10.10.26

Chess digest, Oct. 7–10: Saint Louis opens, Esipenko 1½ clear, Duda one game short of 11/11 | Chess World Digest

Chess digest, Oct. 7–10: Saint Louis opens, Esipenko 1½ clear, Duda one game short of 11/11

Three wins on the opening day in Saint Louis, Esipenko 1½ points clear in Rostov-on-Don as Bodnaruk takes the women's lead, Duda a rook slip short of a perfect online tournament, and a 14-year-old leading at Fagernes.

View the full story on Neodrop →

Coverage window: after 10:45 Sofia time on October 7 through 10:45 on October 10, 2026.

The U.S. and U.S. Women's Championships opened in Saint Louis, both Russian championships entered their closing rounds with one clear leader apiece, and Jan-Krzysztof Duda came within a rook slip of a perfect online tournament. A 14-year-old still leads a grandmaster Swiss in Norway, and a 49-year-old club player has agreed to play 100 bullet games against a grandmaster.

Saint Louis opens with three wins in the open event

The 2026 U.S. Championship and U.S. Women's Championship are two 12-player round robins at the Saint Louis Chess Club, played over 11 classical rounds from October 9, with rest days on October 13 and 18 and a playoff on October 22 if a title is shared. Each player gets 90 minutes for the first 40 moves and 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with 30 seconds added from the first move, and rounds begin at 12 p.m. Central. 1

Round one, on October 9, decided three of the six open games and four of the six in the women's event.

Open: Wesley So beat Sam Shankland, Jeffery Xiong beat Sam Sevian and Awonder Liang beat Hans Niemann, while Levon Aronian drew with Fabiano Caruana, Grigoriy Oparin with Andy Woodward and Abhimanyu Mishra with Ray Robson. 2
Women: Thalia Cervantes beat Tatev Abrahamyan, Anna Zatonskih beat Rose Atwell, Megan Paragua beat Anna Sargsyan and Rachael Li beat Irina Krush, while Carissa Yip drew with Alice Lee and Jennifer Yu drew with Nazi Paikidze. 2

Caruana's title defence began with a 17-move draw: he and Aronian repeated moves and split the point after Black's 12...Qh3. 3

Caruana has five U.S. titles, four of them consecutive from 2022 to 2025. A fifth in a row would equal Samuel Reshevsky's run from 1936 to 1942, and a sixth title overall would draw Caruana level with Walter Browne; only Bobby Fischer and Reshevsky, with eight each, have won the championship more often. He won his first title in 2016, ten months after FIDE approved his return to the U.S. federation from Italy, where he had won the Italian championship in 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011. 4

Carissa Yip, a four-time U.S. women's champion, leads the women's field, and Krush, an eight-time champion, lost her opening game to Li. 5

Esipenko 1½ clear in Rostov-on-Don as Bodnaruk takes the lead

The 79th Russian Championship and the 76th Russian women's championship are two 12-player round robins at the Grand Rostov Hyatt Regency in Rostov-on-Don, running 11 rounds from October 1 to 12. Rounds seven and eight were played on October 8 and 9. 6

Andrey Esipenko, the highest-rated player in the open field at 2680, won in round seven by beating Vadim Zvjaginsev, who resigned on move 34 after his speculative sacrifice failed. 6 Esipenko drew with Aleksey Grebnev in round eight, and the day's only win was Ernesto Inarkiev's first of the tournament, with the black pieces against Ivan Popov. 7

Pos	Player	Rating	Score
1	Andrey Esipenko	2680	6
2–3	Evgeniy Najer	2580	4½
2–3	David Paravyan	2587	4½
4–9	Aleksey Grebnev	2614	4
4–9	Savva Vetokhin	2555	4
4–9	Aleksey Goganov	2507	4
4–9	Arseniy Nesterov	2590	4
4–9	Dmitry Kokarev	2510	4
4–9	Pavel Ponkratov	2540	4
10	Ivan Popov	2595	3½
11	Ernesto Inarkiev	2637	3
12	Vadim Zvjaginsev	2522	2½

In the women's event, Leya Garifullina led alone on 6/7 after beating Margarita Potapova, then lost to Anastasia Bodnaruk with the black pieces in round eight, which put Bodnaruk half a point ahead. Ekaterina Goltseva beat Potapova in a 102-move game, the longest of the round, and Daria Charochkina beat Galina Mikheeva with black. 7

