The Week in Chess

1. World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2025 - Games and Results

   The World Rapid and Blitz Championships took place Fri 26th Dec to Tue 30th Dec 2025 in Doha, Qatar.

   Players: Magnus Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Levon Aronian, Alireza Firouzja, Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Vladislav Artemiev, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Arjun Erigaisi, Jan Krzysztof Duda, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Javokhir Sindarov, Leinier Dominguez Perez, Richard Rapport, Wesley So, D Gukesh, Daniil Dubov, Anish Giri, Yangyi Yu, Alexander Grischuk, Dmitry Andreikin, Parham Maghsoodloo, Jaime Santos Latasa, Sarin Nihal, Praggnanandhaa, Teimour Radjabov, Sam Sevian, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Ray Robson, Andrey Esipenko etc

   Women Players: Ju Wenjun, Tan Zhongyi, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Tingjie Lei, Bibisara Assaubayeva, Kateryna Lagno, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Humpy Koneru, Harika Dronavalli, Zhu Jiner, Nana Dzagnidze, Mariya Muzychuk, Deshmukh Divya, Anna Muzychuk, Meruert Kamalidenova, Eline Roebers, Irina Bulmaga, Antoaneta Stefanova, Yuxin Song, Bella Khotenashvili etc

   Magnus Carlsen won both the Rapid and the Blitz, a double he completed for the fifth time. Aleksandra Goryachkina beat Zhu Jiner in a tie-break match to with the rapid, Humpy Koneru also scored 8.5/11 but missed out on the chance to play off due to a worse technical tie-break. Bibisara Assaubayeva won the women's blitz and also took the final qualification place for the Women's Candidates.

2. Magnus Carlsen completes a World Championship Rapid and Blitz double for the fifth time -

   Magnus Carlsen won the 2025 FIDE World Blitz Championship to go along with the rapid title he had already won. This was Carlsen's ninth blitz title and the fifth time he did the rapid/blitz double, along with his five World Championship matches this adds up to a total of 20 World titles won. Carlsen called the blitz title hard-earned as he had to recover several times from upsetting losses.

   In the women's event Bibisara Assaubayeva emerged victorious and with that win she earned the final Women's Candidates place.

3. Jonathan Hawkins 1983 - 2025 - 1983 - 2025

   British Chess Grandmaster Jonathan Hawkins has passed away at the far too young age of 42. Hawkins only developed into a strong player after leaving school and was self-taught. Hawkins earned the FM title in 2008, IM in 2010 and GM in 2014. He was British Champion in 2014 shared with David Howell and 2015 where he was the sole winner. In recent years Hawkins was a successful chess coach. His 2012 book "Amateur to IM" is rightly highly regarded.

4. Tech Mahindra Global Chess League 2025 - Games and Results

   The Tech Mahindra Global Chess League took place Sat 13th Dec to Tuesday 23rd Dec 2025 in Mumbai. This was a very strong rapid team event and is on its third edition with previous events in Dubai and London. There were two stages, a round robin took place until the 22nd of December followed by a final day where the top two teams played off for the title and there wasalso a 3rd-4th place match.

   Teams:

   Triveni Continental Kings: Firouzja, Wei, Vidit, Zhu, Kosteniuk, Maurizzi.

   Upgrad Mumba Masters: Vachier-Lagrave, So, Mamedyarov, Koneru, Dronavalli, Daneshvar.

   Alpine SG Pipers: Caruana, Giri, Praggnanandhaa, Hou, Batsiashvili, Mendonca.

   Ganges Grandmasters: Anand, Keymer, Sindarov, Shuvalova, Tsolakidou, Sadhwani.

   PBG Alaskan Knights: Gukesh, Erigaisi, Dominguez Perez, Lagno, Khademalsharieh, Dardha.

   Fyers American Gambits: Nakamura, Artemiev, Rapport, Assaubayeva, Injac, Murzin.

   Alpine SG Pipers beat Triveni Continental Kings in both matches. PBG Alaskan Knights beat Ganges Grandmasters to take third place but only after wins in the first two matches were shared.

5. Magistral Szmetan-Giardelli 2025 - Games and Results

   The Magistral Szmetan-Giardelli was Round Robin held in Buenos Aire 8th to 16th December 2025. Players: Aryan Tari, Ivan Cheparinov, Julio, Granda Zuniga, Alexei Shirov, Diego Flores, Sandro Mareco, Faustino Oro, Ilan Schnaider, Sergio Slipak and Tomas, Darcyl. Aryan Tari took a quick draw in the final round and won on tie-break from Ivan Cheparinov after both scored 6/9, Alexei Shirov was also very much in the running for first place going into the final round but lost to Granda Zuniga in the final round and ended up in third place on tie-break from Faustino Oro on 5.5/9, Oro made his second GM norm.

6. 11th Vugar Gashimov Memorial 2025 - Games and Results

   The 11th Vugar Gashimov Memorial took place in Stepanakert Tue 9th Dec to Thu 11th Dec 2025. There were two days of rapid and one day of blitz. Players: Nepomniachtchi, Fedoseev, Mamedov, Tabatabaei, Yakubboev and Suleymanli.

   Ian Nepomniachtchi won the rapid by half a point from Vladimir Fedoseev, the result was reversed for the blitz. The first tie-break was individual results between the players and Nepomniachtchi won one and drew one against Fedoseev in each part so won the tournament.

7. Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Finals 2025 - Games and Results

   The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Finals took place Mon 8th Dec to Thu 11th Dec 2025. The venue was the Grootbos Private Nature Reserve two hours drive from Cape Town. The event was a fast rapid time control of 10 minutes + 5 seconds a move. Players: Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Vincent Keymer, Arjun Erigaisi, Levon Aronian, Hans Niemann, Parham Maghsoodloo and Javokhir Sindarov.

   Perhaps fittingly the two biggest advocates of this Chess960 tour met in the final. Levon Aronian beat Magnus Carlsen 1.5-0.5. Aronian went the entire event undefeated. Carlsen lost two in the preliminaries and three in the knockout section, which I'm sure he'll view as entirely too many. Carlsen had previously dominated the tour and so in spite of this result won the tour title.

   I can't display Chess960 games but they're all available for download.

8. 15th XTX Markets London Chess Classic 2025 - Games and Results

   The 15th XTX Markets London Chess Classic took place Wed 26th Nov to Sun 7th Dec 2025. Players: Alireza Firouzja, Luke Mcshane, Michael Adams, Nikolas Theodorou, Sam Shankland, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Pavel Eljanov, Nikita Vitiugov, Abhimanyu Mishra and Gawain Maroroa Jones.

   Nodirbek Abdusattorov dominated the event scoring 7.5/9 and finished two points clear of Alireza Firouzja. The open saw Praggnanandhaa, Vladimir Ivic and Ameet Ghasi tie on 7/9. The Super Rapid was won by Nikolas Theodorou on 9/10 with Alireza Firouza half a point behind on 8.5 points.