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What happened in 2023 in Chess? Take a look at the biggest men and women tournaments. Who is the ultimate winner and GOAT ("Greatest of all time" for those who still wonder why people are talking about goats). Opening Master also performed very well on education arena, a major breakthrough agreement with FIDE Education commission was reached and more...

Today is December 30, 2023 and we are concluding what happened in chess this year. Curious? Take a look

Main Chess events in 2023

The main events in the 2023 chess calendar are the World Chess Championship 2023 and Women's World Chess Championship 2023. The top three finishers from the Chess World Cup 2023, the winner and runner-up of the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2023 and the winner of the FIDE Circuit 2023 will qualify for the Candidates Tournament 2024. FIDE Circuit is the new path to qualify for the Candidates Tournament. One player who would achieve the highest results during 2023 in eligible tournaments gets the spot in the Candidates. The final score is calculated as the sum of the player’s five highest scores.

Opening Master and FIDE Chess Education

Before we jump to the actual results we would like to thank FIDE EDUCATION commission for driving meaningful chess projects around the globe. From children in need, outreach communities, prisons and countless couching/tutoring lessons with new 150 certified teachers who one by one received full access to Opening Master chess databases with unlimited downloads. And more education is coming. Stay tuned. 

 

FIDE OpeningMaster

 

https://edu.fide.com/partnerships/

https://edu.fide.com/initiatives/657f0a0e2aaa732c20ad1e19

 

Magnus the GOAT

Magnus Carlsen Wins 5th Rapid World Championship. GM Magnus Carlsen from Norway secured the world rapid chess crown for a record fifth time along with the $60,000 first prize at the 2023 FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship after scoring 3/4 on the final day. Wins over GMs Vladimir Fedoseev and Pouya Idani pushed Carlsen's score to 10/13, eclipsing Fedoseev (9.5/13) and GM Yu Yangyi (9/13), who finished second and third respectively. 

But is the the current world chess champion? No. Liren Ding. Period. But, yes, Magnus is still the Greatest of all time.

 

Magnus GOAT800

Photo Credit: Chess.com

Chess Year 2023 in Men's Tournaments

TournamentCitySystemDatesPlayers (2700+)WinnerRunner-upThird
Tata Steel Masters Netherlands Wijk aan Zee Round robin 13–29 Jan 14 (11) Netherlands Anish Giri Uzbekistan Nodirbek Abdusattorov Norway Magnus Carlsen
Tata Steel Challengers Netherlands Wijk aan Zee Round robin 13–29 Jan 14 (0) Germany Alexander Donchenko Turkey Mustafa Yılmaz Uzbekistan Javokhir Sindarov
WR Chess Masters Germany Dusseldorf Round robin 15–26 Feb 10 (7)  Levon Aronian India Gukesh D FIDE Ian Nepomniachtchi
European Individual Chess Championship Serbia Vrnjacka Banja Swiss 3–13 Mar 484 (0) FIDE Alexey Sarana Romania Kirill Shevchenko Belgium Daniel Dardha
American Cup United States St. Louis Double-elimination 17–26 Mar 8 (7) United States Hikaru Nakamura United States Wesley So  Levon Aronian
Reykjavik Open Iceland Reykjavik Swiss 29 Mar – 4 Apr 401 (0) Sweden Nils Grandelius Turkey Mustafa Yılmaz India Abhijeet Gupta
World Chess Championship 2023 Kazakhstan Astana Match 9–30 Apr 2 (2) China Ding Liren FIDE Ian Nepomniachtchi
Menorca Open Spain Menorca Swiss 11–16 Apr 200 (2) India Gukesh D India Pranav V Netherlands Jorden van Foreest
TePe Sigeman & Co Sweden Malmö Round robin 4–10 May 8 (3) FIDE Peter Svidler India Gukesh D United States Abhimanyu Mishra
Superbet Chess Classic Romania Bucharest Round robin 6–15 May 10 (10) United States Fabiano Caruana France Alireza Firouzja United States Wesley So
Sharjah Masters United Arab Emirates Sharjah Swiss 17–25 May 78 (8) India Arjun Erigaisi United States Samuel Sevian India Gukesh D
Dubai Open United Arab Emirates Dubai Swiss 27 May – 4 Jun 86 (3) India Aravindh Chithambaram Uzbekistan Javokhir Sindarov India Arjun Erigaisi
Norway Chess Norway Stavanger Round robin 30 May – 9 Jun 10 (9) United States Hikaru Nakamura United States Fabiano Caruana India Gukesh D
Prague Chess Festival Czech Republic Prague Round robin 21–30 Jun 10 (3) United States Ray Robson Romania Bogdan-Daniel Deac India Pentala Harikrishna
No Castling World Masters Germany Dortmund Round robin 26 Jun – 2 Jul 4 (2) United States Fabiano Caruana FIDE Vladimir Kramnik Germany Dmitrij Kollars
Dutch Championship Netherlands Utrecht Single-elimination 2–9 Jul 13 (1) Netherlands Anish Giri Netherlands Jorden van Foreest Netherlands Erwin l'Ami
Netherlands Max Warmerdam
Geza Hetenyi Memorial Hungary Budapest Round robin 11–19 Jul 10 (4) India R Praggnanandhaa Iran Amin Tabatabaei FIDE Sanan Sjugirov
Biel Grandmaster Triathlon Switzerland Biel Round robin 16–26 Jul 8 (4) Vietnam Le Quang Liem Germany Vincent Keymer Czech Republic David Navara
Chess World Cup Azerbaijan Baku Single-elimination 30 Jul – 24 Aug 206 (25) Norway Magnus Carlsen India R Praggnanandhaa United States Fabiano Caruana
Russian Superfinal FIDE Saint Petersburg Round Robin 1–12 Oct 12 (1) FIDE Vladislav Artemiev FIDE Pavel Ponkratov FIDE Maxim Matlakov
US Chess Championship United States Saint Louis Round Robin 5–17 Oct 12 (4) United States Fabiano Caruana United States Wesley So United States Leinier Domínguez
Qatar Masters Qatar Doha Swiss 11–20 Oct 158 (9) Uzbekistan Nodirbek Yakubboev Uzbekistan Nodirbek Abdusattorov United States Hikaru Nakamura
FIDE Grand Swiss Isle of Man Douglas Swiss 25 Oct – 5 Nov 114 (20) India Vidit Santosh Gujrathi United States Hikaru Nakamura FIDE Andrey Esipenko
Sinquefield Cup United States Saint Louis Round Robin 21–30 Nov 9 (9) United States Fabiano Caruana United States Leinier Domínguez United States Wesley So
London Chess Classic England London Round Robin 1–10 Dec 10 (2) England Michael Adams Iran Amin Tabatabaei India Gukesh D