Pos	Player	Rating	Score
1	Anastasia Bodnaruk	2354	6½
2	Leya Garifullina	2418	6
3	Ekaterina Goltseva	2337	5½
4–5	Ekaterina Kovalevskaya	2293	5
4–5	Anna Shukhman	2434	5
6	Olga Girya	2380	4
7	Marina Korneva	2265	3½
8–9	Maria Pershina	2303	3
8–9	Daria Charochkina	2308	3
10	Margarita Potapova	2225	2½
11–12	Galina Mikheeva	2177	2
11–12	Valentina Gunina	2332	2

Both events are all-play-all, so each pair of players meets once, and a tie for first goes to a playoff. The prize fund is 11 million rubles, 7 million of it for the open event and 4 million for the women's, and each champion also receives a LADA car; the top five in the open event qualify for the 2027 FIDE World Cup and the top three women for the 2027 Women's World Cup. Rounds nine to eleven run from October 10 to 12, with the last round starting at 1 p.m. Moscow time. 6

Two players seated at a board in a hotel hall with a man in a suit standing between them

The ceremonial first move before round eight in Rostov-on-Don, made by Konstantin Bugrim of Sberbank's Rostov branch, with Leya Garifullina and Anastasia Bodnaruk at the board. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili and Vladimir Barsky, via the Chess Federation of Russia.

Duda misses 11/11 by a rook slip

3 0 Thursday on October 8 was three 11-round Swiss tournaments at 3+0 for titled players, with a combined prize fund of $3,000. 8

Jan-Krzysztof Duda won the first tournament with 10/11 from a field of 215, after winning his first eight games, four of them against grandmasters. He lost to Sina Movahed in round nine when a rook mouse slip under time pressure cost him the game, then won his last two to finish a point clear of the chase. Movahed took second on nine points, ahead of Denis Lazavik on tiebreak, and Polina Shuvalova was the best woman on 6½, half a point more than Tan Zhongyi, which ended Tan's run of three straight women's prizes. 8

Oleksandr Bortnyk won the second tournament. IM Aleksandr Usov, 16, led by half a point going into the last round and lost to Bortnyk, who found 19.Ne6!! in a Scandinavian Defence to win a pawn; Usov had beaten Benjamin Bok, Alexander Rustemov, Shant Sargsyan and Parham Maghsoodloo on the way. Movahed finished third ahead of Maksim Chigaev on tiebreak, and WIM Melika Mohammadi was the best woman. 8

Tuan Minh Le won the third tournament with 8½/9, a full point clear, after beating Renato Terry in round seven with a discovered check that won nine points of material. Le lost to Bortnyk in round ten and still finished a point ahead. Mahdavi ended second, with Yoseph Taher, Terry and Bortnyk behind him separated only by tiebreak, and Tan Zhongyi finished 19th on 6/11 to reclaim the best women's prize. 8

A chess player in a white shirt with a Polish crest on the sleeve, hand raised to his ear

Jan-Krzysztof Duda, the world No. 13, took the first of October 8's three 3 0 Thursday tournaments. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com, via Chess.com.

A 14-year-old holds the lead at Fagernes

Christian Gloeckler, a 14-year-old German IM, leads the GM Swiss at the Fagernes International Autumn in Norway with 6/7 after beating Austria's Lukas Dotzer in round seven. 9

Gloeckler has held at least a share of the lead since the opening rounds. On the tournament's single double-round day he drew with Rinat Jumabayev in 84 moves and beat Frode Olav Olsen Urkedal, then drew with the top seed Elham Amar in round six. Jumabayev is second on 5½ after beating Amar in round seven, and the two leaders have already drawn with each other. 9

The tournament runs from October 3 to 11 at the Scandic Valdres hotel, 187 kilometres north of Oslo, and spreads ten rounds over nine days partly so players can chase title norms. Gloeckler is chasing another grandmaster norm after scoring 8/9 with a 2688 performance at the Biel Chess Festival earlier this year, and Sarbartho Mani of India, aged 10, has 4/7. 9

Two players at a board in a chandelier-lit hotel hall, name plates on the table in front of them

Rinat Jumabayev, left, against top seed Elham Amar in round seven at the Scandic Valdres; the name plates give their ratings as 2564 and 2567. Jumabayev won to move into clear second. Photo: Anniken Vestby, via ChessBase.

