2026 chess season tracker

[randomGuy]

...But I guess there's one thing, 1 classical victory would give more satisfaction than 5 rapid 20 blitz and 50 bullet wins. Classical format is the closest measure of true strength and calculation abilities.

[Tillu]

Magnus is a truly versatile player.

 

Sachin and Kohli are considered great players because they played all the formats equally well.

 

So Gukesh needs to prove his worth in the shorter time controls as well. He is still very young and has time to master the other formats.

[Lord]

Blitz and bullet are rubbish formats. Bullet especially seems like players are having a seizure and throwing away pieces 

[Gollum]

9 hours ago, Lord said:

Blitz and bullet are rubbish formats. Bullet especially seems like players are having a seizure and throwing away pieces 

Classical games you remember even after years/decades. Rapid you remember after days. Blitz you forget the next day, bullet you forget the next game. Recall value shows which format is prestigious and which one is good for time pass while being drunk. You will find the same if you play the game, longer you have to think over a game, more you will be invested in it. 

 

Never really liked blitz, bullet formats...bullet IMO is an abomination like Hong Kong Sixes. Rapid I can still enjoy occasionally, but nothing comes close to the highs/lows in classical format. Classical is a quest for truth, blitz is about who can blunder less in a low quality slugfest....once you put in such time constraints you can never do anything inspirational, be it maths, art or music.

 

This new wave of propaganda about speed chess is because of Carlsen, Nakaumra, chess.com and their commercial interests. 

[rangeelaraja]

Ramesh deserves such high praise for being the super coach that he is. This initiative will ensure India’s domination in global chess. 

 

 

[Mariyam]

You guys following the free style event in Las Vegas?

 

https://www.freestyle-chess.com/2025-las-vegas/

[Gollum]

6 hours ago, Mariyam said:

You guys following the free style event in Las Vegas?

 

https://www.freestyle-chess.com/2025-las-vegas/

Proud to say that I haven't wasted a single minute on any of the freestyle events. In fact it has very little following and the tour may collapse this season itself. 

[rangeelaraja]

1 hour ago, Gollum said:

Proud to say that I haven't wasted a single minute on any of the freestyle events. In fact it has very little following and the tour may collapse this season itself. 

 

Could not agree more. Don't know the rules. Don't follow, don't care. Without audience - this tournament will not be financially viable for the sponsors.

 

Do you know the rules ?  What interests you in a commercial motivated venture like Freestyle chess  ?  @Mariyam

 

 

Edited July 15, 2025 by rangeelaraja

[Mariyam]

53 minutes ago, rangeelaraja said:

 

Could not agree more. Don't know the rules. Don't follow, don't care. Without audience - this tournament will not be financially viable for the sponsors.

 

Do you know the rules ?  What interests you in a commercial motivated venture like Freestyle chess  ?  @Mariyam

 

 

I've registered on the Takes Takes Takes app, where I follow most Indian players. There are notifications anytime they have their games.

The app is quite fun. There is this guess the move section, where in we have to guess what move a player would play live in their current game.

Glad to announce that I do not think like a GM at all. Nowhere close. 

 

Pragg, Arjun and Vidit are partaking in this competition.

 

Amruta, Sagar Shah and Tania are covering this tournament from the venue. I figured it must be a big deal.

 

Edited July 15, 2025 by Mariyam

[rangeelaraja]

2 minutes ago, Mariyam said:

I've registered on the Takes Takes Takes app, where I follow most Indian players. There are notifications anytime they have their games.

The app is quite fun. There is this guess the move section, where in we have to guess what move a player would play live in their current game.

Glad to announce that I do not think like a GM at all. Nowhere close. 

 

Pragg, Arjun and Vidit are partaking in this competition.

 

Amruta, Sagar Shah and Tania are covering this tournament from the venue. I figured it must be a big deal.

 

 

Wow, you are really into it.

 

Looks like me and @Gollum  are highly allergic to Magnoose. Anything where he benefits and he has a vested interest, I lose interest.

[Gollum]

12 hours ago, rangeelaraja said:

 

Wow, you are really into it.

 

Looks like me and @Gollum  are highly allergic to Magnoose. Anything where he benefits and he has a vested interest, I lose interest.

Bro, his personality is such a turn off for me. I don't like entitled brats, and he has been one since he was a rising youngster. Hope this stupid tour fails and puts the investors in a fix. 

 

Also want Indian companies to take initiative and host 3-4 classical supertournaments every year, have a parallel Indian tour, host all big FIDE events. With Russia fading and down with sanctions, this is our opportunity make India the centre of the chess world. 

[Gollum]

Harikrishnan A Ra becomes the 87th Grandmaster of India

 

SRM student, inspiring how our players balance studies with chess, most of the Western GMs are dropouts. 

 

 

Good that we can always pull up past interviews from CI archives

 

[Mariyam]

@Gollum 

I view Magnus as a necessary evil. Although he isn't much of an evil personality. There are 5 people/events who have popularised chess. This has gotten a lot of publicity and sponsorship for the game.

 

In order of influence: 

 

1) Samay Raina

2) Chess Base India

3) Levy Rozman

4) Hikaru

5) Magnus

 

Distant 6th- Vishy Anand and Emil Sutovsky

 

Some people like to credit Netflix's "The Queen's Gambit" , but I think its influence in exaggerated. 