 

Chess year 2023 in Women's tournaments

TournamentCitySystemDatesPlayers (2500+)WinnerRunner-upThird
FIDE Women's Grand Prix Munich Germany Munich Round robin 1–14 Feb 12 (7) Switzerland Alexandra Kosteniuk India Koneru Humpy Georgia (country) Nana Dzagnidze
European Women's Chess Championship Montenegro Petrovac Swiss 18–29 Mar 136 (0) Georgia (country) Meri Arabidze Poland Oliwia Kiołbasa Poland Aleksandra Maltsevskaya
FIDE Women's Grand Prix New Delhi India New Delhi Round robin 24 Mar – 6 Apr 10 (5) FIDE Aleksandra Goryachkina Kazakhstan Bibisara Assaubayeva China Zhu Jiner
Women's Candidates Tournament Final China Chongqing Match 27 Mar – 6 Apr 2 (2) China Lei Tingjie China Tan Zhongyi
FIDE Women's Grand Prix Nicosia Cyprus Nicosia Round robin 15–28 May 12 (6) Germany Dinara Wagner India Harika Dronavalli FIDE Polina Shuvalova
Cairns Cup United States St. Louis Round robin 3–13 Jun 10 (4) United States Anna Zatonskih Switzerland Alexandra Kosteniuk Georgia (country) Bella Khotenashvili
Women's World Chess Championship 2023 China Shanghai & Chongqing Match 5–24 Jul 2 (2) China Ju Wenjun China Lei Tingjie
Women’s Chess World Cup Azerbaijan Baku Single Elimination, Knockout 30 Jul - 21 Aug 103 (10) FIDE Aleksandra Goryachkina Bulgaria Nurgyul Salimova Ukraine Anna Muzychuk
FIDE Women's Grand Swiss Isle of Man Douglas Swiss 25 Oct - 5 Nov 50 (7) India Vaishali Rameshbabu Ukraine Anna Muzychuk China Tan Zhongyi

 