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A 100-game bullet match with a one-sided payout. Josh Smith, a 49-year-old Arizona businessman with a US Chess rating in the 1800s, will play GM Daniil Dubov 100 games of one-minute bullet on November 7. Dubov is guaranteed $10,000 and collects another $10,000 only by winning all 100 games, so a single draw or win for Smith halves the total; Smith set a bullet rating peak of 2579 on Chess.com on October 6. Dubov called Smith "a massive favorite" not to lose every game, and said of a whitewash: "It takes a lot of talent to lose 100 games in a row." 10
FIDE's new president met Kazakhstan's president. Timur Turlov, elected FIDE president on September 26 and also president of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation, was received by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on October 8. Their talks covered chess in education, coach and arbiter training, youth development and hosting major events; Tokayev said more than 278,000 people in Kazakhstan play chess, and cited the women's team's silver medal at the Samarkand Olympiad. 11
The Bundesliga starts its season. The 2026/27 Chess Bundesliga opens this weekend, with last season's champions SC Viernheim and OSG Baden-Baden the favourites and SV Erkenschwick 1923 making their debut in the top division. 12
Kennemer Combinatie took the Dutch league's top match. In the second round of the Dutch League, Kennemer Combinatie beat LSG 7–3, and Zsoka Gaal won her first game in the league against the Dutch national coach Jan Smeets. 13

What to watch next

Date (Europe/Sofia)	Event and location	Checkpoint
October 10–12	Russian Championship Superfinals, Rostov-on-Don	Rounds 9–11 settle both titles on October 12, when the last round starts at 1 p.m. Moscow time; a tie for first goes to a playoff, and the LADA cars and the 2027 World Cup places go with the titles. 6
October 10–21	U.S. and U.S. Women's Championships, Saint Louis Chess Club	Rounds 2–11, with rest days on October 13 and 18 and a playoff on October 22 if a title is shared; more than $400,000 is on offer across the two events. 1
October 11	Fagernes International Autumn, Fagernes, Norway	The tenth and final round decides the GM Swiss, with 14-year-old Christian Gloeckler leading on 6/7. 9
October 11	75th Greek Championship and 48th women's championship, Psara	Both events finish after nine rounds on the Aegean island. 14
October 16–24	European Club Cup, Budva, Montenegro	The 41st open and 30th women's club cups, seven-round Swiss events with a €40,000 prize fund. 15
November 7	The 100-0 Project: Daniil Dubov vs Josh Smith, online	100 games of one-minute bullet; Dubov is guaranteed $10,000 and needs all 100 wins to double it. 10
November 10–20	Total Chess World Championship Tour pilot, Budapest	A 24-player field led by Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, in four groups of six, with Fast Classic games and a blitz Swiss setting the tiebreaks for the knockouts. 16
November 22–December 13	Salesforce FIDE World Championship match, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cologny, Geneva	Gukesh Dommaraju defends the title against Javokhir Sindarov over a maximum of 14 games, with the opening ceremony on November 22 and the first game on November 24. 17

References

1ChessBase: US Championships – Live!

2Saint Louis Chess Club: 2026 U.S. Chess Championships

3Saint Louis Chess Club: Levon Aronian vs. Fabiano Caruana, 2026 U.S. Chess Championship round 1

4ChessBase: Fabiano Caruana targets fifth consecutive US title

5ChessBase: Knight to October 8 — Saint Louis to host America's chess elite

6Russian Chess Federation: Andrey Esipenko Extends Lead in Superfinal

7Russian Chess Federation: Anastasia Bodnaruk Grabs Lead in Russian Women's Superfinal

8Chess.com: Duda Scores 10/11, Narrowly Misses First Perfect Score

9ChessBase: Fagernes: Gloeckler holds outright lead with three rounds to go

10Chess.com: Dubov Accepts $20,000 100-Game Challenge From 'Bullet Grandpa'

11ChessBase: President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev receives FIDE President Timur Turlov

12ChessBase: The 2026/27 season of the Bundesliga kicks off this weekend

13ChessBase: Game of the Week #743: Gaal vs Smeets

14The Week in Chess 1665\

15European Chess Club Cup 2026: Budva, October 16–24\

16Chess.com: Aronian, Le, Mamedyarov Complete 24-Player Total Chess Pilot Field\

17ChessBase: Salesforce FIDE World Championship Match 2026\

7.10.26

Chess digest, Oct. 3–7: Nakamura reaches 3500, Russia's titles at halfway, FIDE approves a Chess960 rating | Chess World Digest

Chess digest, Oct. 3–7: Nakamura reaches 3500, Russia's titles at halfway, FIDE approves a Chess960 rating — Neodrop

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Chess digest, Oct. 3–7: Nakamura reaches 3500, Russia's titles at halfway, FIDE approves a Chess960 rating

The first 3500 rating in Chess.com's blitz pool, both Russian national championships at their halfway point in Rostov-on-Don, and the FIDE General Assembly's decisions on Chess960 and the 2030 Olympiad.

