Fast chess, also known as speed chess, is a type of chess in which each player is given less time to consider their moves than classical chess 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.
The World Chess Championship 2007 was held in Mexico City, from 12 September 2007 to 30 September 2007 to decide the world champion of the game of chess. It was an eight-player, double round robin tournament.
The World Blitz Chess Championship is a chess tournament held to determine the world champion in chess played under blitz time controls. Since 2012, FIDE has held an annual joint rapid and blitz chess tournament and billed it as the World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships. The current world blitz champion is the Norwegian Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen. Valentina Gunina from Russia is the current women's blitz world champion. Magnus Carlsen has won the event a record seven times.
The World Rapid Chess Championship is a chess tournament held to determine the world champion in chess played under rapid time controls. Prior to 2012, FIDE gave such recognition to a limited number of tournaments, with non-FIDE recognized tournaments annually naming a world rapid champion of their own. Since 2012, FIDE has held an annual joint rapid and blitz chess tournament and billed it as the World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships. FIDE also holds the Women's World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship. The current rapid world champion is grandmaster Magnus Carlsen. Anastasia Bodnaruk from Russia is the current women's rapid world champion. Carlsen has won the event a record five times.
The Chess World Cup 2011 was a chess World Cup tournament. It was a 128-player single-elimination tournament, played between 26 August and 21 September 2011, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The Cup winner Peter Svidler, along with second placed Alexander Grischuk and third placed Vassily Ivanchuk, qualified for the Candidates stage of the World Chess Championship 2013.
The Women's World Chess Championship 2012 was a knockout tournament, to decide the women's world champion. The title was won by Anna Ushenina of Ukraine for the first time. Defending champion Hou Yifan went out in the second round.
The Sinquefield Cup is an annual, closed chess tournament hosted by the Saint Louis Chess Club in St. Louis, Missouri, United States.
The Chess World Cup 2017 was a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament, held in Tbilisi, Georgia, from 2 to 27 September 2017. It was won by Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian. This was the second time he had won the Chess World Cup, 12 years after his first win in 2005. It was the 7th edition of the Chess World Cup.
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 2021. It was the 8th edition of the Chess World Cup.
The Women's World Chess Championship 2018 was a knock-out tournament to crown a new women's world champion in chess. It was the second world championship held in 2018, after Ju Wenjun had defeated Tan Zhongyi to win the title in May 2018. The tournament was played as a 64-player knockout type from 2 to 23 November in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.
The FIDE Grand Prix 2019 was a series of four chess tournaments that formed part of the qualification cycle for the World Chess Championship 2021. The top two finishers who had not yet qualified, qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2020–21. The top non-qualifying finisher is eligible for the wild card. The series is organized by World Chess, formerly known as Agon. Alexander Grischuk won the FIDE Grand Prix 2019 and thus became the first player to qualify for the Candidates Tournament via the event. Ian Nepomniachtchi, who finished in second place, was the other qualifier, while Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, by finishing third, became eligible for the wild card. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave eventually got a place in the Candidates after Teimour Radjabov withdrew from the tournament as he was the first reserve.
The FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship 2019 (WFRCC) was the first world championship in Fischer random chess officially recognized by the international chess federation FIDE. Previous unofficial championships had been held, with the most recent winner being Magnus Carlsen in 2018. The competition started on April 28, 2019, with the first qualifying tournaments, which took place online and were open to all interested participants; and continued with further rounds up to the quarter-finals, which were also online. The semi-finals and final were played over the board between October 27 to November 2, 2019, in the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter in Bærum, Norway. The winner of the final was Wesley So, defeating Magnus Carlsen 13.5–2.5, to become the first FIDE world champion in Fischer random chess. Over the course of the competition, various time controls were applied, with longer games being weighted more heavily.
The Champions Chess Tour 2021, known for sponsorship reasons as the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, was a 10-month long series of 10 online chess tournaments featuring the world's top players, playing for a prize money pool of US$1.5 million. The tournament games are held on chess24.com and are broadcast on Twitch, YouTube, chess24.com itself, and the tour's official website. The tour started on November 22, 2020, and lasted until October 4, 2021. The tournaments were not rated by FIDE.
The 2022 Candidates Tournament was an eight-player chess tournament to decide the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2023. The tournament took place at the Palacio de Santoña in Madrid, Spain, from June 16 to July 5, 2022, with the World Championship finishing in April 2023. As with every Candidates tournament since 2013, it was a double round-robin tournament.
The Chess World Cup 2021 was a 206-player single-elimination chess tournament that took place in Sochi, Russia, beginning 12 July and ending 6 August 2021. It was the 9th edition of the Chess World Cup. The winner of this tournament was the Polish grandmaster Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who won without losing any games either in classical chess or in the rapid tiebreakers.
The FIDE Grand Prix 2022 was a series of three chess tournaments played between 4 February and 4 April 2022. The top two finishers – Hikaru Nakamura (winner) and Richárd Rapport (runner-up) – qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2022, which was the final qualification stage for the World Chess Championship 2023.
The Champions Chess Tour 2022, known for sponsorship reasons as the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, was a 9-month series of nine online chess tournaments featuring some of the world's top players, who played for a prize money pool of US$1.6 million. The tour started on February 19, 2022 and lasted until November 20, 2022.
The Women's Chess World Cup 2023 was a 103-player single-elimination chess tournament, the second edition of the Women's Chess World Cup, taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 29 July to 22 August 2023. The runner up and third place finishers, Nurgyul Salimova and Anna Muzychuk, qualified for the Women's Candidates Tournament 2024. Since Aleksandra Goryachkina, the winner of the tournament, had already qualified through the Grand Prix, her replacement was Koneru Humpy, who was the highest-rated player on the January 2024 FIDE rating list who had played a minimum 30 games.
The FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament 2024 was an eight-player chess tournament held to determine the challenger for the Women's World Chess Championship 2025. It was held from 3 April to 22 April 2024 in Toronto, Canada, alongside the Candidates Tournament 2024.
The Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge was an 8-player over-the-board classical Fischer random chess tournament that took place at Gut Weißenhaus in Wangels, Germany from February 9–16, 2024. It was the first major Fischer random chess tournament that used classical chess time controls.
