Major chess events in 2025 include the annual Tata Steel Chess Tournament, Norway Chess and Grand Chess Tour. Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun defended her title against challenger Tan Zhongyi in the Women's World Chess Championship. Anish Giri won the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament and, alongside runner-up Matthias Blübaum, qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2026. The Chess World Cup in November determined the three qualifiers. The event was won by Javokhir Sindarov, who, at age 19, became the youngest player to date to win the event. R Praggnanandhaa won the 2025 FIDE Circuit, encompassing major tournaments held in 2025, and qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2026. The annual World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships took place in December, where Magnus Carlsen clinched both World Rapid and Blitz titles, meanwhile Aleksandra Goryachkina and Bibisara Assaubayeva claimed the Women's Rapid and Blitz titles respectively. __TOC__
Timeline +January 2025 FIDE RankingsRankPrevPlayerRatingChange11 Magnus Carlsen2831022 Fabiano Caruana2803 -233 Hikaru Nakamura2802044 Arjun Erigaisi2801055 Gukesh Dommaraju2777 -666 Nodirbek Abdusattorov2768 -977 Alireza Firouzja2763088 Ian Nepomniachtchi2754 -199 Wei Yi2751 -21010 Viswanathan Anand27500
January
Jan 4 – World number one Magnus Carlsen married Ella Victoria Malone in a ceremony in Oslo. Jan 8 – Vladimir Fedoseev won the Freestyle Chess play-in to qualify for the Weissenhaus Grand Slam, the first leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. Jan 11 – 9-year-old Roman Shogdzhiev became the youngest player to score an International Master norm. Jan 11 – Magnus Carlsen made his debut for FC St. Pauli in the Chess Bundesliga, where he played for the first time since 2008, scoring 1½/2. Jan 17 – The President of India, Droupadi Murmu conferred the Khel Ratna Award on World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju. Jan 24 – The FIDE Council decided to allow the participation of teams consisting of neutral athletes, particularly Russian and Belarusian athletes, in youth competitions and events for players with disabilities. Jan 27 – In a decision by the FIDE Ethics and Disciplinary Commission, Andrejs Strebkovs' ban from all FIDE-rated events was extended to 12 years, and his FIDE title of International Master was revoked.
+February 2025 FIDE RankingsRankPrevPlayerRatingChange11 Magnus Carlsen2833 +222 Fabiano Caruana2803 033 Hikaru Nakamura2802044 Arjun Erigaisi2801055 Gukesh Dommaraju2777 066 Nodirbek Abdusattorov2766 -277 Alireza Firouzja2760 -389 Wei Yi2755 +498 Ian Nepomniachtchi2754 01010 Viswanathan Anand27500
February
Feb 2 – R Praggnanandhaa defeated Gukesh Dommaraju 2–1 in a blitz playoff to win the Tata Steel Masters, after both players finished on 8½/13. Gukesh lost his first game as world champion in the final round against Arjun Erigaisi. Thai Dai Van Nguyen won the Challengers and qualified for the 2026 Masters. Feb 10 – FIDE announced that the Women's World Chess Championship 2025 between Ju Wenjun and Tan Zhongyi would take place in Shanghai and Chongqing from April 1 to 23. Feb 14 – Vincent Keymer won the first leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour after defeating Magnus Carlsen in the semifinals and Fabiano Caruana in the finals. Feb 21 – Magnus Carlsen won the Chessable Masters, the first leg of the Champions Chess Tour 2025. The top three – Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, and Ian Nepomniachtchi, qualified for the 2025 Esports World Cup. Feb 27 – Aleksandra Goryachkina won the third leg of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024–25 on tiebreaks, ahead of Koneru Humpy and Batkhuyag Munguntuul, who all scored 5½/9. Goryachkina took the lead in the Grand Prix standings.