View the full story on Neodrop →

Coverage window: after 10:45 Sofia time on October 3 through 10:45 on October 7, 2026.

The Olympiad is a week behind us, and this window has the ordinary rhythm of the chess year again. Hikaru Nakamura put the first 3500 rating into Chess.com's blitz pool, Russia's two national championships reached their rest day with both titles open, FIDE published what its assembly in Samarkand decided, and a school from Minsk took a European title.

Nakamura becomes the first 3500 on Chess.com

Hikaru Nakamura reached 3500 in Chess.com's blitz rating on October 5, the first time anyone has done so, and pushed the record to 3503 during Titled Tuesday on October 6 while streaming from Sithonia, Greece. 1 That number is the site's own blitz rating, built from games played on Chess.com, and it is a different measure from the FIDE list. 1

Nakamura arrived at exactly 3500 before the tournament and made no promise to stay there. "Unless I'm only going to skip [Titled Tuesday and 3 0 Thursday] every week, there's no way even to keep my rating where it is," he told Chess.com, calling the mark "very much a one-time thing". Asked during the stream where the ceiling might be, he put it around 3550. 1

The tournament itself went to Vladislav Artemiev, who beat Nakamura in the final round and finished on 9½/11. Alexander Grischuk and Alexey Sarana also scored 9½ and took second and third on tiebreak; Nakamura, half a point off the lead with one round to play, finished ninth on 8½. 1 It was Artemiev's first Titled Tuesday title since he won three of four between February 16 and March 9 in 2021, and worth $2,500. Nobody managed a perfect 11/11, so the $4,500 bounty rolls over to $5,000 next week. 1

Hikaru Nakamura smiling in headphones during a broadcast

Nakamura during Bullet Brawl on October 3, 2026. That win was his 69th in the event's history; the next player on the all-time list, Daniel Naroditsky, has 32. Photo: GMHikaru/Kick, via Chess.com.

Three days before the milestone, Nakamura had won Bullet Brawl for the fourth week in a row, and with it the record for the most wins of the event in a single calendar year: 20 in 2026, with three months to spare. 2 He finished on 155 points, 15 clear of Jose Martinez on 140, with Tuan Minh Le third on 137, and took the $400 first prize. "I think I've won 20 of 21 Bullet Brawls that I've played this year," he said, "even though today was easily the worst Bullet Brawl I've had in a very long time, I still get the win." 2

Esipenko leads the Russian Superfinals; two women share first

The 79th Russian Championship and the 76th Russian women's championship are being played as two 12-player, 11-round round robins at the Grand Rostov Hyatt Regency in Rostov-on-Don, from October 1 to 12. 3 The prize fund is 11 million rubles, 7 million of it for the open event and 4 million for the women's, and each champion also receives a LADA car from AvtoVAZ. The top five in the open event qualify for the 2027 FIDE World Cup, and the top three women for the 2027 Women's World Cup. 3

Andrey Esipenko, the highest-rated player in the field at 2680, leads the open event alone on 4½/6 after drawing with Aleksey Goganov in Tuesday's sixth round. 4 Four players sit half a point behind him, among them Pavel Ponkratov, ninth of the twelve on rating at 2540. The reigning champion, Arseniy Nesterov, won his first game of the tournament in round six by beating Ernesto Inarkiev, who is last on 1½. 4

Pos	Player	Rating	Score
1	Andrey Esipenko	2680	4½
2–5	Savva Vetokhin	2555	3½
2–5	David Paravyan	2587	3½
2–5	Arseniy Nesterov	2590	3½
2–5	Pavel Ponkratov	2540	3½
6–8	Evgeniy Najer	2580	3
6–8	Aleksey Goganov	2507	3
6–8	Dmitry Kokarev	2510	3
9–10	Aleksey Grebnev	2614	2½
9–10	Ivan Popov	2595	2½
11	Vadim Zvjaginsev	2522	2
12	Ernesto Inarkiev	2637	1½

