Chess · Worth knowing

At the 2026 Biel International Chess Festival, Le Quang Liem won the first classical round of the Masters event, climbing from penultimate place to second in the standings with a victory over Jose Martinez using the black pieces, where he showed excellent preparation and converted his time advantage into a win after 36 moves. Levon Aronian maintains the lead with 10½ points after drawing by repetition against Aydin Suleymanli, while Alexandra Kosteniuk secured an important victory in the Generations Challenge against Carissa Yip, gradually building an advantage to win after 58 moves and moving closer to the leading trio. In other notable results, Matthias Bluebaum and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus drew after dramatic time trouble for Erdogmus, who initially reached a winning position but allowed Bluebaum to force a threefold repetition.

The Saint Louis Chess Club will host the 2026 U.S. Senior Championship, U.S. Junior Championship, U.S. Girls' Junior Championship, and U.S. Senior Women's Championships as invitation-only events featuring America's top chess players. Prize funds have been increased across all tournaments, with the Senior Championship offering $100,000, Senior Women's Championship $60,000, Junior Championship $75,000, and Girls Championship $50,000. Professional commentary will be provided by Grandmasters Yasser Seirawan and Cristian Chirila and WGM Katerina Nemcova on the Saint Louis Chess Club's YouTube and Twitch channels.

FIDE has revised the qualification system for the 2028 Candidates Tournaments with four major changes aimed at rewarding consistent excellence and broadening pathways to the World Championship cycle. The Total Chess World Championship Tour 2026–2027 becomes a new qualification route, with its top two finalists earning direct spots. The World Cup now awards two rather than three qualification places per competition, rating-based qualification has been eliminated entirely in favor of performance-based results, and FIDE Circuit qualification now spans two years (2026–2027) to emphasize sustained excellence. Both the Open and Women's Candidates Tournaments will have eight qualification spots distributed equally across four pathways: the Grand Swiss, the World Cup, the Tour/Grand Prix Series, and the Circuit. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich stated the revised system aims to make qualification more balanced, transparent, and performance-based while reinforcing the connection between major championship events.