Gukesh Dommaraju Gukesh Dommaraju (born 29 May 2006) is an Indian chess grandmaster and the reigning World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, Gukesh is the youngest undisputed world champion, the youngest player to have surpassed a FIDE rating of 2750, doing s ...

won the 2024 World Chess Championship, becoming the youngest undisputed world chess champion at the age of 18. The

Candidates Tournament The Candidates Tournament (or in some periods Candidates Matches) is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The win ...

and Women's Candidates Tournament were held concurrently for the first time to determine the challengers for the reigning world champions

Ding Liren Ding Liren ( zh, c=丁立人; born 24October 1992) is a Chinese chess grandmaster who was the 17th World Chess Champion from 2023–24. He is also a three-time Chinese Chess Champion, was a member of the Chinese chess teams that won the Chess ...

and

Ju Wenjun Ju Wenjun (; born 31 January 1991) is a Chinese chess grandmaster. She is the reigning five-time Women's World Champion, the reigning Women's World Blitz Chess Champion, and a two-time Women's World Rapid Chess Champion. In March 2017, she be ...

. The winners, Gukesh and

Tan Zhongyi Tan Zhongyi (; born 29 May 1991) is a Chinese chess player who holds the title of grandmaster (GM). She is a former Women's World Champion, winning the 2017 knockout edition of the world championship in Iran where she defeated Anna Muzychuk i ...

, advanced to the

World Chess Championship 2024 The World Chess Championship 2024 was a chess match between the reigning world champion Ding Liren and the challenger Gukesh Dommaraju to determine the World Chess Champion. The match took place between 25 November and 12 December 2024 in Singapo ...

and

Women's World Chess Championship 2025 The Women's World Chess Championship 2025 was a match between Ju Wenjun, the current champion, and Tan Zhongyi, the winner of the Women's Candidates Tournament 2024. This was the third time the two players have met in a world chess championship: ...

respectively.

Fabiano Caruana Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an Italian and American chess grandmaster who is the reigning four-time United States Chess Champion. With a peak rating of 2844, Caruana is the third-highest-rated player in history. Born in Mia ...

won the 2024 FIDE Circuit, encompassing major tournaments held in 2024, and qualified for the 2026 Candidates Tournament. The World Championship runner-up, Ding Liren, will no longer get an automatic Candidates spot in the 2024–2026 cycle. Instead, the World Championship match will be an eligible tournament for the 2025 FIDE Circuit.

Timeline

January

* Jan 1 –

Alireza Firouzja Alireza Firouzja (, ; born 18 June 2003) is an Iranian and French Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Firouzja is the youngest player to have surpassed a FIDE Elo rating system, rating of 2800, beating the previous record set by Magnus Carls ...

confirms his position above

Wesley So Wesley Barbossa So (born October 9, 1993) is a Filipino and American chess grandmaster, a three-time U.S. Chess Champion, and the first World Fischer Random Chess Champion. He is also a three-time Philippine Chess Champion. On the March 201 ...

in the January rating list and qualifies for the

Candidates Tournament 2024 The 2024 Candidates Tournament was an eight-player chess tournament, held to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2024. The tournament took place at The Great Hall in Toronto, Canada, from April 3–22, 2024. The event was ...

. * Jan 5 –

Adani Group Adani Group (, ) is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate, headquartered in Ahmedabad. Founded by Gautam Adani in 1988 as a commodity trading business, the Group's businesses include port, sea ...

announces a long term sponsorship agreement with

R Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (born 10 August 2005) is an Indian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, Praggnanandhaa placed second in the 2023 Chess World Cup, and is the only Indian to win the Tata Steel Chess Tournament after Viswanathan Anand. H ...

