2026 chess season tracker

[Gollum]

Samay Raina won the event. His SF against Andrea Botez was thrilling. 

 

Most unexpected winner, initially I thought Andrea or Linda Diaz would win, going by their ratings.

Edited December 6, 2025 by Gollum

[Mariyam]

2 hours ago, Gollum said:

Samay Raina won the event. His SF against Andrea Botez was thrilling. 

 

Most unexpected winner, initially I thought Andrea or Linda Diaz would win, going by their ratings.

Prakhar Gupta doesn't play in these marquee events.

 

Among 'influencers' he is by far the strongest.

[Gollum]

Embarrassing, losing to a 56-year-old retired guy. 

[Lord]

15 hours ago, Gollum said:

Embarrassing, losing to a 56-year-old retired guy. 

 

Maybe a case of teacher knowing his student well.

 

Vishy is still ranked 12. Beat Magnus at 52

[Gollum]

7 hours ago, Lord said:

 

Maybe a case of teacher knowing his student well.

 

Vishy is still ranked 12. Beat Magnus at 52

Vishy's rating is inflated because he hardly plays these days. Easy to maintain rating when you play half a dozen games against weak opponents (Bundesliga) every year, even Carlsen has maintained his classical rating just like that, no way he is 2840 in this current era of rating deflation. 

 

Anyway if Vishy regularly plays these top guys, he will get mauled and his rating will go to 2600s....he is 56 FGS and hasn't played a serious tournament since 2022 (in fact he semi retired post pandemic, was last active in elite circuits in 2019), age difference between him and most of today's elite players (Firouzja, Gukesh, Pragg, Arjun, Vincent, Nodirbek, Sindarov, Niemann) is bigger than between him and Tal/Fischer/Spassky/Korchnoi, heck even MC/Naka/Fabi are 20+ years younger than him. He is also more into FIDE business (as VP), in the middle of this tournament he has been making addresses and participating in a very heated FIDE general assembly. No excuse for Gukesh to lose to a has been, he has been disappointing whole year....I can't recall another instance of a world champion losing to someone 37 years elder to him, in any format !!!!!

Edited December 19, 2025 by Gollum

[Gollum]

Gukesh met Anand 6 times in the Mahindra event, won 1, lost 2, drew 3. Wtf was that?

 

This kind of servile attitude in our juniors is worrying, happens in cricket as well where even our most talented kids are awestruck by Dhoni, Kohli, Rohit and that shows in their timid play. Fine to respect your seniors but why put them on a pedestal like this? Even Arjun said something similar, he too has a losing record against Anand and they have met only after him turning 55 !!!!!!

 

I don't see kids from other countries equating their heroes/mentors to God. 

 

 

 

Edited December 24, 2025 by Gollum

[Lord]

On 12/24/2025 at 8:12 AM, Gollum said:

Gukesh met Anand 6 times in the Mahindra event, won 1, lost 2, drew 3. Wtf was that?

 

This kind of servile attitude in our juniors is worrying, happens in cricket as well where even our most talented kids are awestruck by Dhoni, Kohli, Rohit and that shows in their timid play. Fine to respect your seniors but why put them on a pedestal like this? Even Arjun said something similar, he too has a losing record against Anand and they have met only after him turning 55 !!!!!!

 

I don't see kids from other countries equating their heroes/mentors to God. 

 

 

 

 

Worshipping individuals is a unique Indian apect in all walks of life across movies,sport, politics etc

Edited December 30, 2025 by Lord

[Gollum]

Tata Steel rapid/blitz going on in Kolkata. Anybody here following or attending? Exciting lineup of players both in men's and women's sections. 

 

From 15th is the main event (classical) in Wijk aan Zee. Wimbledon of Chess. 

 

[vvvslaxman]

[Gollum]

1 hour ago, vvvslaxman said:

Team A because more fun to follow their playing style. Aggressive, dynamic, tactical style as compared to positional, slow, maneuvering (and relying on microscopic advantages in endgame) of Team B. Playing strength-wise, B may even have a slight edge but boring. Most chess fans/followers will choose A. 

