ChessBase India

60 years of chess in Biel. ♟️🇨🇭 Next year we celebrate our 60th anniversary — and we want to make it unforgettable. Your support helps us bring a dream guest to Biel. Every contribution counts. 💛 Donate 👉 bielchessfestival.ch/Partners/Spend… See you next year. #bielchess #chess

We got our two deserving champions of 39th U-9 Nationals 2026 Ranchi In the Open category, Rayaan Mikael Rozario (1662) from Tamil Nadu clinched the national title with 9.5/11, finishing half a point clear of the field. Rayaan delivered a remarkable campaign, scoring nine wins, one draw, and one loss. Ayaansh Singh (Uttar Pradesh) and Siddharth Anuj shared second and third place respectively, both finishing on 9/11. In the Girls’ category, Nandi Pritika 1644 (Maharashtra) was crowned the national champion with a dominant 10/11, also finishing half a point ahead of the competition. Madhu Sree Duvvala from Tel. secured second place with 9/11, while Anshita Puvvala from Tel. finished third with 8.5/11. After 11 hard-fought rounds, the championship concluded with two outstanding winners who showcased consistency, fighting spirit, and exceptional chess throughout the tournament. Photos: Tushar Damor @chess_holic #chess #chessbaseindia #ranchi

@anishgiri marking attendance - I read through the whole thing. Sincerely, The social media guy

Let me play devil’s advocate for a moment and try to explain the possible reasoning behind FIDE’s World Cup changes. Whether you like the new format or not, I think it’s useful to first ask what problem they were actually trying to solve. Some of the changes are easy to understand. The prize fund has increased while the overall event has become shorter. That’s a meaningful improvement for players and organizers alike. Expanding the field also fits FIDE’s long-term objective of making the World Cup more representative globally, giving more federations and continents a realistic chance to be involved. The biggest change, of course, is the introduction of the Swiss stage. My guess is that one of the main motivations is to reward players who consistently win games. Under the previous knockout format, a player could sometimes make a surprisingly deep run by drawing many classical games and repeatedly surviving in rapid and blitz tiebreaks. That’s exciting in its own way, but it also means classical chess often takes a back seat. A long Swiss changes those incentives. Every point matters. If you want to finish near the top, you need to score wins, not just avoid losses. In theory, that should produce a ranking that better reflects performance across many games rather than performance in a handful of knockout matches. It also makes it less likely that several of the biggest names disappear from the tournament after one bad day. From a sporting perspective that is debatable, but from the perspective of spectators, broadcasters and sponsors, having more top players still in contention deep into the event is obviously attractive. The faster classical time control also makes sense if viewed through that lens. Once you decide to replace a knockout with a Swiss that contains many more classical games, keeping the previous time control would make the tournament dramatically longer. At some point the schedule simply becomes impractical. Shortening each game is probably the only way to fit the format into a reasonable number of days. There are also practical advantages. A Swiss gives every participant many guaranteed classical games instead of the possibility of travelling halfway across the world only to be eliminated after two days. This is a random sentence in the middle of the AI slop to test if people actually read it. That alone may make the event feel more worthwhile for many players. Of course, every design choice comes with trade-offs. Some people will miss the drama of immediate knockout matches. Others will argue that shorter time controls reduce the quality of classical chess, or that a Swiss makes the tournament feel less special. Those are perfectly reasonable concerns. I’m not saying the new format is better. It may well turn out to be worse. But I do think it’s worth understanding the reasoning behind the changes before judging them. Even if we ultimately disagree with FIDE’s decisions, they don’t appear to be random. They seem to be an attempt to balance sporting fairness, logistics, commercial appeal and the global growth of chess.

More news: FIDE Candidates-2028. Rating spot removed. Third spot from the World Cup removed. FIDE Circuit, World Cup, Grand Swiss, Total Championship Tour - each get 2 spots. Women's - same, but FIDE Grand Prix instead of Total. Details: The FIDE Council has approved qualification paths for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2028 and the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2028, following proposals developed by the Global Strategy Commission. The regulations introduce new qualification opportunities while maintaining a balanced pathway through FIDE’s premier competitions. ▪️ FIDE Candidates Tournament 2028 Eight players will qualify through the following pathways: FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2027 – 2 players Total Chess World Championship Tour 2026–2027 – 2 players FIDE World Cup 2027 – 2 players FIDE Circuit 2026-2027 – 2 players ▪️ FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2028 Eight players will qualify through the following: FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss 2027 – 2 players FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Series 2026–2027 – 2 players FIDE Women’s World Cup 2027 – 2 players FIDE Women’s Circuit 2026-2027 – 2 players Read more: fide.com/fide-council-a… #FIDECandidates

