dies of a heart attack in Yerevan, Armenia

• Jul 2 – top ratings: Carlsen (2839), Nakamura (2807), Caruana (2784), Pragggggnananshaa (2779), Engaisi (2776), Gukesh (2776)

• Jul 1 – Boris Spassky: 450 Winning Games, by Bill Wall, published on Amazon

• Jul 1 – FIDE bans American GM Christopher Woo for 1 year after assaulting a female chess player

June, 2025

• Jun 24 – 19-year old Belgian GM Daniel Dandha set a new world record of playing a 50-board clock simul.  He won 40, drew 7, and lost 3

• Jun 21 – GM Alireza wins on tiebrakes over GM Hikaru Nakamura at chess.com’s Bullet Brawl.

• Jun 20 – I< Carissa Yp wins the ladies’ Cairns Cup and scores a 2nd GM norm.

• Jun 19 – Magnus Carlsen hits 2900 in the Freestyle (random) Chess rating.

• Jun 16 – Five-time US champ GM Gata Kamsky leaves the USA and transfers to France after 36 years representing the US

• Jun 8 – GM Magnus Carlsen wins his 7th Norway Chess championship.

• Jun 5 – GM Aleksey Grebnev wins Dubai Open

May, 2025

• May 26 – GM Anish Giri wins the 2025 Sharjah Masters in the UAE

• May 25 – 10-year-old Roman Shogdzhiev of Russia becomes youngest Interntional Master

• May 12 – Czech-German GM Vlastimil Hort (1944-2025) died in Eitorf, Germany

• May 12 – GM Christopher Yoo give a 60-day suspension after new harassment allegation against a female chess player

• May 11 – The Taliban suspends chess in Afghanistan over gambling concerns

• May 11 – Bill Wall turns 74 and has reached 80,000 chess games played and recorded since 1969

April, 2025

• Apr 21 – GM Magnus Carlsen wins Grenke Chess Freestyle Open with a 9 out of 9 perfect score.

• Apr 16 – GM Ju Wenjun beat GM Tan Zhongyi 6.5 to 2.5 to win the 2025 FIDE Women’s Workd Championship.  She has won the title 5 times. 

• Apr 14 – Carlsen wins the 2025 Paris Freesytle Chess Grand Slam.

• Apr 9  – Luca Protopopescu of France becomes youngest player to break 2200 rating barrier at age 9.

• Apr 6 – 600 Scandinavian Miniatures by Bill Wall published by Amazon

• Apr 4 – GM Fridrik Olafsson of Iceland died at the age of 90.He was former FIDE president.

• Apr 4 – Carlsen vs The World match had 100,000 participants on chess.com, breaking the all-time record.

• Apr 1 – Top players are Carlsen (2837), Nakamura (2804), Gukesh (2787), Erifaisi (2782), and Caruana (2776).

March, 2025

• March 28 – GM Kateryna Lagno withdrew from the Women’s Grand Prix after she accused a voting jury of the most beautiful game in a tournament of discriminating against her because she is Russian.

• March 27 – FIDE has launched the Open Chess Museum, an online platform that archives chess history.  See Open Chess Museum . 

• March 26 – GM Matthias Blauebuam became the first player to win the European Chess Championship twice.

• March 26 – GM Kirill Shevchenko, ranked #75 in the world, received a 3-year ban for a cheating incident of hiding a phone with a chess engine in the toilet

• March 24 – GM Hikaru Nakamura won the American Cup Blitz and $75,000.  IM Alice Lee won the women’s section and $49,000.

• March 10 – A BBC reality TV called The Endgame, made its debut with mixed reactions. 

• March 7 – Pranav Venkatesh of India won the World Junior Chess Championship.  The event was held in Montenegro.

• March 6 – Magnus Carlsen leads the rating list with 2833, followed by Hikaru Nakamura at 2802 and world champion Gukesh at 2787.

February, 2025

• Feb 28 – top ratings: Carlsen (2833), Nakamura (2802), Gukesh (2787), Caruana (2783), Erigaisi (2777), Abdusattorov (2773), Wei (2860)

• Feb 27 – Boris Spassky (1937-2025), 10th world champion, died at the age of 88

• Feb 26 – England and USA tie in the World Senior Team Chess Campionships, held in Prague

• Feb 25 – GM Sergey Karjakin has been sanctioned by the European Union for his continued support of Russia;s war on Ukraine.

• Feb 21 – Carlsen wins 2025 Chessable Masters

• Feb 14 – GM Vincent Keymer wins Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, winning $200,000

• Feb 7, 2025 -  GM Magnus Carlsen has ruled out any cooperation with FIDE and its current administration.  He is participating in a Freestyle Grand Slam Tour with $750,000 in prizes.

• Feb 5 – Doham, Qatar will be the host of the 2025 FIDE World Rapid and Blitch Championship.

• Feb 4 – London will be the host of the 2025 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships

• Feb 3 – Shanghai and Chongqing will be the host of the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Championship match between Ju WenJung and Tan Zhongyi.