Chess year 2023 in Rapid & Blitz tournaments

TournamentCitySystemDatesPlayers (2700+)WinnerRunner-upThird
Armageddon Asia & Oceania Germany Berlin Double-elimination 3–9 Apr 8 (7) India Gukesh D Uzbekistan Nodirbek Abdusattorov FIDE Vladimir Kramnik
Satty Zhuldyz Rapid & Blitz Kazakhstan Astana Round robin 20–25 Apr 12 (5)  Levon Aronian India Arjun Erigaisi Armenia Haik Martirosyan
Salamanca Chess Festival Spain Salamanca Round robin 26–29 Apr 8 (1) FIDE Kirill Alekseenko Spain Jaime Santos Latasa Ukraine Vasyl Ivanchuk
Bucharest Grand Prix Rapid Romania Bucharest Swiss 29–30 Apr 317 (2) FIDE Maksim Chigaev Romania Bogdan-Daniel Deac India Pentala Harikrishna
Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland Poland Warsaw Round robin 17–24 May 10 (8) Norway Magnus Carlsen  Jan-Krzysztof Duda United States Wesley So
Norway Chess Blitz Norway Stavanger Round robin 29 May 10 (9) Uzbekistan Nodirbek Abdusattorov France Alireza Firouzja Azerbaijan Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Armageddon Europe & Africa Germany Berlin Double-elimination 12–18 Jun 8 (4) Romania Richárd Rapport  Jan-Krzysztof Duda France Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia Croatia Zagreb Round robin 5–9 Jul 10 (8) Norway Magnus Carlsen FIDE Ian Nepomniachtchi France Alireza Firouzja
Tata Steel India Rapid India Kolkata Round robin 5–7 Sep 10 (10) France Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Azerbaijan Teimour Radjabov India R Praggnanandhaa
Tata Steel India Blitz India Kolkata Round robin 8–9 Sep 10 (10) FIDE Alexander Grischuk Uzbekistan Nodirbek Abdusattorov India R Praggnanandhaa
Armageddon Grand Finale Germany Berlin Double-elimination 14–20 Sep 8 (5)  Jan-Krzysztof Duda United States Wesley So Uzbekistan Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Levitov Chess Week Netherlands Amsterdam Round robin 22–26 Sep 10 (8) FIDE Ian Nepomniachtchi FIDE Peter Svidler
United States Levon Aronian
Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz United States Saint Louis Round robin 14–18 Nov 10 (7) United States Fabiano Caruana France Maxime Vachier-Lagrave FIDE Ian Nepomniachtchi
Vugar Gashimov Memorial Azerbaijan Gabala Round robin 8–11 Dec 10 (5) India Vidit Santosh Gujrathi India Arjun Erigaisi Romania Richárd Rapport

 

The Gift of Chess

The Gift of Chess has been distributing chess sets globally as a low-cost, high-impact catalyst for opportunity. The organization's key initiatives include education and refugee outreach using chess as a humanitarian tool. Their latest project is to hand over 1,000,000 chess sets to African schools and communities.

 

Gift of Chess OpeningMaster

Photo: https://www.africa.com/chess-becomes-tool-to-beat-poverty/

Partnership and discount

By partnering with Opening Master, Gift of Chess seeks to offer even more benefits to its members and affiliates. Opening Master has been in the business of publishing chess databases since 2004, with a focus on education and chess growth, especially for children and young players. The chess databases are used globally by many IMs and GMs too. Their commitment to the growth of the chess community aligns perfectly with Gift of Chess's mission, making this partnership a natural fit.

"Opening Master is thrilled to be partnering with Gift of Chess," said Alexander Horvath, CEO of the company. "We believe that our expertise in chess education and growth, combined with Gift of Chess's experience in distributing chess sets globally, will help to make the chess community stronger together."

We are inviting all chess players to use the special coupon code during Opening Master purchase checkout „giftofchess“ to be eligible for immediate discount of 20%. Opening Master will add 30% from each sale and make monthly donations to GOC to support their projects in globally.

Download biggest chess database OM OTB with 9.7 million official human chess games. 

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Gift of Chess's Board Member, Russell Makofsky, echoed this sentiment, saying "We are excited to be partnering with Opening Master, and we believe that this partnership will help us to achieve our goal of making chess more accessible to people around the world. Together, we can make a real difference in the lives of children and communities through the game of chess.

 

Closing remarks

Are your International Chess Master, Grandmaster, Chess enthusiast, coach or chess event organizer and have interesting story to tell? Share your story, write us if you want to be featured. But before, we would like to ask you to share this story as much as possible. Checkout our eshop and download Opening Master the biggest chess database with 9,7 million official human chess games. And much more! Thank you

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