2020 Chess Calendar | chess24.com

Can Magnus Carlsen extend his 7-year reign as World ChessChampion? That will be the main chess question of 2020, though first the bigquestion is who will qualify to play him from the Candidates Tournament thatstarts in mid-March in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Its also an Olympiad year, withthis years massive chess celebration switching to Moscow. Before that,however, the 2020s get off to a flying start with the Womens WorldChampionship, Tata Steel Chess (Carlsen vs. Firouzja, anyone?) and theGibraltar Masters.

With the big World Championship events and no Grand Prixseries, the schedule for top players in 2020 is going to be lighterthan the frankly insane 2019, especially as the Grand Chess Tour has cut down on events and decided to skip finals in 2020. There's another reason for some of the gaps in the calendar, however, as some events are yet to be announced.

Needless to say, well update this calendar as newinformation becomes available, while if you have any tips please let us know inthe comments below.

Current and upcomingtournaments:

Fabiano Caruana and Ding Liren start as the clear favourites in this 14-round 8-player double round-robin todecide Magnus Carlsens next World Championship challenger. The other sixplayers in the second most important chess event of 2020 are Alexander Grischuk, IanNepomniachtchi, Anish Giri, Teimour Radjabov, Wang Hao and Kirill Alekseenko. The ratings and rankings below are from the January 2020 FIDE rating list.

Links: official website, chess24

The $50,000 Banter Blitz Cup is a 128-player knockout featuring World Champion Magnus Carlsen and more than 100 more grandmasters, with all players required to stream their games live and commentate as they play. The winner will take home $14,000.

Links:official website

The 2020 Grand Chess Tour begins with all 10 regular tour players competing in this 9-round classical tournament with a $325,000 prize fund. This year's Grand Chess Tour features two classical events and three rapid and blitz (of which each tour regular plays two), with no Finals. Instead $175,000 will be awarded to the top three overall finishers.

Links: official website

An 11-round event for players in the Americas that alsoserves as one of the qualifiers for the 2021 FIDE World Cup.

An 11-round Swiss open tournament to decide the 2020European Womens Champion.

One of the worlds strongest national team events. 12 teams,usually including a number of foreign players, play a single round-robin over11 rounds.

One of a series of four annual tournaments held in the Saint Louis Chess Club with the aim of giving strong but not elite players experience of playing in round-robin events.

The 2nd stage of the 2020 Grand Chess Tour is a rapid and blitz tournament with a $150,000 prize fund.This year's Grand Chess Tour features two classical events and three rapid and blitz (of which each tour regular plays two), with no Finals. Instead $175,000 will be awarded to the top three overall finishers.

Links:official website

A 9-round team event in the 50+ and 65+ age categories.

This extremely tough open tournament serves as a qualifierfor the Russian Championship Superfinals. In 2020 its taking place in Maykop,the capital city of the Russian Republic of Adygea.

Links: official website

The 23rd edition of the Magistral Ciudad de Len will againbe a 4-player knockout rapid and blitz tournament. The line-up includes 2019winner Parham Maghsoodloo, Leinier Dominguez and local player Jaime SantosLatasa.

Links: officialwebsite

The 3rd event in this year's Grand Chess Tour is a rapid and blitz tournament in Croatia, with a $150,000 prize fund. In 2019 Magnus Carlsen won what was then an 11-round classical tournament:

This year's Grand Chess Tour features two classical events and three rapid and blitz (of which each tour regular plays two), with no Finals. Instead $175,000 will be awarded to the top three overall finishers.

Links:official website

This open tournament is the 95th edition of an event that was inaugurated in 1925. Jules Moussard was the winner in 2019.

Links: official website

Once again the Saint Louis Chess Club is hosting the most important US chess events.

A 7-round team event features U18 and U12 categories forboys and girls.

It seems change is afoot in Dortmund this year, with only a teaser available for a new 5-day event rather than the traditional 7-round classical tournament.

Links: official website

The British Championship returns to the same venue as in2019, when Mickey Adams won his 7th title and Jovanka Houska won her 9th.

Links: officialwebsite

A strong 10-round open that each year attracts hundreds ofplayers. At the time of writing Swedish no. 1 Nils Grandelius is the top seed.