 

But very difficult to do cross-era comparisons. Engines have refuted many of Tal's bold sacrifices (which were met with awe and wonder those days, even Fischer found him a very tough opponent). Fischer, Capablanca never interacted with engines. 

 

It is something like Sachin/Viv/Lara vs Gavaskar/Steve Smith/Hobbs. Swashbucklers vs relentless run machines. 

Edited January 10 by Gollum

[Gollum]

Tal won only 1 world championship title (that too in his early 20s), was rarely #1 or the player to beat, just 2 title matches in his entire career. Most of his career, languished outside top 3, modern engines refute many of his famous games for their inaccuracies . But he holds a special place in every chess player's heart. A rare Soviet player who Fischer respected (famous incident of visiting him in a hospital and playing him). Tal was also the childhood idol of Kasparov and Anand. Botvinnik was far more successful winning 5 world titles, starting the Soviet School of Chess (his students include Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik), but still don't see adulation for him like I see for Tal. 

 

People love him for his style.... creatvity, attack oriented game, unpredictability, the carefree way he lived his life and shared political opinions when USSR demanded conformity. A famous quote by the 8th world champion

 

Also probably the most famous Latvian of all time. And a man with conscience. Refused to sign the letter condemning Korchnoi for defecting to the West, spoke in favor of Spassky after he had become a pariah in Soviet chess circles. 

 

[Gollum]

Tal suffered a lot of health problems mainly due to his smoking and drinking habits. Would show up in elite tournament games with vodka and a pack of cigarretes. Died young, in his mid 50s. 

 

Shortly before his death, he was lying in a hospital in Moscow, most of his organs almost giving up. Sneaked out to play a blitz tournament which featured many top Soviet players of that time. 55 yo Tal turned up, crushed peak Kasparov in his inimitable style and went back to his hospital bed to die a few days later. 

 

 

Kasparov has so many interesting anecdotes about Tal, Botvinning, Spassky. Tal openly supported Kasparov in mid 80s in his duels against Kremlin's boy Karpov. 

 

 

 

Edited January 10 by Gollum

[Mariyam]

@Gollum

 

Your story telling abilities are so natural. Absolute fountain of knowledge on so many topics!

 

Another interesting (from a story POV) character is Korochnoi. He was always paranoid that the KGB will get him after he defected.

 

Gukesh’s and Pragg’s rise from financial and logistical difficulties also makes for a good story.

[Gollum]

23 minutes ago, Mariyam said:

@Gollum

 

Your story telling abilities are so natural. Absolute fountain of knowledge on so many topics!

 

Another interesting (from a story POV) character is Korochnoi. He was always paranoid that the KGB will get him after he defected.

 

Gukesh’s and Pragg’s rise from financial and logistical difficulties also makes for a good story.

Korchnoi had every reason to be paranoid. After he defected, his wife and son were arrested on flimsy grounds and made to toil in a Siberian labour camp for a few years. He played those 2 title matches against Karpov knowing full well the precarious state of his wife and kid, Kremlin's way of exerting psychological pressure and punishing him for the defection. Many experts believe that his underperformance was largely due to him being preoccupied with the fate of his family held hostage,. The more you read about the strings FIDE/Kremlin pulled for Karpov, the more he falls in your eyes. 

 

From New York Times

 

 

His wife, Petra (Dutch born), too had an interesting life. She was allegedly a spy in her student days, got arrested in East Germany and spent a decade in prison. This was before she met Viktor. She passed away during pandemic time. Close to Anand's family, she and Anand's mom would spend time together in late 80s when they accompanied their wife/son to tournaments. Korchnoi as you know remained an elite player even in his 60s, 70s, 80s. Top 10 at the age of 60 IIRC, beat Carauana in classical at the age of 80 in early 2010s. 

[Gollum]

Aside from his fiery temper (someone called him 'Viktor the Terrible' and it stuck), Korchnoi best represents the idiosyncrasies of some of these chess greats @Mariyam

 

Karpov used to travel with a contingent of KGB agents during his world championship days. 1978 was the venue of their first title match, in Baguio, Philippines. Korchnoi alleged that one of the KGB agents was a hypnotist whose job was to distract Korchnoi during the chess games by sitting in the 1st row and staring at him. He protested to the arbiter that his brain waves were being tampered with, but no response, so he started wearing these giant, dark sunglasses.