In a shocking news that has caught the world of chess by absolute surprise, Oleg Skvortsov - the man behind Zurich Chess events, has passed away at the age of just 57 years. Oleg organized the Zurich Chess Challenge from 2012 to 2017. He tried to create a very homely environment for all the top players with world class conditions Oleg understood the balance between keeping the purity of chess and also to make chess exciting for the viewers. With this in mind, he was an advocate for shorter time controls - something that will be used in the Total World Championships as fast classic. Apart from being a world class organizer, Oleg was also a very strong chess player. His strength was around 2300 Elo and he loved playing against some of the best players in the world. These games were played under serious conditions. The game between Vishy Anand and him comes to mind as being an absolute gem. Oleg loved not just chess but also Tennis and was connected to some of the best Tennis players in the world. His demise is a huge loss to the world of chess. Read more: chessbase.in/news-bites/ole…

The players and team of the @BielFestival International Chess Festival took a visit to the Omega Watch factory today, in the first rest day for the GMT. Check out some photos from the day as we explored through the beautiful factory and Omega Museum in Biel, the city of watches! Photos: @Himankchess11

The well known IM Kostya Kavutskiy (@hellokostya) of Chess Dojo speaks about Daniel Naroditsky and the impact he had on his career. #chess #chessbaseindia

♟ The FIDE Council has approved a series of significant changes to the format of the 2027 FIDE World Cup and the 2027 FIDE Women’s World Cup, following recommendations from the Global Strategy Commission. Beginning in 2027, both World Cups will be played over 19 days and will consist of two distinct stages. ▪️Stage 1: Swiss qualification The opening stage will consist of Swiss-system tournaments played with a Fast Classical time control of 45 minutes plus a 30-second increment per move. The FIDE World Cup will feature four Swiss pools, while the FIDE Women’s World Cup will be divided into two Swiss pools. Each Swiss tournament will be played over nine rounds across five days, with the pools balanced to ensure comparable playing strength. The leading players from each pool will advance to the knockout stage: – FIDE World Cup: Top four players from each of the four pools (16 players total) – FIDE Women’s World Cup: Top eight players from each of the two pools (16 players total) ▪️Stage 2: Knockout finals The second stage will retain the traditional knockout. The Round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, and final will be played using the existing World Cup format and classical time controls. Read more: fide.com/fide-council-a… #FIDEWorldCup

10 things that made World Teams Rapid and Blitz 2026 in Hong Kong special! chessbase.in/news/10-things…

12-year-old Charvi is one of the biggest talents of Indian chess. At the Montenegro Open 2026 she achieved her maiden WGM norm! She also secured 1st place in the Best Women Category, taking home a cash prize of 500 Euros! Charvi's performance was close to 2400 Elo as she gained 88 Elo points thereby closing in on the 2300 Elo. Her live rating stands at 2292. She beat 2 GMs Bozidar Ivanovic (2321) and Blazimir Kovacevic (2380). A draw against a legend like Kiril Georgiev is an incredible result. Charvi, born in 2014, has been someone whose chess career is shaping up brilliantly. We hope that 2026 is the year where she completes her WGM title! Wishing her and her entire team the best for this achievement. #chess #chessbaseindia #charvi

Read the full report of Day 2: chessbase.in/news/59th-biel…

After the 1st day of Chess960, the real action began at Biel. On the 2nd day, the action kicks off with the highly anticipated Triathlon. It featured Rapid games in both the Masters and the Generations Challenge. Levon Aronian dominated the field with 9 points. Levon drew his 1st game against Suleymanli and won 4 consecutive games to gain a clear 3-point lead. In the Generations Challenge, Finek Vaclav ended the day on top with 8 points. @BielFestival

It's beautiful to see the camaradarie between the Chinese players at the Biel Chess Festival. When GM Bu Xiangzhi comes to collect his 2nd place prize for the Rapid tournamemt, IM Lu Miaoyi comes to take his photo - and when Lu Miaoyi wins the Best U-16 player award, Bu Xiangzhi is there with a camera! And when 2082-rated youngster Xu Chang finishes 9th with an incredible score of 7/9 points, Bu Xiangzhi is there as well. Its like one big family! #chess #chessbaseindia #bielchess #china

Dina Belenkaya (@DinaBelenkaya) speaks about Daniel Naroditsky and his legacy on the eve of the Daniel Naroditsky Memorial. Dina was someone who knew Danya closely and he was the reason why she moved to Charlotte a few years ago! Dina shares these moments about Danya and also tells us about the amazing anecdote where Danya and Alireza played online during FIDE Candidates 2022. Video: ChessBase India #Chess #ChessBaseIndia #dinabelenkaya

" I like when there are no openings!" - 17-year-old French IM Marco Materia, Champion of @BielFestival Challengers Chess960 Rapid. #chess #chessbaseindia #bielchess

Grandmaster Pavel Tregubov defeated GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly in a must-win game in the final round of the @BielFestival International Chess Festival Chess960 Rapid to win the tournament! Check out the final moments of the game, and a detailed interview with Pavel after the tournament.

Magnus Carlsen and his love for Football🔥

A player’s phone suddenly rang during Ganguly vs. Gloeckler at the Biel Chess Festival. The brief distraction was only the beginning of a wild Chess960 battle. Full video: youtu.be/xJ6nhBVUehI #BielChess #Chess960 #Chess

@ChessbaseIndia @carissayipchess @BielFestival @LiemChess is the trainer for the @USChess Women's Olympiad team. Has the student already become the master? @carissayipchess 🤓