Links: officialwebsite

This will be the 53rd year of the chess festival, which in2019 had both an experimental field and format, mixing multiple types of chess.The top event is usually accompanied by a strong open.

Links: official website

The inaugural Olympiad for disabled chess players will takeplace in Khanty-Mansiysk, the planned venue for the overall Olympiad before themain event was switched to Moscow.

Last year this event attracted an amazing 1800 players between the ages of 5 and 20.

Links:official website

With over 300 teams and approaching 2000 players, thebiennial World Chess Olympiad is the biggest and arguably the most enjoyableevent in chess. This year it was supposed to take place in Khanty-Mansiysk, asit did in 2010, but late last year the venue was switched from that Siberiancity to the Russian capital Moscow. China are defending the double gold medalsthey won in Batumi, Georgia in 2018.

The 4th event in the 2020 Grand Chess Tour. This year's tour features two classical events and three rapid and blitz (of which each tour regular plays two), with no Finals. Instead $175,000 will be awarded to the top three overall finishers.

Links:official website

The 8th edition of the Sinquefield Cup is a 10-player classical tournament that concludes the 2020 Sinquefield Cup. As well as the $325,000 prize fund for the event, the $175,000 prize fund for the tour as a whole will also be allocated to the top three players.

Links:official website

The U14, U16 and U18 World Youth Championships are being heldas 11-round tournaments in open and girls categories.

Links: official website

This 64-player knockout event would previously havedetermined a new Womens World Champion but now, as in the overall WorldChampionship cycle, the two finalists instead qualify for a CandidatesTournament to be held in 2021.

One of a series of four annual tournaments held in the Saint Louis Chess Club with the aim of giving strong but not elite players experience of playing in round-robin events.

Sochi is again hosting the traditional annual Russianindividual and team championships in rapid and blitz.

Links: official website

World Champion Magnus Carlsen will head the field for the 8th edition of this Norwegian super-tournament. Once again the organisers are planning a format where draws in classical chess are followed by Armageddon, while this year Vladimir Kramnik will join Judit Polgar as a commentator.

Links:official website

This annual team tournament is a 7-round Swiss event open toEuropean club teams, which can also include players from outside Europe. Thereigning champions are Obiettivo Risarcimento from Padua, Italy, who were ledby Richard Rapport and scored a perfect 14/14 in 2019.

A World Championship for the Under 8, 10 and 12 age groups,with the events split into open and girls sections.

Alexandra Kosteniuk is the reigning champion in both rapidand blitz, with the tournaments held as Swiss opens.

The annual World Senior Championship is held with 11-roundSwiss tournaments in 50+ and 65+ categories.

12 Swiss tournaments in U8 to U18 and open and girlscategories for European players.

One of a series of four annual tournaments held in the Saint Louis Chess Club with the aim of giving strong but not elite players experience of playing in round-robin events.

The chess highlight of 2020 will see Magnus Carlsen bid todefend the World Championship title he won against Vishy Anand in 2013 for a4th time in a row. The length of the match has been extended from 12 to 14games, with other changes including a ban on draw offers before move 40,increments only from move 61 onwards, fewer rest days and a prize fund doubledto a minimum of 2 million euros.

The European rapid and blitz champions are decided in Swissopens held at a 15+10 time control (rapid) and 3+2 (blitz).

A 16-player open tournament for players who performed wellin the Russian Grand Prix series of rapid events in 2020.

Links: official site

This 11-round event once again serves a double purpose. As well as determining the European Champion its also a qualifying path for 22 players to reach the 2021 FIDE World Cup.

Links:official website

16-player (open) and 8-player (women) knockout tournamentsfeaturing the top performers in the Russian Cup series of classical opentournaments held during 2020.

Links: official site

Rapid and blitz championships in categories thatrange from Under 8 to Under 18.

Finshed events:

The 2020 Womens World Championship is a 12-game match featuring Chinese defending champion and womens world no. 2 Ju Wenjun and her Russian challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina, who won the 2019 Womens Candidates Tournament. The first six games of the match take place in Shanghai before the players head further east to Vladivostok for the remainder of the match.

