Chess · Worth knowing

The Tech Mahindra Global Chess League's fourth season is underway from September 5-13, 2026, featuring franchise-based teams with elite mixed-gender lineups. Teams field six players in fixed positions: the highest-rated "Icon" on board one, men on boards two and three, women on boards four and five, and a junior player born in 2004 or later on board six. The preliminary stage uses a double round-robin format with the top two teams advancing to the final and third and fourth-place finishers competing for third place. Games are played at rapid time control with 20 minutes per side and a 2-second increment from move 41. Notable rosters include Magnus Carlsen leading the Alpine APL Pipers, Alireza Firouzja with Triveni Continental Kings, and Viswanathan Anand with Fyers American Gambits, alongside other top-rated players across multiple teams.

David Antón took sole lead at the Legends & Prodigies tournament in Madrid after scoring two wins in rounds four and five. The Spanish player defeated Diego Flores and Ivan Sokolov to reach 4/5, moving half a point ahead of 12-year-old grandmaster Faustino Oro, who remains unbeaten but drew with Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara. All three games in round four were decisive, marking a shift from the previous day's six straight draws. The tournament continues with double rounds on Thursday and Friday before concluding Saturday.

FIDE presidential candidate Timur Turlov proposed using facial recognition and AI-powered systems to combat cheating in competitive chess. During the FIDE election debate, Turlov suggested implementing biometric identification to ensure single players maintain only one competitive account, comparing it to banking-quality verification systems already used in Kazakhstan. He advocated for FIDE to invest in developing a powerful anti-cheating engine using artificial intelligence, acknowledging that while no system could eliminate cheating entirely, such technology would need to evolve continuously. The proposal raises questions about privacy and data storage but represents a concrete policy shift toward technology-driven solutions to protect the integrity of FIDE ratings in online chess.