Chess Calendar 2023
2023 sees a new classical World Chess Champion crowned for the first time in a decade, as Ian Nepomniachtchi takes on Ding Liren for the title vacated by Magnus Carlsen. There’s a new $2 million Champions Chess Tour combining the best of last year’s tour and the Chess.com Global Championship, while we’ve also got the World Cup, Grand Swiss, Women’s World Championship match, European Team Championship and much more.
We already know the dates for a lot of big events in 2023, but there are a lot more to come, with, for instance, the US Championships and the Grand Chess Tour schedule yet to be announced. What follows is a work in progress, which will be updated during the course of 2023.
Upcoming/current events:
July 2023
July 2 – 9 | Dutch Chess Championships | Utrecht, Netherlands
The Dutch Open Championship is 13-player knockout, with the Dutch top three, Anish Giri, Jorden van Foreest and Erwin l’Ami getting a bye through to Round 2. The Dutch Women’s Championship is a 4-player double round-robin.
Links: official website, chess24: Open, Women
July 5 – 9 | SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia | Zagreb, Croatia
The third of five events on the 2023 Grand Chess Tour is a 10-player rapid and blitz tournament with a $175,000 prize fund. World no. 1 Magnus Carlsen tops the line-up, which also features the 15th World Champion Vishy Anand.
Links: official website, chess24
July 5 – 23 | Women’s World Championship Match | Shanghai/Chongqing, China
Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun will defend her title in a 12-game match against her Chinese compatriot Lei Tingjie. The first six games are played in Ju Wenjun’s home city of Shanghai, before the action switches to Lei Tingjie’s Chongqing. The prize fund is €500,000, with €300,000 going to the winner.
We may get a repeat of the 2018 Women’s World Championship match, when Ju Wenjun defeated the reigning champion Tan Zhongyi to claim the title | photo: Chinese Chess Federation
Links: official website, chess24
July 7 – 9 | Leon Masters | Leon, Spain
The 36th Leon Masters features defending champion Boris Gelfand as well as Gukesh, Nikita Vitiugov and Jaime Santos. Each match of the 4-player knockout features four 20+10 games.
Links: official website, chess24
July 10 – 14 | Aimchess Rapid | Chess.com
The fourth stage of the new $2 million Champions Chess Tour. The $235,000, 5-day double-elimination tournament is the fourth of six such events that will decide the eight players to go forward to the Playoffs in December. The tournament is split into three decisions, with 8 players in Division I, 16 in Division II and 32 in Division III.
Links: official website
July 15 – 25 | U.S. Junior, Girls & Senior Championships | Saint Louis, USA
These events for young and old players are probably the best funded and covered of any similar national championships around the world. The winners of the junior events can earn a spot in the overall U.S. Championships.
Links: official website
July 18 – 26 | Biel International Chess Festival | Biel/Bienne, Switzerland
The Grandmaster Triathlon will once again see eight top players compete in classical, rapid and blitz chess. The players in 2023 are Yu Yangyi, Liem Le, Arjun Erigaisi, Bogdan-Daniel Deac, Vincent Keymer, Bassem Amin, David Navara and Jules Moussard.
Links: official website
July 24 | Champions Chess Tour Play-In 5 | Chess.com
This one-day Play-In will determine the 56 players in the 5th Champions Chess Tour event, that runs August 28-September 1. There are four places in Division I, 16 in Division II and 32 in Division III up for grabs.
The qualifier starts with a 9-round 10+2 Swiss tournament open to all grandmasters. The top finishers then play a 2-game match, with a potential Armageddon decider, to decide who plays in which division.
Links: official website
July 30 – August 25 | FIDE World Cup | Baku, Azerbaijan
The FIDE World Cup will in 2023 decide 3 of the players for the 2024 FIDE Candidates Tournament. The Open will again feature 206 players, with the 50 top seeds joining from Round 2. Matches are decided in 2-game classical matches, with rapid and blitz playoffs.
Duda knocked Carlsen out in the semi-finals and went on to win the 2021 FIDE World Cup — will Magnus be back to try and win one of the few events he’s yet to win? | photo: Eric Rosen, FIDE
The Women’s event is one round shorter and has 103 players, with the top 25 seeds joining in Round 2. There’s a $110,000 top prize in the Open and $50,000 in the Women’s.
August 2023
August 1 – 11 | Summer Chess Classic | Saint Louis, USA
A strong 10-player round robin for players just below the level of supertournament regulars.
August 26 – 28 | World Rapid Team Championship | Dusseldorf, Germany
A new FIDE endorsed team tournament with the same sponsor as the WR Chess Masters.
Links: official website
August 28 – September 1 | Champions Chess Tour 5 | Chess.com
The fifth stage of the new $2 million Champions Chess Tour. The $235,000, 5-day double-elimination tournament is the fifth of six such events that will decide the eight players to go forward to the Playoffs in December. The tournament is split into three decisions, with 8 players in Division I, 16 in Division II and 32 in Division III.
