The top chess events from September 2026 to July 2027. Each page carries the dates, the schedule with IST times, the players, the format, and where to watch every round free.
5 to 13 September 2026 · The Lalit Ashok, Bengaluru, India
Six franchise teams play 30 rapid matches and a final in the league's first Bengaluru season. Each match is six boards, and a win with Black pays 4 points against 3 for a win with White.
15 to 27 September 2026 · Silk Road International Exhibition Centre, Samarkand, Uzbekistan
A record 400 national teams play 11 rounds of Swiss pairings, four boards per match. India defends both golds from Budapest 2024; rounds start at 3:30 pm IST.
9 to 21 October 2026 · Saint Louis, United States
Fabiano Caruana and Carissa Yip defend their US titles at the Saint Louis Chess Club: two 12-player round robins of 11 rounds, 402,000 US dollars in prizes, and rounds from 10:30 PM IST.
16 to 24 October 2026 · Herceg Novi, Montenegro
The 41st open cup and the 30th women's cup: 7 rounds of team Swiss in Herceg Novi, a 40,000 euro prize fund, and 5 places in the European Chess Super League 2027 for the open teams.
24 November to 12 December 2026 · Geneva, Switzerland
D Gukesh defends the title against Candidates winner Javokhir Sindarov over 14 classical games. The first player to 7.5 points wins; a 7-7 tie goes to rapid and blitz tiebreaks.
Late December 2026 · Host city to be announced by FIDE
Four world titles in five days: three days of rapid at 15 minutes plus 10 seconds, then two days of blitz at 3+2. Magnus Carlsen defends both open crowns; Aleksandra Goryachkina and Bibisara Assaubayeva hold the women's titles.
January 2027, exact dates to be announced · Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands
The 89th edition of the January classic, played since 1938: two 14-player round robins over 13 rounds, with the Challengers winner promoted to the next Masters. Nodirbek Abdusattorov defends the title he won in 2026.
12 to 14 February 2027 · Weissenhaus, Germany
The world title in freestyle chess, also called Chess960: eight players, with the pieces behind the pawns shuffled before each round. Magnus Carlsen defends the title he won in 2026, and India's Pranav Venkatesh has qualified. The women's championship is played on 5 to 7 February.
16 to 26 February 2027 · Hotel Don Giovanni, Prague, Czech Republic
The ninth Prague International Chess Festival: the Masters and the Challengers are 10-player round robins over 9 rounds, next to an open with no rating limit. Nodirbek Abdusattorov won the 2026 Masters, and India's Aravindh Chithambaram won in 2025.
16 April to 4 October 2027, travel days included · Bucharest, Warsaw, Zagreb and Saint Louis; Finals in São Paulo, Brazil
Five elite events, 2 classical and 3 rapid and blitz, then a Finals for the top 4 on tour points. R Praggnanandhaa won the 2026 tour and has an invitation for 2027, with Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So.
10 to 25 May 2027 · Villa Marina, Douglas, Isle of Man
An 11-round Swiss in an Open and a Women's section, 170 players in all, with a record 900,000 US dollar prize fund. The top 2 of each section qualify for the 2028 Candidates; Anish Giri and Vaishali Rameshbabu won in 2025.
June 2027; the organiser lists 10 to 20 June · Tashkent, Uzbekistan; venue to be announced
The fourth edition of the Tashkent tournament: a 10-player Masters round robin, with Challengers, Futures and Open groups alongside. Mukhiddin Madaminov won the 2026 Masters and R Praggnanandhaa the 2025 one.
Tuesday, 20 July 2027 · Worldwide
The yearly chess day on FIDE's founding date, called World Chess Day by the United Nations since 2019. Federations, clubs and schools hold events; on the day in 2024, FIDE's centenary, players set a Guinness World Record of 7,284,970 games in 24 hours.
Every Tuesday at 17:00 Central European time: 8:30 PM IST, and 9:30 PM IST from 27 October 2026 · Online, on Chess.com
Chess.com's weekly blitz event for titled players: 11 rounds of 5-minute games, $10,000 in prizes and Champions Chess Tour points. Hikaru Nakamura has the most wins, 93 since October 2020.
Dates to be announced by FIDE · Host city to be announced by FIDE
Ju Wenjun of China defends the women's world title against Vaishali Rameshbabu of India, who won the 2026 Women's Candidates in Cyprus with 8.5 out of 14. Twelve classical games; the first player to 6.5 points wins, and a 6-6 score goes to a tiebreak.
Dates to be announced · Venue to be announced
Norway Chess has announced no dates, venue or players for 2027, and the organiser says the tournament will likely join its new Total Chess World Championship Tour, which starts in March 2027. R Praggnanandhaa and Bibisara Assaubayeva won the 2026 titles in Oslo.
2028, dates to be announced · Host to be announced
The Candidates Tournament picks the challenger for the world title, with 8 players over 14 rounds and a separate Women's event. Javokhir Sindarov and Vaishali Rameshbabu won the 2026 editions in Cyprus. For 2028, the Grand Swiss, the Total Chess Tour, the World Cup and the FIDE Circuit each send 2 Open players.
Fourth quarter of 2027, dates to be announced · Host to be announced
The FIDE World Cup and Women's World Cup return with 224 and 128 players and a new format: a 9-round Swiss in pools, then a 16-player knockout. The 2 finalists of each event qualify for the 2028 Candidates. Javokhir Sindarov and Divya Deshmukh won the 2025 editions.
Dates to be announced; the last edition ran from 7 to 11 January 2026 · Kolkata, India
The rapid and blitz event in Kolkata: ten players in an Open and a Women's section play a 9-round rapid round robin, then an 18-round blitz double round robin. Nihal Sarin and Wesley So won the 2026 Open titles, Kateryna Lagno and Carissa Yip the Women's.