 

This move didn't work and so after losing a game, he got involved in a tussle with that KGB guy and next round onwards the organizers pushed him to a back row and away from Korchnoi's view.

 

Then in one of the games, he alleged that without asking, Karpov was being served yogurt of different flavours in the middle of the game and those were actually coded messages from his camp. So both parties had a meeting and it was agreed that Karpov would be served yogurt but only one flavour (blueberry I think) and at the same time during games. Karpov fought hard to include two flavours but was denied. 

 

Anyway in one of the later rounds, Korchnoi was still not happy with the 'hypnotist' being in the playing venue because some scientist had told him that hypnosis could be done even from a distance. So he got some Hindu/Buddhist mystics and asked them to be seated in certain strategic locations in the arena to counter the Soviet mind bender. So these chaps assumed their yogic positions and started doing meditation much to the amusement of the spectators, the KGB guy started convulsing, covered his face and left the arena . After some time, local authorities arrived there and evicted those mystics because of their dress code, also turned out they were out on bail for attempted murder of an Indian diplomat. Korchnoi hid these folks in his hotel room that night claiming they were his yoga teachers, he also invited a local mediaperson to his room to show him what all yoga he had learnt and that they were innocent !!!! Anyway it turned out that these mystics were indeed frauds and also had links to the murder attempt, police got involved and they were sent packing away the next day leaving Korchnoi distraught. Amidst all this, the Soviets alleged that CIA was helping Korchnoi and came in with reinforcements, multiple parapsychologists back on front row sitting beside top government officials of Philippines including the President (a dictator close to Soviets). 

 

Anyway it was a low quality match, famous only for all this drama. 

 

Anand was in the Philippines at that time (his father was Southern Railways GM and had some assignment in Manila for a couple of years), just a kid. But the chess boom (apart from this match, they had Eugene Torre who broke through that time, 1st Asian GM and ranked as high as world #20 at one point of time), attention due to this bizarre match, etc. captured Anand's imagination and his chess journey truly began. There was a chess TV show aired in the mornings which Anand would miss because of school, so his mom would note down the puzzles, analysis and Anand would solve them first thing after returning home, and submit them to the TV station for prizes (chess books which he won aplenty, he showed that collection to Sagar once). I have always been fascinated by 70s Philippines and its role in chess, got into that hole a few years back while reading up about Campomanes who was a very controversial FIDE President for most of 80s and 90s, including all Kasparov-Karpov matches. Also 'Thrilla in Manilla', a legendary Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier bout in 1975 which was the 3rd and final chapter of their epic rivalry, widely regarded as the greatest boxing fight of all time, and which cemented Ali as the GOAT. 

 

Another fun fact. The playing hall of Karpov-Korchnoi, 1978 is the exact place where Anand became world junior champion in 1987, beating Ivanchuk (who Soviets had tipped as Kasparov's successor) in the penultimate round. 

Edited January 10 by Gollum

[Gollum]

Nihal won the rapid event. Arjun followed world rapid and blitz bronze with another bronze here. Good to see Nihal making progress. 

 

[vvvslaxman]

7 hours ago, Gollum said:

Tal suffered a lot of health problems mainly due to his smoking and drinking habits. Would show up in elite tournament games with vodka and a pack of cigarretes. Died young, in his mid 50s. 

 

Shortly before his death, he was lying in a hospital in Moscow, most of his organs almost giving up. Sneaked out to play a blitz tournament which featured many top Soviet players of that time. 55 yo Tal turned up, crushed peak Kasparov in his inimitable style and went back to his hospital bed to die a few days later. 

 

 

Kasparov has so many interesting anecdotes about Tal, Botvinning, Spassky. Tal openly supported Kasparov in mid 80s in his duels against Kremlin's boy Karpov. 