Links:official website,chess24| Reports:Preview,1,2-4,5-6,7-8,9-10,11-12,Tiebreaks

Magnus Carlsen goes for title no. 8 as the 14-player Tata Steel Masters kicks off the chess 2020s. Despite the late withdrawal of Ian Nepomniachtchi (replaced by Nikita Vitiugov) the field includes another three Top 10 players Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri and Wesley So as well as the 15th World Champion Vishy Anand. Young guns Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Vladislav Artemiev and Jeffery Xiong are joined by 16-year-old phenomenon Alireza Firouzja, who is making his super-tournament debut.

David Anton is top seed in the Challengers, which also features youngsters Nihal Sarin, Anton Smirnov and Vincent Keymer. Jan Gustafsson and Peter Svidler will commentate live for chess24.

Links:official website, chess24:Masters,Challengers,Qualifier| Reports:Preview,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13

The 10-round Gibraltar Masters open tournament is once again the highlight of the Gibraltar Chess Festival, with Top 10 players Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov the top seeds. The event will also feature as a Candidates Tournament warm-up for Wang Hao and Kirill Alekseenko. The overall top prize has risen to 30,000 with the 20,000 prize for the top woman attracting Humpy Koneru and many more of the worlds best female players.

Links:official website, chess24:Masters,Challengers A,B,Amateur A,B| Reports:1-6,7-8,9-10

The Moscow Open, comprising a wide range of different tournaments, is one of the years biggest chess events in terms of the numbers involved.

Links:official website, chess24:Open,Women

The 2nd edition of the Cairns Cup is once again an all-women 10-player round-robin modelled on the Sinquefield Cup. The total prize fund has grown to $180,000, with $45,000 for first place. The defending champion is Valentina Gunina, while the top seed will be Ju Wenjun, who recently defended her Women's World Championship title for a 2nd time.

Links:official website,chess24| Reports:1,2,3,4,5,6,7-8,9

The 2nd edition of this new top-level event has Jan-Krzysztof Duda as the top seed, with Nikita Vitiugov, Harikrishna, Vidit, David Navara, David Anton, Nils Grandelius, Sam Shankland, Markus Ragger and Alireza Firouzja completing a field with an average rating over 2700. 16-year-old Alireza was a late replacement for Wei Yi, whose plan to take part was thwarted by the coronavirus.

The Challengers is also a good mix of foreign players and local stars, while this year a Futures tournament will give an additional chance for aspiring youngsters.

Links:official website, chess24:Masters,Challengers,Futures,Open| Reports:1,2-3,4-5,6-7,8,9

The Bunratty Chess Festival is as much a social event as a chess tournament, though the 6-round weekend open always features some top players. At the time of writing Nigel Short is the top seed.

Links:official website,chess24

The top section of the Aeroflot Open, now in its 18th edition, is one of the most formidable events in top level chess, with a 2550+ rating required for most players. The winner of the 9-round event qualifies for the traditional supertournament in Dortmund later in the year.

Links:official website,chess24|Report

The Noteboom Tournament celebrates its 80th edition by not only having three 6-round Opens but a 4- player rapid double round-robin featuring the 12th World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov,Jan Timman, Robert Hbner and Predrag Nikolic.

Links:official website, chess24:Old Masters,Open

This 12-player round-robin is the 3rd of four Women's Grand Prix events that will determine two places in the 2021 Women's Candidates Tournament. The series consists of 16 players who compete in 3 of the 4 events. The top prize is 15,000 euros, with another 20,000 euros for the overall winner of the series.

Links:official website,chess24

A 9-round team competition for 4-player teams organised in 50+ and 65+ age groups and open and womens categories. There are no limits to the number of teams that can play for a federation.

Links:official website, chess24:Over 50,Over 65

The German Chess League (Schachbundesliga) is a 16-team all-play-all event that features some of the world's best players, including Fabiano Caruana and Vishy Anand. For six weekends teams are split in venues across Germany before coming together for a final 3-day May Day weekend in Berlin.

Links:official website,chess24

Once again, we'll be updating this calendar as more details of the chess year are announced. If you have a tip please let us know in the comments below.

See the rest here:

2020 Chess Calendar | chess24.com