Major chess events that took place in 2018 included the Candidates Tournament, won by Fabiano Caruana, who earned the right to challenge Magnus Carlsen in the World Chess Championship 2018. Magnus Carlsen won the match on tiebreaks and retained the title of World Chess Champion. There were two Women's World Chess Championship events; the first a match held in May between Ju Wenjun and Tan Zhongyi, won by Ju Wenjun, and the second, held in November, a 64-player knockout tournament where Ju Wenjun defended her title.
This is a list of 15 significant 2018 chess tournaments:
Chessplayer | From which | Whither |
---|---|---|
José González García | Mexico | Spain |
Boris Nikolov Chatalbashev | Bulgaria | Denmark |
Alexei Shirov | Latvia | Spain |
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. He has held the No. 1 position in the FIDE world chess rankings since 1 July 2011, and trails only Garry Kasparov in time spent as the highest rated player in the world. His peak rating of 2882 is the highest in history. He also holds the record for the longest unbeaten streak at the elite level in classical chess.
Teimour Boris oghlu Radjabov is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster, ranked number 18 in the world as of July 2022.
Christopher Hikaru Nakamura is a Japanese-American chess grandmaster and streamer. A chess prodigy, at the age of 15 he became the youngest American up to that time (2003) to earn the title of Grandmaster. Nakamura is a five-time United States champion. He won the 2011 edition of Tata Steel Chess Tournament Group A and represented the United States at five Chess Olympiads, winning a team gold medal and two team bronze medals.
Fast chess is a type of chess in which each player is given less time to consider their moves than normal tournament time controls allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, blitz chess, and bullet chess. Armageddon chess is a particular variation of fast chess in which different rules apply for each of the two players.
Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin is a Russian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he previously held the record for the world's youngest ever grandmaster, having qualified for the title at the age of 12 years and 7 months.
Levon Grigori Aronian is an Armenian-American chess grandmaster, who currently plays for the United States Chess Federation. A chess prodigy, he earned the title of grandmaster in 2000, at age 17. Aronian held the No. 2 position in the March 2014 FIDE world chess rankings with a rating of 2830, becoming the fourth-highest rated player in history.
The Women's World Chess Championship (WWCC) is played to determine the world champion in women's chess. Like the World Chess Championship, it is administered by FIDE.
Fabiano Luigi Caruana is an Italian-American chess player. A chess prodigy, Caruana became a grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, and 20 days—the youngest grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the United States at the time.
Ju Wenjun is a Chinese chess grandmaster. She is the current Women's World Chess Champion. In March 2017 she became the fifth woman to achieve a rating of 2600. She is a three-time Women's World Chess Champion having won the title in May 2018, November 2018 and 2020. She is scheduled to play a match to defend her world title in 2023.
Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi is a Russian chess grandmaster.
Anish Kumar Giri is a Russian-born Dutch chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he completed the requirements for the title Grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 7 months and 2 days. FIDE awarded him the title in 2009.
Ding Liren is a Chinese chess grandmaster. He is the highest rated Chinese chess player in history and is also a three-time Chinese Chess Champion. He was the winner of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the finals and winning the 2019 Sinquefield Cup, as the first player since 2007 to beat Magnus Carlsen in a playoff. Ding is the first Chinese player ever to play in a Candidates Tournament and pass the 2800 Elo mark on the FIDE world rankings. In July 2016, with a Blitz rating of 2875, he was the highest rated Blitz player in the world.
Lei Tingjie is a Chinese chess grandmaster. She won the Women's Chinese Chess Championship in 2017.
Nino Batsiashvili is a Georgian chess grandmaster and 4-time and the current Georgian women's chess champion.
Rameshbabu "Pragg" Praggnanandhaa is an Indian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he earned the international master title at the age of 10, the youngest at the time to do so, and the grandmaster title at age 12, the second-youngest at the time to do so. On 22 February 2022, at the age of 16, he became the youngest player ever to defeat current world champion Magnus Carlsen, when he beat Carlsen in a rapid game at the Airthings Masters Rapid Chess Tournament.
This article details the year of 2017 with respect to the game of chess. Major chess-related events that took place in 2017 include the Women's World Chess Championship 2017 knockout tournament, the Chess World Cup, the FIDE Grand Prix Series, and the abolishing of the consecutiveness requirement within the fivefold repetition rule.
Stefán Kristjánsson was an Icelandic chess grandmaster and professional poker player.
The Chess World Cup 2019 was a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament that took place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, from 9 September to 4 October 2019. It was won by Azerbaijani grandmaster Teimour Radjabov. He and the runner-up, Ding Liren, both qualified for the Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship 2020. It was the 8th edition of the Chess World Cup.
Andrey Evgenyevich Esipenko is a Russian chess grandmaster. He won the European U10 Chess Championship in 2012, and both the European U16 and World U16 Chess Championship in 2017.
Alireza Firouzja is an Iranian-French chess grandmaster. Firouzja has held the No. 3 position in the FIDE world chess rankings since July 1, 2022, and is the youngest-ever 2800-rated player, beating the previous record set by Magnus Carlsen by more than five months. His peak ranking was No. 2, which he held from December 1, 2021, to May 1, 2022.