. * Jan 9 – The

President of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

Droupadi Murmu Droupadi Murmu (born Durgi Biranchi Tudu; 20 June 1958) is an Indian politician who has been serving as the president of India since 2022. She won the 2022 Indian presidential election, 2022 presidential election as the Bharatiya Janata Party ...

confers the

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards given for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjun ...

on grandmaster-elect

R Vaishali Vaishali Rameshbabu (born 21 June 2001) is an Indian chess grandmaster. She emerged victorious in the Women's Grand Swiss Tournament 2023, securing qualification for the Women's Candidates Tournament 2024. She won the bronze medal at Women' ...

and the

Dronacharya Award The Dronacharya Award, officially known as Dronacharya Award for Outstanding Coaches in Sports and Games, is sports coaching honour of the Republic of India. The award is named after Drona, often referred as "Dronacharya" or "Guru Drona", a cha ...

on grandmaster and coach RB Ramesh. * Jan 21 – Leonid Ivanovic becomes the youngest player in history to beat a grandmaster in classical chess at the age of 8 years, 11 months, and 7 days. * Jan 28 –

Wei Yi Wei Yi (; born 2 June 1999) is a Chinese chess grandmaster. Wei became a grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 8 months and 23 days, the 9th youngest in history. He is the youngest player ever to reach a rating of 2700, accomplishing this feat ...

wins the 2024 Tata Steel Masters after beating

in the tiebreak final.

Leon Luke Mendonca Leon Luke Mendonca (born 13 March 2006) is an Indian chess grandmaster. He is the sixty-seventh Indian to qualify for the title of Grandmaster, which FIDE awarded him in January 2021. Chess career Mendonca became an International Master (IM) in ...

wins the Challengers' section, qualifying to next year's Masters. * Jan 30 – 13-year-old Andy Woodward earns his final grandmaster

norm Norm, the Norm or NORM may refer to: In academic disciplines * Normativity, phenomenon of designating things as good or bad * Norm (geology), an estimate of the idealised mineral content of a rock * Norm (philosophy), a standard in normative e ...

and becomes the youngest grandmaster in the world and the tenth youngest in history.

February

* Feb 1 – After the results of Tata Steel,

Anish Giri Anish Kumar Giri (; ; born 28 June 1994) is a Dutch chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves no hidden information and no elements of chance. It is played on ...

climbs to world number five while

debuts in the world's top ten. * Feb 2 –

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...

President

Arkady Dvorkovich Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich (; born 26 March 1972) is a Russian politician and economist, currently serving as the president of the International Chess Federation, FIDE. He was Deputy Prime Minister in Dmitry Medvedev's Cabinet from 21 Ma ...

posthumously awards the honorary grandmaster title to the late Sultan Khan. * Feb 7 –

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...

wins the Chessable Masters, the first leg of the Champions Chess Tour, after beating

in the Grand Final. * Feb 16 –

beats

in the final to win the inaugural

Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge The Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge was an 8-player over-the-board classical Chess960 tournament that took place at Gut Weißenhaus in Wangels, Germany from February 9–16, 2024. It was the first major Chess960 tournament that used classical ...

, the first major classical

Fischer random chess Chess960, also known as Fischer Random Chess, is a chess variant that randomizes the starting position of the pieces on the back rank. It was introduced by former world chess champion Bobby Fischer in 1996 to reduce the emphasis on opening prep ...

tournament. * Feb 18 – Ashwath Kaushik becomes the youngest player in history to beat a grandmaster in classical chess at the age of 8 years, 6 months, and 11 days. * Feb 25 –

Daniel Dardha Daniel Dardha (born 1 October 2005) is a Belgian chess grandmaster. He won the Belgian Chess Championship in 2019 at age 13, becoming the youngest player to do so. Chess career In 2017, aged 12, he won the U-14 Blitz Chess Championship. He earn ...

and

Hans Niemann Hans Moke Niemann (born June 20, 2003) is an American Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and Twitch (service), Twitch streamer. He first entered the top 100 junior players list on March 1, 2019, and became a FIDE grandmaster on January 22, 20 ...

tie for first at the Djerba Masters, with Dardha taking first on tiebreaks.

