The Week in Chess

• Abdusattorov extends his winning streak to 5 games in London - 5-6

  Nodirbek Abdusattorov leads the London Chess Classic with 5.5/6 one and a half points clear of Alireza Firouzja. After a first round draw Abdusattorov has now won five games in a row.

  In round five he defeated Nikolas Theodorou in a battling game. Abdusattorov chose the English after recently favouring 1.e4 and this seemed to sidestep all of his opponent's preparation and produce a nice advantage. Theodorou fought back and after 20 moves was equal again, then on move 26 he decided to give up his Queen for Rook and Knight, this wasn't losing but it made him a bit worse, then the game became very wild with black being objectively lost but finding tricky ideas. After 38.Qe3 the game was equal but 39...Nd3? (39...Re2!=) ruined everything for black and Abdusattorov cleaned up after first time control.

  In round six Abdusattorov again only won after a big fight, this time against Sam Shankland. 27.Rd4? was the losing move with Shankland failing to appreciate that the Rook was unstable on this...

• Abdusattorov leads the London Chess Classic with 3.5/4 - 3-4

  Nodirbek Abdusattorov has started quickly to lead the London Chess Classic alone after four rounds. All the games were drawn in the first round, since then he has beaten Abhimanyu Mishra, Nikita Vitiugov and Michael Adams.

  Abdusattorov's win against Vitiugov is particularly interesting, as black Abdusattorov gradually took over the position but still had to be precise until the very end. Notes below.

  Close on Abdusattorov's heals is Alireza Firouzja who has wins against Luke McShane and Pavel Eljanov. Nikolas Theodorou is the only other player on a plus score with three draws and a win against Gawain Maroroa Jones.

• Firouzja, Theodorou and Abdusattorov lead the London Chess Classic after wins in Round 2 - 2

  The London Chess Classic has three leaders after the first two rounds of the tournament. The first round was reasonably quiet with five draws, Alireza Firouzja had decent winning chances against Sam Shankland and Michael Adams looked to be a little better against Luke McShane. The second round saw three decisive games and there could have been a fourth. Alireza Firouzja, Nikolas Theodorou, and Nodirbek Abdusattorov share the lead with 1.5/2 after scoring wins in Round 2.

• Javokhir Sindarov wins the FIDE World Cup 2025 - 8

  Javokhir Sindarov beat Wei Yi in the final of the FIDE World Cup. The two classical games were drawn taking the match to a final tie-break. The first classical game was a Petroff Defence where Wei Yi as black briefly had a small advantage, the second game was a 30 move draw in a Four Knights that only took a few minutes to execute. The rapid games were not of the highest quality, both players were almost certainly very tired, and they'd also achieved their main objective, qualifying for the Candidates. In the first rapid game Wei Yi blundered with 30...g5? and this could have been met by 31.Be4! winning. The second game was a fluctuating struggle where Wei Yi suddenly found his king under attack and couldn't find the only move to save himself.

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

  The 15th XTX Markets London Chess Classic takes 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. There's an open alongside with Praggnanandhaa as top seed. Strong Rapid and Blitz rounds out the event.

• Wei Yi and Javokhir Sindarov reach the FIDE World Cup final and qualify for the Candidates tournament - 7

  The FIDE World Cup final will be between Wei Yi of China and Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan, this result mean both have qualified for the FIDE Candidates tournament in Pegeia, Cyprus, 28th March to 16th April 2026. These players join Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Matthias Bluebaum who have already qualified for the Candidates, Hikaru Nakamura is almost certain to qualify on rating, in addition, the winner of the 3rd-4th playoff in this World Cup will also earn a place.

• Tata Steel Chess tournament all set for its 2026 edition after announcing the players -

  The Tata Steel Chess tournament takes place in Wijk aan Zee 16th Jan - 1st Feb 2026. The fields for both the Masters and Challengers have been set and they reflect the state of professional chess today.

  The Masters group has an average age of just 23. Exciting players like Vincent Keymer, Arjun Erigaisi, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Hans Niemann should light up the competition. World Champion Gukesh might be struggling at the moment but you'd want him in your tournament, especially as he only just missed out last year following a tie-break match with the eventual winner Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa. Dutch number one Anish Giri is the oldest player in the field at 32, he has enjoyed one of his best years, the highlight of which was his qualification for the Candidates by taking clear first place in the Grand Swiss Tournament in Samarkand.