Links: official website
September 2023
September 4 – 15 | European Youth Chess Championship | Mamaia, Romania
The European Youth Chess Championship is being held in six age categories, from Under 8 to U18, with separate open and girl sections.
September 7 – 10 | Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX | Saint Louis, USA
The latest edition of the traditional event where all the games are played in Chess960 or Fischer Random Chess, a chess variant where the configuration of the pieces on the back rank is selected randomly from one of 960 options.
September 11 | Champions Chess Tour Play-In 6 | Chess.com
This one-day Play-In will determine the 56 players in the 6th Champions Chess Tour event, that runs September 25-29. There are four places in Division I, 16 in Division II and 32 in Division III up for grabs.
The qualifier starts with a 9-round 10+2 Swiss tournament open to all grandmasters. The top finishers then play a 2-game match, with a potential Armageddon decider, to decide who plays in which division.
Links: official website
September 23 – October 8 | Asian Games | Hangzhou, China
The 19th Asian Games, originally planned for 2022 but postponed because of the pandemic, features chess among its 24 disciplines.
September 25 – 29 | Champions Chess Tour 6 | Chess.com
The sixth stage of the new $2 million Champions Chess Tour. The $235,000, 5-day double-elimination tournament is the last of six such events that will decide the eight players to go forward to the Playoffs in December. The tournament is split into three decisions, with 8 players in Division I, 16 in Division II and 32 in Division III.
Links: official website
October 2023
October 1 – 8 | European Club Cup | Durres, Albania
The European Club Cup is a team event for open and women’s teams that have played in European national team competitions. A 7-round sprint, it’s usually featured World Champion Magnus Carlsen.
October 5 – 17 | U.S. Championships | Saint Louis, USA
The U.S. Championship and U.S. Women’s Championship have become gruelling events, with stars such as Levon Aronian, Wesley So, Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Leinier Dominguez facing off against ambitious youngsters. The event plans to return to a 12-player format in 2023 after the 14-player event in 2022.
Links: official website
October 10 – 20 | Qatar Masters | Doha, Qatar
14th World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik and 16th World Champion Magnus Carlsen made a quick draw as Magnus won the Qatar Masters at his 1st attempt | photo: Katerina Savina, Qatar Masters
In 2014 and 2015 the Qatar Masters helped transform open tournaments with a prize fund that attracted the likes of Vladimir Kramnik and Magnus Carlsen. It’s returning in 2023, with a $110,000 prize fund.
October 23 – November 5 | FIDE Grand Swiss | Douglas, Isle of Man
The Grand Swiss returns to the Isle of Man in 2023 with the two 11-round Swiss tournaments set to decide two places in the next FIDE Candidates and FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournaments. The Open event will feature 114 players and the Women’s 50, with a total prize fund of $600,000.
Fabiano Caruana beat Alireza Firouzja in 2021, but Alireza won the event and both players qualified for the Candidates | photo: Anna Shtourman, FIDE
Links: official website
November 2023
November 10 – 21 | European Team Chess Championship | Budva, Montenegro
The European Team Chess Championship is a 9-round biennial event for national teams. Ukraine (Open) and Russia (Women’s) are the defending champions, though it remains to be seen if Russia or Belarus will be eligible to play in 2023.
November 12 – 25 | World Youth Championship | Montesilvano, Italy
The Under 14, 16 and 18 categories of the World Youth Championship are held as 11-round Swiss tournaments.
November 13 – 18 | Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz | Saint Louis, USA
The fourth of five events on the 2023 Grand Chess Tour is a 10-player rapid and blitz tournament with a $175,000 prize fund.
Links: official website
November 20 – December 2 | Sinquefield Cup | Saint Louis, USA
The 2022 Sinquefield Cup was overshadowed by Magnus Carlsen’s withdrawal, but Alireza Firouzja beat Ian Nepomniachtchi in a playoff to win the tournament — and the Tour as a whole | photo: Lennart Ootes
The last of five events on the 2023 Grand Chess Tour is a 10-player classical tournament with a $175,000 prize fund. An additional $175,000 will also be awarded to the top 3 overall finishers on the Tour.
Links: official website
December 2023
December 1 – 11 | Winter Chess Classic | Saint Louis, USA
A strong 10-player round robin for players just below the level of supertournament regulars.
December 4 – 12 | Champions Chess Tour Playoffs | Chess.com
The eight players who qualified from the six events over the course of the year compete for four places in the Finals. After a round-robin the top two go straight through to the final, while the players in places 3-6 compete in a knockout for the final two places.
Links: official website
December 15 – 22 | Champions Chess Tour Finals | Chess.com
The 2023 Champions Chess Tour comes to an end with a 4-player knockout to decide the winner of the $200,000 top prize. The semi-finals are best of three 4-game sets and the final best of five sets.
Links: official website
December 26 – 30 | World Rapid and Blitz Championships
We can expect 2023 to end with the usual Christmas speed chess extravangza of three days of the World Rapid Championship (15+10) followed by two days of the World Blitz (3+2), with Open and Women’s sections.
Source: https://chess24.com
