The Week in Chess

• 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...

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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...

• Abdusattorov takes a half point lead into the final round of the Tata Steel Masters - 12

  Nodirbek Abdusattorov beat Matthias Bluebaum in Round 12 of the Tata Steel Masters to take a half point lead into the final round of the Tata Steel Masters. Abdusattorov was sharing the lead with his fellow-countryman Javokhir Sindarov who took a quick draw against Praggnanandhaa, he has a final round game against Thai Dai Van Nguyen who has lost his last four rounds, but Nguyen has had winning positions in some of these games. Nguyen has clearly been outclassed but been very game, time trouble in coping with the problems he's been set has been a major issue. Nguyen qualified for this last year, he probably won't play such an event again I think he'll be motivated tomorrow. Abdusattorov faces Erigaisi in the final round, last year the same player ruined his chances in Round 12.

  This has been a brutal event with very few draws. Bluebaum has impressed and could have been leading but his game against Abdusattorov was settled by a very bad blunder. He was hardly alone, Hans Moke Niemann sacrificed a...

• Sindarov joins Abdusattorov in the lead of the Tata Steel Masters with two rounds to go - 11

  Javokhir Sindarov won a sharp game against Arjun Erigaisi, Sindarov got a winning advantage on the run up to move 40 but things were still very tricky and it was only after 52.Re4? that he was winning. In the meantime the leader Nodirbek Abdusattorov had a calm draw against Jorden Van Foreest.

  Hans Moke Niemann took a huge amount of risks against the struggling Thai Dai Van Nguyen, although the engine says he was losing at various points Nguyen's desperate time trouble was enough to justify his approach. 40.f4? left Niemann winning, 42...b2? gave Nguyen a final chance but after 43.Kf2? he was lost.

  Anish Giri won a sharp calculating game against Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, 23...Ba6? was the losing move. Vincent Keymer beat Praggnanandhaa, 25.Nd6? was the move that started the trouble.

  Vladimir Fedoseev and Matthias Bluebaum drew in 66 moves, it seemed pretty accurate. Gukesh couldn't convert a winning advantage against Chithambaram Aravindh.

  My thanks to Michiel Abeln for...