March

* Mar 2 – FIDE makes an urgent appeal to the

Canadian government The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes ministers of the Crown ( ...

, urging them to expedite the visa process for several players ahead of the Candidates Tournament. ** Mar 7 – FIDE confirms that all visas have been approved in time and the event will go ahead in Toronto as planned. * Mar 6-7 –

Nodirbek Abdusattorov Nodirbek Abdusattorov (; born 18 September 2004) is an Uzbek chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he qualified for the grandmaster title at the age of 13 years, 1 month, and 11 days. FIDE awarded him the title in April 2018. He is Uzbekistan's h ...

wins the Prague Masters with a round to spare. Ediz Gürel wins the Challengers' section and completes his third

grandmaster norm A norm in chess is a high level of performance in a chess tournament. The level of performance is typically measured in tournament performance rating above a certain threshold (for instance, 2600 for GM norm), and there is a requirement on the leve ...

. * Mar 7 –

Bu Xiangzhi Bu Xiangzhi (; born December 10, 1985) is a Chinese chess player. In 1999, he became the 10th grandmaster from China at the age of 13 years, 10 months and 13 days, at the time the youngest in history. In April 2008, Bu and Ni Hua became the s ...

wins the

Shenzhen Masters The Shenzhen Masters is an annual chess tournament held in the Longgang District of Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China. In 2021, an online edition was held on Chess.com due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Winners Event crosstables 2017 : 2018 : 2 ...

on tiebreaks, ahead of

Yu Yangyi Yu Yangyi (; born 8 June 1994) is a Chinese chess grandmaster. He qualified for the Grandmaster title at 14 years, 11 months and 23 days old in 2009. He is a three-time Chinese Chess Champion and the 2014 Asian Chess Champion. He was a me ...

and

Arjun Erigaisi Arjun Kumar Erigaisi (born 3 September 2003) is an Indian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he earned the title of grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, 13 days. In September 2024 he became India's top rated player, and in December 2 ...

. * Mar 18 –

Bassem Amin Bassem Amin (; born 9 September 1988) is an Egyptian chess grandmaster and medical doctor. He was awarded the Grandmaster title by FIDE in 2006. Amin is the highest rated Egyptian and African player and the only medical doctor to have a FIDE pea ...

wins the

African Chess Championship The first African Chess Championship was played in 1998. Ibrahim Hasan Labib and Mohamed Tissir both shared first place with 7/10, but the former took the title. The 2007 championship was the FIDE Zone 4 qualifier for the Chess World Cup 2007 ...

. Jesse February wins the title in the women's section. * Mar 20-21 –

Levon Aronian Levon Grigori Aronian (; born 6 October 1982) is an Armenian chess grandmaster who has represented the United States since 2021. A chess prodigy, he earned the title of grandmaster in 2000, at the age of 17. He is a former world rapid and blit ...

defeats

in the grand final to win the

American Cup The American Football Association Challenge Cup (also known as the American Association Cup or simply American Cup) was the first major U.S. soccer competition open to teams beyond a single league. It was first held in 1884, and organised by t ...

. 14-year-old Alice Lee beats

Irina Krush Irina Borisivna Krush (; born December 24, 1983) is an American chess Grandmaster. She is the only woman to earn the GM title while playing for the United States. Krush is an eight-time U.S. Women's Champion and a two-time Women's American Cu ...

in blitz playoffs to win the women's section.