+March 2025 FIDE RankingsRankPrevPlayerRatingChange11 Magnus Carlsen2833 023 Hikaru Nakamura2802035 Gukesh Dommaraju2787 +1042 Fabiano Caruana2783 -2054 Arjun Erigaisi2777 -2466 Nodirbek Abdusattorov2773 +778 Wei Yi2760 +5814 R Praggnanandhaa2758 +1797 Alireza Firouzja2757 -3108 Ian Nepomniachtchi2753 -1
March
Mar 6 – Ian Nepomniachtchi won the Aeroflot Open for the fourth time, ahead of Richárd Rapport and Andrey Esipenko. Mar 7 – Aravindh Chithambaram won the Prague Chess Festival Masters, going undefeated with three wins and six draws. Nodirbek Yakubboev won the Challengers after defeating Jonas Buhl Bjerre 1½-½ in a playoff. Mar 7 – Pranav V and Anna Shukhman became the World Junior Chess Champions. Mar 8 – Daniil Dubov played an exhibition blitz match against Hans Niemann in Moscow, winning 9½-8½. Mar 15 – Vidit Gujrathi won the Freestyle Chess play-in to qualify for the Paris Grand Slam, the second leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. Mar 23 – Hikaru Nakamura won the American Cup, after beating Fabiano Caruana in the grand final. It was the second time he won the event, after first winning it in 2023. He also won the blitz tournament held the following day. Mar 24 – Anna Muzychuk won the fourth leg of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024–25, edging out Zhu Jiner on tiebreaks. Mar 26 – The FIDE Ethics and Disciplinary Commission sanctioned Kirill Shevchenko with a worldwide ban of three years, with one year of the sanction suspended, after finding him guilty of breaching Article 11.7(e) of the Disciplinary Code by attempting to cheat using an electronic device in the Spanish Team Championship. Mar 27 – Matthias Blübaum won the European Individual Chess Championship, becoming the first player to win it twice. Frederik Svane and Maxim Rodshtein finished on the same score as Blübaum, but came second and third on tiebreaks, respectively.
+April 2025 FIDE RankingsRankPrevPlayerRatingChange11 Magnus Carlsen2837 +422 Hikaru Nakamura2804 +233 Gukesh Dommaraju2787 045 Arjun Erigaisi2782 +554 Fabiano Caruana2776 -766 Nodirbek Abdusattorov2773 077 Wei Yi2758 -288 R Praggnanandhaa2758 0910 Ian Nepomniachtchi2757 +4109 Alireza Firouzja2757 0
April
Apr 2 – Vidit Gujrathi married Nidhi Kataria in a wedding held at the Oxford Golf Resort in Pune. It was attended by World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju, five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand, Arjun Erigaisi and Anish Giri, among others. Apr 14 – Magnus Carlsen won the second leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour after defeating Fabiano Caruana in the semifinals, and Hikaru Nakamura in the final. Apr 16 – Ju Wenjun defeated Tan Zhongyi by a score of 6½-2½ to win the Women's World Chess Championship 2025, retaining her title and becoming world champion for the fifth time. Apr 21 – Magnus Carlsen scored a perfect 9/9 in the inaugural Grenke Freestyle Open and won the tournament. Aswath S tied with Brandon Jacobson with 8/9 in Classical Open but won on tiebreaks. Apr 23 – Koneru Humpy won the fifth leg of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024–25 on tiebreaks, ahead of Zhu Jiner. Apr 27 – Vasily Ivanchuk won the 4th Menorca Open with 8/9. Apr 30 – Vladimir Fedoseev won the GCT Rapid & Blitz Poland with three rounds to spare, scoring 26½/36. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave finished second with 21½/36, while R Praggnanandhaa finished third with 20½/36.
+May 2025 FIDE RankingsRankPrevPlayerRatingChange11 Magnus Carlsen2837 022 Hikaru Nakamura2804 033 Gukesh Dommaraju2787 045 Arjun Erigaisi2782 054 Fabiano Caruana2776 066 Nodirbek Abdusattorov2771 -277 Wei Yi2758088 R Praggnanandhaa2758 0910 Ian Nepomniachtchi2757 0109 Alireza Firouzja2757 0
May
May 3 – Christopher Yoo won the Sardinia Chess Festival with a score of 7.5/9. May 6 – Aleksandar Inđić won the Baku Open 2025 with a score of 7/9. May 9 – Christopher Yoo was slapped with a 60-day provisional suspension (9 May – July 8) after multiple harassment complaints, previously under USCF domestic ban since November 14, 2024. May 11 - The Taliban suspended chess due to religious concerns and questions about its connection to gambling. May 15 – Bardiya Daneshvar won the Asian Chess Championship which was his maiden title. He had tied with Nihal Sarin by 7/9 but won by tiebreaks. The defending champion Shamsiddin Vokhidov finished third with 6.5/9. Song Yuxin won in the women's section. May 16 – There was a three-way tie for first between R Praggnanandhaa, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Alireza Firouzja in the Superbet Chess Classic on 5½/9. Praggnanandhaa won the blitz playoff to win the tournament. May 16 – Anna Muzychuk won the final leg of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024–25 on tiebreaks, ahead of Zhu Jiner. Thus Zhu Jiner and Aleksandra Goryachkina who finished as winner and runner-up of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024–25 both qualified for the Women's Candidates Tournament 2026. May 23 – Vincent Keymer won his maiden German Chess Championship, held in Munich. May 25 – Anish Giri won the Sharjah Masters ahead of Aleksandar Indjic and Nodirbek Abdusattorov. May 26 – Javokhir Sindarov won the TePe Sigeman & Co chess tournament ahead of Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus and Nils Grandelius. May 31 – Sam Shankland won the American Continental Championship for third time in his career. José Martínez and Alexandr Fier finished second and third place respectively.