• Feb 2 – GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu beat world champion Gukesh Dommaraju in a blitz playoff to win the 2025 Tata Steel Chess Masters tournament.  The event was held in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands.

• Feb 1 – The top players by rating are Carlsen (2833), Caruana (2803), Nakamura (2802), Erigaisi (2801), Gukesh (2777), Abdusattorov (2766), Firouzja (2760), Wei (2755), Nepomniachtchi (2754), snd Anand (2750).  The top woman is Hou Yufan (2633) 

• Feb 1 – GM Juanchao Zhou won the US Chess 2024 Grand Prix.

January, 2025

• On January 1, 2025, the FIDE ratings were published.  The top players are Carlsen (2831), Caruana (2803), Nakamura (2802), Erigaisi (2801), Gukesh (2777), Abdusattorov (2768), Firouzja (2763), Nepomniachtchi (2754), Wei (2751), and Anand (2750)

• On January 4, 2025, Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen married Ella Victoria Malone in Oslo, Norway.

• On January 5, 2025, German Grandmaster Robert Huebner (1948-2025) died due to complications from stomach cancer.  He was 76.  He was a 4-time world championship candndate.

• January 9 2025 – University of Texas Rio Grande Vallry won the 2025 Pan-American Intrcolegiate Championship

• Jan 26, 2025 – happy birthday to GNM Fridrik Olafsson, who turned 90

• Jan 31, 2025 - After 11 rounds at the Tata Steel chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Neterlands, world champion Gikesh is in 1st place with 8 out of 11.  Two more rounds to go.

• In January 2025, 9-year-old Roman Shogdzhiev became the youngest ever to score an International master norm.  He is rated over 2300.  He scored 7 out of 9 in an international tournament in Belgrade.

• In January 2025, FIDE fined Zhy Jiner for a dress code violation at the 2024 Women’s World Blitz Championship.  She was wearing boots instead of shoes and was fined$200.

• January 2025 - International Master (IM) Andrejs Strebkovs of Latvia is stripped of his IM title and banned to 12 years from FIDE chess tournaments.  He was found guilty of sending sexually explicit material to women and minors.

December, 2024

• Starting on Dec 26, the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz chess championship will be played in the New York City’s financial district.

• On December 22, 2022, GM Magnus Carlsen won his 5th Champions Chess Tour, earning $206,000 first prize.

• In December, Natalya Tsodikova won the 2024 U.S. Senior Women’s Championship.

• On December 12, 2024, 18-year-old Gukesh Dommaraju became the 18th world chess champion after defeating world champion Ding Liren.  The event was sponsored by Google and held in Singapore.

• On Dec 31, 2024 GMs Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi agreed to shared the 2024 World Blitz championship title.  This is Carlsen’s 8th blitz title. 

• In early December, GMs Fabiano and Alexander Donchenko won the inaugural 2024 Saint Louis Masters.

• In December, GM Caurana won the 2024 U.S, Masters.

• In late December, 2024, GM Volodar Murzin, age 18,  won the 2024 Rapid World Championship.  He was undefeated, scoring 10 out of 13.  GM Koneru Humpy won the Women’s Rapid Championship.

November, 2024

• In late November, USA GM Alexander Shabalov won the World Senior Championship, held in Portugal.

• The University of Missouri won the 2024 Collegiate Chess League.

• In November, GM Magnus Carlsen won the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Match after beating GM Fabiano Caruana.

• Four-time Serbian National Champion GM Aleksandar Indjic won the 2024 European Chess Championship.

• In November, GM Magnus Carlsen crossed the 2900 barrier as the highed rated chess player ever.

October, 2024

• In late October, GM Fabiano Caruana won his 4th U.S. Championship title.  IM Carissa Yip won her 3rd  U.S. Women’s championship title.

• GM Kirill Shevchenko was expelled from the Spanish Team Championship after his cell phone rang.

• In early October, Alpha Zerochess creator Demis Hassabis won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.  He is a former child chess prodigy and the founder of DeepMind.

• On October 1, 2024, GM Zenon Franco (1956-2024), the first Paraguayan GM, died in Virgo, Spain.

September, 2024

• In late September, GM Ian Nepomniachtchi won the 10th edition of the Gashimov Memorial in Azerbaijan.

• The 45th Chess Olympiad was played in Budapest from September 10 to 22  Undia took the Gold, the Unites States to the Silver, and Uzbekistan took the Bronze..

• Carlsen won his 4th Speed Chess Championship.  Four-time Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun won the 2024 Women’s Speed Chess Championship.

August, 2024

• On August 28, Austrian GM Andreas Dueckstein (1927-2024) died in Hungary at the age of 97.  He had been the oldest living grandmaster.

• GM Alireza Firouzja won the 2024 Sinquefield Cuo and its $100,000 orize.

• In August, FIDE banned Latvian IM Andrejs Strekovs for 5 years for obscene letters set to top female chess plaers.