April

* Apr 1 –

and

debut in the world's top ten. * Apr 1 –

wins his third

Grenke Chess Classic The Grenke Chess Festival is an annual chess event held in the German cities of Karlsruhe and Baden-Baden and sponsored by Grenke AG. The Grenke Chess Classic was a strong closed tournament first held in 2013, which featured many of the world's ...

after beating

Richárd Rapport Richárd Rapport (born 25 March 1996) is a Hungarian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he earned his grandmaster title at the age of 13 years, 11 months, and six days, making him Hungary's youngest ever grandmaster. He was the Hungarian Che ...

in the final. Hans Niemann wins the Open section. * Apr 1 –

Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş (born 3 June 2011) is a Turkish chess prodigy and grandmaster. He was awarded the International Master title prior to turning 12, becoming the youngest individual from Turkey to achieve this title. In 2024 he became the f ...

becomes the youngest grandmaster in the world and the fourth youngest in history, at the age of 12 years, nine months, and 29 days. * Apr 7 –

wins the Menorca Open on tiebreaks . * Apr 21 –

wins the

, advancing to the

. * Apr 21 –

wins the Women's Candidates Tournament 2024, advancing to the

June

* Jun 1 –

Ethan Pang Ethan Pang (born 20 March 2015) is an English chess player. Chess career He began playing chess at the age of 5 during COVID lockdowns. At the age of 7, he was chosen to represent England at the European Youth Chess Championship 2022. In June ...

becomes the youngest player to surpass a FIDE rating of 2200.

July

* Jul 18 – Shama Yisrael becomes the first African-American woman to achieve the rank of National Master.

August

* Aug 6 – Jessica Hyatt becomes the second African-American woman to achieve the rank of National Master.

November

* Nov 1 –

becomes the youngest player to surpass a FIDE rating of 2300. * Nov 1 – Anish Sarkar becomes the youngest FIDE-rated player, with a rating of 1556 at the age of 3 years, 8 months, and 19 days.

Events

World Championship

The World Chess Championship was held in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

from 25 November to 12 December. It was played to a best of 14 games, with

tiebreaks In games and sport, a tiebreaker or tiebreak is any method used to determine a winner or to rank participants when there is a tie - meaning two or more parties have achieved a same score or result. A tiebreaker provides the additional criterion ...

if required. The match was won by Gukesh 7½–6½ after 14 games.

Major tournaments

Opens

Women's events

National events

Deaths

* 28 March —

Igors Rausis Isa Kasimi (April 7, 1961 – March 28, 2024), born Igor Kondylev and known as Igors Rausis until 2020, was a Latvian chess International Master. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1992, but the title was stripped away after he ...

* 1 May —

Juzefs Petkēvičs Juzefs Petkēvičs (, ; 19 December 1940 – 1 May 2024) was a Latvian chess Grandmaster Biography Born into a Polish family (his uncle was a Catholic bishop), he came first in the Riga Championship of 1967, winning all thirteen games. He tied ...

* 8 June — Sergei Beshukov * 5 July —

Ziaur Rahman Ziaur Rahman (19 January 193630 May 1981) was a Bangladeshi military officer and politician who served as the sixth president of Bangladesh from 1977 until Assassination of Ziaur Rahman, his assassination in 1981. One of the leading figures of t ...

* 31 July — Constantin Ionescu * 31 July — Krum Georgiev * 28 August —

Andreas Dückstein Andreas Dückstein (2 August 1927 – 28 August 2024) was an Austrian chess master. He was awarded the International Master title in 1956 and Honorary Grandmaster title in 2024. Dückstein was regarded as a dangerous attacker, as a win against W ...

* 1 October —

Zenón Franco Ocampos Zenón Franco Ocampos (; 12 May 1956 – 1 October 2024) was a chess grandmaster (GM) from Paraguay. In the 1982 Chess Olympiad at Lucerne, he won the gold medal at board one by scoring 11 of 13. In the 1990 Chess Olympiad at Novi Sad, he sh ...

* 9 November —

Viesturs Meijers Viesturs Meijers (5 December 1967 – 9 November 2024) was a Latvian chess Grandmaster (2004). He starting playing chess at age 10 and his first trainer was I. Dambitis. Meijers became an International Master in 1993 and won the Latvian Chess C ...

Notes

References

{{Reflist 21st century in chess Chess by year 2024 sport-related lists

Timeline

January

February

March

April

June

July

August

November

Events

World Championship

Major tournaments

Opens

Women's events

National events

Deaths

See also

Notes

References