Dates to be announced; recent editions ran in June · Online, on Chess.com
Chess.com's yearly bullet event: 16 players, 1+0 games and a double-elimination bracket. India's Nihal Sarin won the 2026 edition, beating Alireza Firouzja twice in the grand final.
Dates to be announced; the last edition ran from October to February · Online, on Chess.com, with a live final four
Chess.com's yearly knockout of blitz and bullet matches: 16 players, with 5+1, 3+1 and 1+1 games in each match. Magnus Carlsen won the 2025 edition in London in February 2026, his fifth title, and the top 8 of the Champions Chess Tour on 3 November 2026 qualify for the next one.
July to August 2027; exact dates to be announced · Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Top players play 10-minute games on computers for a $1.5 million prize pool and their esports clubs. Magnus Carlsen won in 2025 and 2026; 12 places for 2027 go to the top of the Champions Chess Tour.
Next season to be announced · Venues to be announced
The Chess960 tour of Freestyle Chess. In 2025 it went to Weissenhaus, Paris, Karlsruhe, Las Vegas and a final in South Africa: Magnus Carlsen won the tour with 121 points, and Levon Aronian won the final. No new Grand Slam had been announced by 25 September 2026.
Next edition not announced; the last two started in April · Online, on Chess.com
Chess.com's chess tournament for streamers, creators and celebrities, played since 2020. Jynxzi won PogChamps 6 7 in April 2026, and India's Samay Raina won Super PogChamps in December 2025.
The world title runs on a two-year cycle: a Candidates tournament picks the challenger, and the champion defends in a one-on-one match. Javokhir Sindarov won the 2026 Candidates, so he plays Gukesh in Geneva. He qualified by winning the 2025 FIDE World Cup, whose next edition in 2027 sends its 2 finalists to the 2028 Candidates. The first places for 2028 go out at the FIDE Grand Swiss on the Isle of Man in May 2027. The women's title runs on the same cycle: Vaishali Rameshbabu won the 2026 Women's Candidates and plays champion Ju Wenjun over 12 games, on dates FIDE has yet to announce. The Chess Olympiad is the national-team world championship and runs every two years. The World Rapid and Blitz Championships crown separate champions at faster time controls every December. Online, Chess.com's yearly Bullet Chess Championship plays one-minute games; India's Nihal Sarin won it in 2026. Its Speed Chess Championship is a knockout of blitz and bullet matches that Magnus Carlsen has won five times. Chess.com's PogChamps tournaments put streamers and celebrities at the board; India's Samay Raina won Super PogChamps in 2025. In February, the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship crowns a champion in Chess960, where the pieces behind the pawns start in a shuffled order; Magnus Carlsen won the first edition in 2026, and six of its eight players came from the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. At the Esports World Cup, top players meet in person for 10-minute games on computers; Magnus Carlsen won its chess event in 2025 and 2026. Every Tuesday, Chess.com's Titled Tuesday gives titled players 11 rounds of 5-minute games, and its points count toward the 12 places for 2027.
Around those FIDE events sit the elite invitationals: the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee every January, played since 1938, its rapid and blitz sister event in Kolkata, Tata Steel Chess India, the Prague Chess Festival in February, the UzChess Cup in Tashkent in June, plus Norway Chess, the Sinquefield Cup and the franchise-format Global Chess League. The Grand Chess Tour links the Sinquefield Cup and 4 more events, from Bucharest in April to Saint Louis in August, into one season that ends with a Finals for its top 4 players in São Paulo. The US Chess Championship and the US Women's Championship run in Saint Louis from 9 to 21 October, with 12 players in each. The European Club Cup, the team championship of Europe's clubs, runs in Herceg Novi from 16 to 24 October with 7 rounds of team Swiss and 5 places in the 2027 European Chess Super League for the open teams. The organiser of Norway Chess is also trialling a new format: a 24-player Total Chess World Championship pilot, which mixes time controls, starts in Budapest on 10 November 2026.
Every 20 July, the day FIDE was founded in 1924, clubs, schools and federations around the world mark International Chess Day, which the United Nations calls World Chess Day.
This page lists the events we cover in depth. When a live game turns sharp, paste the position into the analysis board and work out the best move before the players do.
The Global Chess League plays in Bengaluru from 5 to 13 September, the Chess Olympiad runs in Samarkand from 15 to 27 September, the European Club Cup plays in Herceg Novi from 16 to 24 October, the World Chess Championship match between Gukesh and Sindarov runs in Geneva from 24 November to 12 December, and the World Rapid and Blitz Championships close the year in late December. The Women's World Championship match between Ju Wenjun and Vaishali Rameshbabu has no announced dates yet.
From 24 November to 12 December 2026 in Geneva, Switzerland: game 1 on 24 November, game 14 on 11 December and tiebreaks on 12 December if the score is level. D Gukesh defends against Javokhir Sindarov, who won the 2026 Candidates. The match is 14 classical games, and the first player to 7.5 points is world champion. The women's title match, Ju Wenjun against Vaishali Rameshbabu over 12 games, has no announced dates yet.
From 15 to 27 September 2026 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. A record 400 national teams are entered across the open and women's events, and India defends both golds from Budapest 2024. The next edition after Samarkand is in 2028.
By field size, the Chess Olympiad: Samarkand 2026 has 400 teams and 1,971 players. By stakes, the World Chess Championship match, which decides the world title. The strongest annual invitational is the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, played every January since 1938.
FIDE events stream free on FIDE's YouTube channel, and each event's official site shows every board live, move by move. Each event page here lists the exact links and the round times in IST.
