Timeline
| Rank | Prev | Player | Rating | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |  Magnus Carlsen | 2830 | 0 |
| 2 | 2 |  Fabiano Caruana | 2804 | +10 |
| 3 | 3 | Hikaru Nakamura | 2788 | 0 |
| 4 | 4 |  Ding Liren | 2780 | 0 |
| 5 | 5 |  Ian Nepomniachtchi | 2769 | -2 |
| 6 | 6 |  Alireza Firouzja | 2759 | -4 |
| 7 | 8 | Wesley So | 2757 | +5 |
| 8 | 11 | Leinier Domínguez | 2752 | +7 |
| 9 | 9 | Sergey Karjakin | 2750 | 0 |
| 10 | 7 |  Anish Giri | 2749 | -5 |
January
- Jan 1 – Alireza Firouzja confirms his position above Wesley So in the January rating list and qualifies for the Candidates Tournament 2024. [a]
- Jan 5 – Adani Group announces a long term sponsorship agreement with R Praggnanandhaa. [4]
- Jan 9 – The President of India Droupadi Murmu confers the Arjuna Award on grandmaster-elect R Vaishali and the Dronacharya Award on grandmaster and coach RB Ramesh. [5]
- Jan 21 – Leonid Ivanovic becomes the youngest player in history to beat a grandmaster in classical chess at the age of 8 years, 11 months, and 7 days. [6]
- Jan 28 – Wei Yi wins the 2024 Tata Steel Masters after beating Gukesh Dommaraju in the tiebreak final. Leon Luke Mendonca wins the Challengers' section, qualifying to next year's Masters. [7] [8]
- Jan 30 – 13-year-old Andy Woodward earns his final grandmaster norm and becomes the youngest grandmaster in the world and the tenth youngest in history. [9]
| Rank | Prev | Player | Rating | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Magnus Carlsen | 2830 | 0 |
| 2 | 2 | Fabiano Caruana | 2804 | 0 |
| 3 | 3 | Hikaru Nakamura | 2788 | 0 |
| 4 | 4 | Ding Liren | 2762 | -18 |
| 5 | 10 | Anish Giri | 2762 | +13 |
| 6 | 6 | Alireza Firouzja | 2760 | +1 |
| 7 | 5 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 2758 | -11 |
| 8 | 7 | Wesley So | 2757 | 0 |
| 9 | 16 | Wei Yi | 2755 | +15 |
| 10 | 8 | Leinier Domínguez | 2752 | 0 |
February
- Feb 1 – After the results of Tata Steel, Anish Giri climbs to world number five while Wei Yi debuts in the world's top ten. [10]
- Feb 2 – FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich posthumously awards the honorary grandmaster title to the late Sultan Khan. [11]
- Feb 7 – Magnus Carlsen wins the Chessable Masters, the first leg of the Champions Chess Tour, after beating Alireza Firouzja in the Grand Final. [12] [13]
- Feb 16 – Magnus Carlsen beats Fabiano Caruana in the final to win the inaugural Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge, the first major classical Fischer random chess tournament. [14] [15]
- Feb 18 – Ashwath Kaushik becomes the youngest player in history to beat a grandmaster in classical chess at the age of 8 years, 6 months, and 11 days. [16] [17]
- Feb 25 – Daniel Dardha and Hans Niemann tie for first at the Djerba Masters, with Dardha taking first on tiebreaks. [18]
| Rank | Prev | Player | Rating | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Magnus Carlsen | 2830 | 0 |
| 2 | 2 | Fabiano Caruana | 2804 | 0 |
| 3 | 3 | Hikaru Nakamura | 2789 | +1 |
| 4 | 4 | Ding Liren | 2762 | 0 |
| 5 | 5 | Anish Giri | 2762 | 0 |
| 6 | 6 | Alireza Firouzja | 2760 | 0 |
| 7 | 7 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 2758 | 0 |
| 8 | 8 | Wesley So | 2757 | 0 |
| 9 | 9 | Wei Yi | 2755 | 0 |
| 10 | 12 |  Viswanathan Anand | 2751 | +3 |
March
- Mar 2 – FIDE makes an urgent appeal to the Canadian government, urging them to expedite the visa process for several players ahead of the Candidates Tournament. [19] [20]
- Mar 7 – FIDE confirms that all visas have been approved in time and the event will go ahead in Toronto as planned. [21]
- Mar 6-7 – Nodirbek Abdusattorov wins the Prague Masters with a round to spare. [22] Ediz Gürel wins the Challengers' section and completes his third grandmaster norm. [23]
- Mar 7 – Bu Xiangzhi wins the Shenzhen Masters on tiebreaks, ahead of Yu Yangyi and Arjun Erigaisi.
- Mar 18 – Bassem Amin wins the African Chess Championship. Jesse February wins the title in the women's section. [24]
- Mar 20-21 – Levon Aronian defeats Wesley So in the grand final to win the American Cup. 14-year-old Alice Lee beats Irina Krush in blitz playoffs to win the women's section. [25]
| Rank | Prev | Player | Rating | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Magnus Carlsen | 2830 | 0 |
| 2 | 2 | Fabiano Caruana | 2803 | -1 |
| 3 | 3 | Hikaru Nakamura | 2789 | 0 |
| 4 | 11 |  Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 2765 | +15 |
| 5 | 4 | Ding Liren | 2762 | 0 |
| 6 | 6 | Alireza Firouzja | 2760 | 0 |
| 7 | 7 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 2758 | 0 |
| 8 | 8 | Wesley So | 2757 | 0 |
| 9 | 14 | Arjun Erigaisi | 2756 | +8 |
| 10 | 9 | Wei Yi | 2755 | 0 |
April
- Apr 1 – Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Arjun Erigaisi debut in the world's top ten. [26]
- Apr 1 – Magnus Carlsen wins his third Grenke Chess Classic after beating Richárd Rapport in the final. Hans Niemann wins the Open section.
- Apr 1 – Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş becomes the youngest grandmaster in the world and the fourth youngest in history, at the age of 12 years, nine months, and 29 days. [27]
- Apr 7 – Arjun Erigaisi wins the Menorca Open on tiebreaks . [28]
- Apr 21 – Gukesh Dommaraju wins the Candidates Tournament 2024, advancing to the World Chess Championship 2024. [29]
- Apr 21 – Tan Zhongyi wins the Women's Candidates Tournament 2024, advancing to the Women's World Chess Championship 2025. [30]
June
- Jun 1 – Ethan Pang becomes the youngest player to surpass a FIDE rating of 2200. [31]
July
- Jul 18 – Shama Yisrael becomes the first African-American woman to achieve the rank of National Master. [32]
August
- Aug 6 – Jessica Hyatt becomes the second African-American woman to achieve the rank of National Master. [33]
November
- Nov 1 – Ethan Pang becomes the youngest player to surpass a FIDE rating of 2300. [34]
- Nov 1 – Anish Sarkar becomes the youngest FIDE-rated player, with a rating of 1556 at the age of 3 years, 8 months, and 19 days. [35]