In the women's event, Leya Garifullina caught the leader on Tuesday by beating Maria Pershina with the black pieces, while Anastasia Bodnaruk drew with Ekaterina Kovalevskaya. Both stand on 5/6, a point clear of Ekaterina Goltseva, who has won three in a row. 4 Anna Shukhman, the highest-rated player in the women's field at 2434, is on 3½, and Valentina Gunina is last on 1½. 4

Pos	Player	Rating	Score
1–2	Leya Garifullina	2418	5
1–2	Anastasia Bodnaruk	2354	5
3	Ekaterina Goltseva	2337	4
4–6	Ekaterina Kovalevskaya	2293	3½
4–6	Olga Girya	2380	3½
4–6	Anna Shukhman	2434	3½
7	Margarita Potapova	2225	2½
8–10	Maria Pershina	2303	2
8–10	Galina Mikheeva	2177	2
8–10	Marina Korneva	2265	2
11–12	Daria Charochkina	2308	1½
11–12	Valentina Gunina	2332	1½

The standings above are after round six, played on October 6. October 7 is a rest day, and rounds seven to eleven run from October 8 to 12. Both events are all-play-all, so each pair of players meets once, and a tie for first place goes to an extra playoff rather than a tiebreak. Rounds start at 3 p.m. Moscow time, except the eleventh, on October 12, which starts at 1 p.m. 4 3

A player resting his chin on his hand at a chessboard, with his opponent's back in the foreground

Play in the open event at the Russian Championship Superfinals in Rostov-on-Don. The federation publishes its own tournament photography. Photo: Russian Chess Federation, via Russian Chess Federation.

FIDE's assembly sets a Chess960 rating and puts Qatar first for 2030

FIDE published the main decisions of its General Assembly on October 4, a week after the Congress in Samarkand. 5

Delegates approved a FIDE rating system for Chess960, the variant also called Fischer Random, in which the pieces on the back rank are shuffled before each game. Germany, Iceland, Norway, Ireland and the Faroe Islands proposed it together, arguing that the variant has grown internationally while the lack of an official rating has kept it out of the wider competitive structure. The system has to be worked out and in place no later than June 1, 2027. 5

The assembly also approved an amendment to the FIDE Charter giving the federation a bilingual institutional name. Wherever FIDE displays its full name together with its acronym, seal or emblem, it will read International Chess Federation / Fédération Internationale des Échecs. The amendment concerns the institutional identity and how it is presented; English stays the official and working language. 5

For the 2030 Olympiad, the assembly noted that both the Qatar Chess Association and the Georgia Chess Federation are ready to host, along with the 2030 Olympiad for people with disabilities and the 2030 Congress, and instructed the FIDE Management Board to negotiate with Qatar first. If the organisational and financial guarantees do not arrive and no contract is signed within a reasonable time, the right to sign passes to Georgia. 5

A further Extraordinary General Assembly will meet online late in 2026 to consider FIDE's budget for 2027 and provisional figures for 2028. 5

The assembly also filled in the rest of the slate around President Timur Turlov and Deputy President Viswanathan Anand, both elected at the Congress: Luigi Maggi as treasurer, Bouchra Kadiri as vice-president and secretary of the FIDE Council, and Mahir Mammedov, Carol S. Williams Pesqueira and Mykhailo Podolyak as the president's nominated vice-presidents. Four honorary vice-presidents — Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Javier Ochoa de Echaguen, Fouad Fahmi Darwish and Michael Stoettinger — go to the FIDE Council for approval, and Francois Strydom was elected to the Constitutional Commission. 5

Delegates seated at tables in a large congress hall beneath a Samarkand 2026 backdrop and a FIDE General Assembly screen

The FIDE General Assembly in Samarkand, where delegates approved a Chess960 rating system and named Qatar the first choice to host the 2030 Olympiad. Photo: FIDE, via ChessBase.