 

 

 

Coincidentally this popular Tamil Chess channel shared a game of Tal from 1961.  This guy has a playlist for Tal who is called as sacrifice Genius.

 

 

[Gollum]

Spassky on Korchnoi

Originally posted on Chesstalk February 3, 2000

 

by Kevin Spraggett

 

I remember fondly one conversation I had a few years back with Boris Spassky. We were discussing 'THE' Victor Korchnoi ('Victor the Terrible' to many).

Boris and Victor had been bitter adversaries for more than 40 years at the time of this conversation, and they had played more than 60 times in official competitions..(including 2 candidates finals)... only Karpov can boast to have played Victor more times.

Boris, at one point, came up with the incredible statement that Korchnoi had every quality necessary to become world champion BUT lacked ONE very essential quality...and it was precisely this quality that prevented him from attaining chess' highest title.

I coaxed Boris on...He began to list Korchnoi's many qualities:

	...Killer Instinct (nobody can even compare with Victor's 'gift')
	...Phenomenal capacity to work (both on the board and off the board)
	...Iron nerves (even with seconds left on the clock)
	...Ability to Calculate (maybe only Fischer was better in this department)
	...Tenacity and perseverance in Defense (unmatched by anyone)
	...The ability to counterattack (unrivaled in chess history)
	...Impeccable Technique (Flawless, even better than Capa's)
	...Capacity to concentrate (unreal)
	...Impervious to distractions during the game
	...Brilliant understanding of strategy
	...Superb tactian (only a few in history an compare with Victor)
	...Possessing the most profound opening preparation of any GM of his generation
	...Subtle Psychologist
	...Super-human will to win (matched only by Fischer)
	...Deep knowledge of all of his adversaries
	...Enormous energy and self-discipline Then Boris stopped, and just looked at me, begging for me to ask the question that needed to be asked.... I asked: 'But, Boris, what does Victor lack to become world champion?' Boris' answer floored me: ''He has no chess talent !'' And then he roared with laughter...

[Gollum]

Kevin Spraggett is an old GM from Canada, used to run a fun blog about chess history and lessons back in the day. Last time I checked it was mostly porno and very little chess. Later exposed as a racist against Indians (in early 2010s) and sexist, so shunned by chess media.  

 

Even Mig Greengard had a fun blog (chess ninja) but has stopped that now. Presently an author and expert on Russian politics and AI, associate of Kasparov.  

 

Other interesting stories which can be featured in a chess themed TV series are:

 

- Toiletgate (Kramnik-Topalov match in Elista, 2006)

 

- 2010 Anand-Topalov match with the volcanic eruption in Iceland just before the match, which threw Team Anand's travel plans in jeopardy. 

 

- Kasparov-Karpov rivalry, especially their never-ending 1984 match in Moscow and the political subtext unfolding in USSR

 

- Paul Morphy, the great American tragedy

 

- Alekhine's Nazi links (can find parallels with the famous physicist, Heisenberg)

 

- Lasker's career in maths/philosophy and his friendship with Einstein. Was a mentor-like figure for Einstein in his younger years in Germany. 

 

- Smyslov (7th world champion), was also one of the most accomplished pianists of the 20th century. Would give public performances with fellow chess/music stalwart Taimanov (Fischer's victim in his candidates run in 1969-72). Taimanov another tragic figure who was punished for losing 0-6 to Fischer. Fun fact, he was the one who introduced Kasparov to his 3rd and present wife, Dasha 

 

-Botvinnik (5 time world champ and founder of Soviet School of Chess) and his role in computer chess. He was an electrical engineer, PhD in fact. Collaborated with Ken Thompson from Bell Labs to make early chess engines, Thompson ofc more famous as the developer of Unix and co-developer (with Dennis Ritchie) of B, C programming languages. 

 

*Note Topalov's name appearing twice, he was a difficult character in his youth and his manager, Silvio Danailov, is probably the greatest chess villain in modern times

 

Fischer, Spassky other interesting characters/stories but enough movies and docus have been made about them. Even Polgar sisters. 

 

Edited January 12 by Gollum

[Gollum]

 

Spassky passed away last year.