The Week in Chess

1. American Cup 2026 - Games and Results

   The American Cup is a double elimination knockout tournament held in Saint Louis. There is an open and women's event.

   Players Open event: Fabiano, Caruana, Wesley So, Leinier Dominguez Perez, Levon Aronian, Awonder Liang, Samuel Sevian, Ray Robson and Abhimanyu Mishra

   Players Women's event: Carissa Yip, Alice Lee, Irina Krush, Tatev Abrahamyan, Anna Sargsyan, Zoey Tang, Anna Zatonskih and Rachael Li.

2. 8th Prague International Chess Festival 2026 - Games and Results

   The 8th Prague International Chess Festival took place Tue 24th Feb to Fri 6th Mar 2026. Players Masters: Vincent Keymer, D Gukesh, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Hans Moke, Niemann, Parham Maghsoodloo, Jorden Van Foreest, Aravindh Chithambaram V, Nodirbek Yakubboev, David Anton Guijarro and David Navara. There's a strong Challengers section, Futures and an open too.

   Nodirbek Abdusattorov won his third classical tournament in a row after London and Tata Steel. He won three and drew six games. Jorden Van Foreest took an early lead but defeats in the final two rounds took him down to a tie for second place with Maghsoodloo and Aravindh. World Champion Gukesh finished tied for last place with David Anton, his only win came in the last round against Anton. Top seed Vincent Keymer tied for 8th place. Vaclav Finek won the challengers.

3. Saint Louis Masters 2026 - Games and Results

   The Saint Louis Masters took place Tue 24th Feb to Sun 1st Mar 2026. Mikhail Antipov won the event with 7.5/9 after beating Andy Woodward in the final round, he was half a point clear of Fabiano Caruana who failed to convert a winning endgame against Francesco Sonis. Lorenzo Lodici finished in clear third place with 6.5/9.

4. Jan Timman 1951-2026 - 1951-2026

   Jan Timman, the Dutch number one chess player for many years and World number two in January 1982, has passed away at the age of 74. Timman first qualified for an Interzonal in 1979 and was a Candidate between the years of 1986 and 1996. He fought a 24 game match for the FIDE World Chess Championship against Anatoly Karpov in 1993. His most impressive tournament win was the 1991 Immopar Rapid in Paris, this was a knockout where he beat Gata Kamsky, Anatoly Karpov, Viswanathan Anand, and Garry Kasparov. Timman was a very successful tournament player, especially in the 1980s and his career results are more than comparable with the legendary Bent Larsen. Timman had a Universal and varied style and at his best his games were of the very highest quality. He noted in his book Timman's Triumphs that there were frequently errors in conversion of advantages, even in his best games, and also noted too many dubious positions with black, these were the key downsides to his play. That games collection was just one of his many excellent books, he was also a renowned study composer. His last games were in the Dutch Championship in July 2024 where he lost to Erwin L'Ami in the first round of this knockout tournament. He announced that he was retired from over the board play in May 2025.

5. FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2026 - Games and Results

   The FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship took place in Wangels, Germany, Fri 13th Feb to Sun 15th Feb 2026. Time control 10m+5spm. Round Robin followed by KO. Carlsen won the all-play-all with 4.5/7 half a point clear of Caruana, Keymer and Abdusattorov and they played for the title over the weekend. Aronian, Erigaisi, Niemann and Sindarov played off for the minor placings.

   Magnus Carlsen beat Fabiano Caruana 2.5-1.5 in the final to win the title, he won game three.

   The games are available for download but I can't display them.

6. chess.com Speed Chess Final 2025 - Games and Results

   chess.com Speed Chess Final 2025 took place in person in London 7th to 8th February 2026. The was hosted by Chess.com's server. Magnus Carlsen won the event by defeating Denis Lazavik in the semifinals and Alireza Firouzja in the final. Lazavik beat Hikaru Nakamura to 3rd place.

7. 88th Tata Steel 2026 - Games and Results

   The 88th Tata Steel Chess tournament took place in Wijk aan Zee Fri 16th Jan to Sun 1st Feb 2026. Players: Masters: Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, Aravindh Chithambaram, Hans Niemann, Vincent Keymer, Javokhir Sindarov, Jorden van Foreest, Arjun Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Van Nguyen Thai Dai, Gukesh Dommaraju, Anish Giri, Vladimir Fedoseev, Matthias Bluebaum and Nodirbek Abdusattorov.

   Challengers: Vasyl Ivanchuk, Marc Andria Maurizzi, Velimir Ivic, Erwin l'Ami, Bibisara Assaubayeva, Eline Roebers, Miaoyi Lu, Max Warmerdam, Panesar Vedant, Andy Woodward, Aydin Suleymanli, Faustino Oro, Daniil Yuffa and Carissa Yip.

   Nodirbek Abdusattorov won the Masters, Andy Woodward the Challengers and the top Amateur group was won by Christian Gloeckler. Woodward will play in the Masters next year and Gloeckler the Challengers.

8. Abdusattorov beats Erigaisi to win the Tata Steel Masters - 13

   Nodirbek Abdusattorov took clear first in the Tata Steel Masters 2026. This is his second major victor in a row after winning the London Chess Classic, that followed a disaster at the Sinquefield Cup in August last year where he finished last.

   Abdusattorov was unsurprisingly very happy to win this year having come so close to winning the tournament several times in recent years. He said winning this tournament was a childhood dream. Abdusattorov had a half point lead and he beat Arjun Erigaisi in convincing style on the black side of an Evans Gambit. The result relegated Erigaisi to 13th place a terrible result for a player of his class. Javokhir Sindarov managed to squeeze out a win against Thai Dai Van Nguyen and finished in clear second place. Jorden Van Foreest had good winning chances against Praggnanandhaa but failed to convert in the end, he was on the same score was Hans Moke Niemann and Vincent Keymer but took 3rd on tie-break.

   My thanks to Michiel Abeln for his help with notes and photos throughout the tournament.

   In the Challengers Andy Woodward won in the final round against Erwin L'Ami to qualify for next year's Masters event, his rivals for this place for much of the time were Marc'andria Maurizzi and Aydin Suleymanli but losses toward the end cost them. Instead it was Vasyl Ivanchuk who scored 6 wins and 2 draws in his final 8 rounds and he took second place half a point behind the winner.

   Final Standings Masters: 1st Nodirbek Abdusattorov 9pts, 2nd Javokhir Sindarov 8.5pts, 3rd Jorden Van Foreest 7.5pts, 4th Hans Moke Niemann 7.5pts, 5th Vincent Keymer 7.5pts, 6th Matthias Bluebaum 7pts, 7th Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus 7pts, 8th Anish Giri 6.5pts, 9th Vladimir Fedoseev 6.5pts, 10th D Gukesh 6.5pts, 11th R Praggnanandhaa 5.5pts, 12th Chithambaram V Aravindh 4.5pts, 13th Arjun Erigaisi 4.5pts, 14th Thai Dai Van Nguyen 3pts.

   Final Standings Challengers: 1st Andy Woodward 10pts, 2nd Vasyl Ivanchuk 9.5pts, 3rd Aydin Suleymanli 9pts, 4th Marc'andria Maurizzi 8pts, 5th Bibisara Assaubayeva 7.5pts, 6th Faustino Oro 7pts, 7th Carissa Yip 7pts, 8th Max Warmerdam 6.5pts, 9th Velimir Ivic 6pts, 10th Daniil Yuffa 5.5pts, 11th Erwin L'ami 5pts, 12th Vedant Panesar 4pts, 13th Miaoyi Lu 3.5pts, 14th Eline Roebers 2.5pts.