+June 2025 FIDE RankingsRankPrevPlayerRatingChange11 Magnus Carlsen2837 022 Hikaru Nakamura2804 034 Arjun Erigaisi2782 045 Fabiano Caruana2777 +153 Gukesh Dommaraju2776 -1166 Nodirbek Abdusattorov2767 -477 R Praggnanandhaa2767 +989 Alireza Firouzja2766 +998 Wei Yi2758 01010 Ian Nepomniachtchi2757 0
June
Jun 1 – World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju defeated world number one and former world champion Magnus Carlsen for the first time in a classical game in the sixth round of Norway Chess. Jun 4 – Aleksey Grebnev won the Dubai Open with a score of 7/9, ahead of Alan Pichot. Jun 6 – Aravindh Chithambaram won the Stepan Avagyan Memorial on tiebreaks ahead of R Praggnanandhaa and climbed into the world's top ten in live ratings for the first time. Jun 6 – Magnus Carlsen won Norway Chess for the seventh time, while Anna Muzychuk won the women's event. Jun 13 – Team MGD1, led by Arjun Erigaisi, won the World Rapid Team Championship. Jun 15 – The WR Chess Team defended their title at the World Blitz Team Championship. Jun 27 – There was a three-way tie between R Praggnanandhaa, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Javokhir Sindarov for first place in the UzChess Cup Masters with 5½/9. Praggnanandhaa won after two blitz playoffs to win the tournament. Nikolas Theodorou won the Challengers section with 6½/9. Jun 30 – Alexey Sarana won the Aktobe Open with a score of 7/9, ahead of Aryan Chopra, Zhamsaran Tsydypov and P. Iniyan.
+July 2025 FIDE RankingsRankPrevPlayerRatingChange11 Magnus Carlsen2839 +222 Hikaru Nakamura2807 +335 Fabiano Caruana2784 +747 R Praggnanandhaa2779 +153 Arjun Erigaisi2776 -665 Gukesh Dommaraju2776 076 Nodirbek Abdusattorov2771 +488 Alireza Firouzja2766 099 Wei Yi2748 -101012 Anish Giri2748 0
July
Jul 1 – FIDE extends the domestic suspension of Christopher Yoo to take effect worldwide, banning him from FIDE-rated events until 14 November, following a request by the USCF. Additionally, he has been put on probation until 14 November 2030. Jul 1 – For the first time since the inception of FIDE rating lists, Russian players were absent from the world's top ten, after Ian Nepomniachtchi dropped to number 14. On the other hand, Anish Giri returned to the top ten after over a year. Jul 6 – Magnus Carlsen won the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia with a score of 22½/36. Wesley So finished second with 20/36, while Gukesh Dommaraju finished third with 19½/36. Jul 20 – Levon Aronian won the fourth leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour after defeating Fabiano Caruana in the semifinals, and Hans Niemann in the final. Jul 23 – IM Divya Deshmukh defeated former Women's World Champion Tan Zhongyi in the semi-finals of Women's Chess World Cup 2025. Jul 24 – Vladimir Fedoseev won the Biel Masters Triathlon on tiebreaks, ahead of Aravindh Chithambaram. Nikolas Theodorou won the Challengers Triathlon. The traditional open tournament was won by Karthikeyan Murali with a score of 8/10.