Minsk's Gymnasium No. 50 wins the European schools title

The European stage of the FIDE ISCF World Schools Team Championship ended in Tsaghkadzor, Armenia, on October 3, after four days and eight rounds, with 27 school teams entered. 6

Gymnasium No. 50 of Minsk won and never lost a match. The Belarusian school opened with two 4–0 wins and turned away every challenger, led by Damir Bulgak on board one and Katrina Yakovleva on board four. 6 Riga State Gymnasium No. 1, the top seed by average rating, lost only to the champions and took second, with Daniel Beniosev unbeaten on board two. 6 LEPL Georgia, Kutaisi Andria Razmadze Physico-Mathematical Public School finished third, ahead of the host team from Yerevan. 6

The champions qualify for the Grand Final in December. 6 Bulgak also supplied the move of the final day. In his game against Matej Viglas, White played 26.Nd2?? and walked into 26…Nxf2!, after which taking the knight runs into 27.Kxf2 Qxh2+ 28.Kf1 Re6! and a forced mate, while declining it leaves White lost. 6

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The Gligoric Trophy went to two players who gave something up. Sebastian Poltorak of Poland agreed to a draw with Aleksandar Inđjić at the 2025 European Club Cup after his opponent had to leave the playing hall for medical reasons, and GM Tin Jingyao of Singapore let his opponent play on in the sixth round of the 2025 Almaty Region Open instead of claiming a win by forfeit when that opponent arrived late because of traffic. The commission called both cases exemplary fair play; the award covers September 2024 to September 2026. 7
Awonder Liang did not drop a game at the Seirawan Chess Championship. The 23-year-old American won all 12 of his games across three matches, each by 3–0, to take the title for the second time after 2024 and a $750 first prize. 8 Jakub Chyzy, 20, of Poland lost to Liang in both the winners' final and the grand final and finished second for $500. 8 In Seirawan chess each side gets two extra pieces, a hawk that moves as bishop and knight and an elephant that moves as rook and knight, both brought onto the board during the game. 8 Crazyhouse and Fog of War are the last two Community Championships of 2026. 8
Six players share the lead at Fagernes. Two rounds into the GM Swiss at the Scandic Valdres hotel in Norway, Tiger Hillarp Persson, Aksel Bu Kvaløy, Christian Gloeckler, Harika Dronavalli, Frode Olav Olsen Urkedal and Mads Vestby-Ellingsen are all on 2/2. The ten-round tournament runs to October 11. 9
Moussard took both titles in London. Jules Moussard won the Pall Mall Super Rapid with 7½/10, a point clear of Gawain Maroroa Jones on 6½, and the Super Blitz with 7/10, a point ahead of Benjamin Bok on 6. Praveen Balakrishnan won both Challenge events, the rapid on tiebreak from Ameet Ghasi after both scored 6/9 and the blitz with 6/9, half a point clear of Marcus Harvey. 10
Greece's championships opened on Psara Island. The 75th Greek Championship and the 48th women's championship began on the Aegean island on October 4, nine rounds each to October 11. After two rounds Ioannis Nikolaidis led the open event on 2/2. 10

What to watch next

Date (Europe/Sofia)	Event and location	Checkpoint
October 8–23	U.S. and U.S. Women's Championships, Saint Louis Chess Club	Two 12-player round robins and 11 classical rounds from October 9, with more than $400,000 in prizes; Fabiano Caruana defends the open title, Carissa Yip the women's, and games stream daily from 12:20 p.m. Central. 11
October 8–12	Russian Championship Superfinals, Rostov-on-Don	Rounds 7–11 settle both titles, the World Cup places and the LADA cars, with the final round on October 12. 4
October 16–24	European Club Cup, Budva, Montenegro	The 41st open and 30th women's club cups, seven-round Swiss events at 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes with a 30-second increment, and a €40,000 prize fund. 12
October 24–November 1	Sahel Chess Festival, Monastir, Tunisia	Around 300 players are expected at the Hotel El Habib, with Titas Stremavicius, Pavel Ponkratov, Friso Nijboer, Mihail Marin and Amir Zaibi already entered. 13
November 2–15	World Senior Chess Championships, Vrnjačka Banja, Serbia	Four world titles over 11 rounds of classical chess, in the Open and Women's 50+ and 65+ sections, with a €50,000 prize fund. 14
November 10–20	Total Chess World Championship Tour pilot, Budapest	A 24-player field led by Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, in four groups of six, with Fast Classic games and a blitz Swiss setting the tiebreaks for the knockout stages. 15
November 22–December 13	Salesforce FIDE World Championship match, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cologny, Geneva	Gukesh Dommaraju defends his title against Javokhir Sindarov over a maximum of 14 games, with the opening ceremony on November 22 and the first game on November 24. 16
November 24–December 6	XTX Markets London Chess Classic, London	A ten-player Masters with the field still to be announced; Nodirbek Abdusattorov won last year's edition. 17