[Gollum]

10 minutes ago, Mariyam said:

@Gollum 

I view Magnus as a necessary evil. Although he isn't much of an evil personality. There are 5 people/events who have popularised chess. This has gotten a lot of publicity and sponsorship for the game.

 

In order of influence: 

 

1) Samay Raina

2) Chess Base India

3) Levy Rozman

4) Hikaru

5) Magnus

 

Distant 6th- Vishy Anand and Emil Sutovsky

 

Some people like to credit Netflix's "The Queen's Gambit" , but I think its influence in exaggerated. 

Samay Raina above Anand. I don't even know how to respond. 

[Gollum]

What next? Some IPL cheerleader has popularized cricket more than Kapil and Sachin?

[Mariyam]

14 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Samay Raina above Anand. I don't even know how to respond. 

Samay *is* a far greater influence on getting people to play chess than Vishy Anand.

 

In early 2022, Danny Rensch ( CEO of chess.com) shared statistics that the number of people who joined chess.com after 18 months of Samay Streaming was almost equal to the number of people who joined chess.com from its inception till Corona induced lock downs. Most of these were from India.

 

Safe to say that he got more people to chess than Vishy Anand?

 

Samay was at the right place at the right time. There was the lockdown and Jio 'revolution' which aided his and thereby the games' popularity. 

Edited July 16, 2025 by Mariyam

[rangeelaraja]

8 hours ago, Gollum said:

Bro, his personality is such a turn off for me. I don't like entitled brats, and he has been one since he was a rising youngster. Hope this stupid tour fails and puts the investors in a fix. 

 

Also want Indian companies to take initiative and host 3-4 classical supertournaments every year, have a parallel Indian tour, host all big FIDE events. With Russia fading and down with sanctions, this is our opportunity make India the centre of the chess world. 

 

Carlsen’s greatest weapon is his near-superhuman intuitive memory, his ability to instantly recognize and chunk thousands of past positions into mental templates. This gives him a major edge in games that don't require deep calculation, especially in rapid and blitz formats. His pattern recognition is unmatched and remains his single biggest strength.

 

In classical chess, this helps primarily in opening preparation, where he recalls countless variations and adapts on the fly. But in calculation-heavy positions, he can be outperformed by players like Gukesh, whose raw computing power is superior.

 

Carlsen recognizes this and it’s part of why he increasingly favors faster formats. He’ll do whatever he can to shift the focus away from deep classical calculation toward positions where intuition and pattern mastery dominate - and this includes Freestyle chess.

[Gollum]

21 minutes ago, Mariyam said:

Samay *is* a far greater influence on getting people to play chess than Vishy Anand.

 

In early 2022, Danny Rensch ( CEO of chess.com) shared statistics that the number of people who joined chess.com after 18 months of Samay Streaming was almost equal to the number of people who joined chess.com from its inception till Corona induced lock downs. Most of these were from India.

 

Safe to say that he got more people to chess than Vishy Anand?

 

Samay was at the right place at the right time. There was the lockdown and Jio 'revolution' which aided his and thereby the games' popularity. 

When Anand became GM, India was behind Bangladesh. Had he not emerged or become world champion, India would have been mediocre at it like it is in everything else. No chess boom, no money/sponsors, no chess ecosystem, no coach Ramesh, no Gukesh/Pragg....nothing, we would be like a Thailand or Mexico today. 

 

This so called chess boom was because of cheap data, boredom during covid, rise of young talent etc....not because of Samay. Trust me, before that comedy controversy, I was yet to meet a person who knew who Samay was, and many of them had online chess accounts. 

 

Only person who can be compared to Anand in popularizing chess is Bobby Fischer. Carlsen, Kasparov, Nakamura etc. far behind. To insert a useless clown into this discussion is not something I expected from you, unless you are trolling me and @rangeelaraja. What you are saying is equivalent to 'Mandira Bedi brought more eyeballs to cricket than Kapil Dev because of her sarees in 2003 WC coverage', and I actually respect Mandira as a professional/human being much more than this guy. 

Edited July 16, 2025 by Gollum

[rangeelaraja]

11 minutes ago, Gollum said:

When Anand became GM, India was behind Bangladesh. Had he not emerged or become world champion, India would have been mediocre at it like it is in everything else. No chess boom, no money/sponsors, no chess ecosystem, no coach Ramesh, no Gukesh/Pragg....nothing, we would be like a Thailand or Mexico today. 

 

This so called chess boom was because of cheap data, boredom during covid, rise of young talent etc....not because of Samay. Trust me, before that comedy controversy, I was yet to meet a person who knew who Samay was, and most of them had online chess accounts. 

 

Only person who can be compared to Anand in popularizing chess is Bobby Fischer. Carlsen, Kasparov, Nakamura etc. far behind. To insert a useless clown into this discussion is not something I expected from you, unless you are trolling me and @rangeelaraja. What you are saying is equivalent to 'Mandira Bedi brought more eyeballs to cricket than Kapil Dev because of her sarees in 2003 WC coverage', and I actually respect Mandira as a professional/human being much more than this guy. 

 

 

@Mariyam  maybe right in terms of sheer numbers. 

 

But what I think she may discounting is that the people Samay  got into Chess  are the audience that appreciate his humor and subscribers of his channel.  

 

So the caliber of people he brought into Chess are " Samay Raina humor caliber " folks, not potentially serious Chess fans/followers. 

 

Don't mean to be intellectually snobbish, but what I am stating is as factual as @Mariyam's claim on the raw numbers.

 

 

Edited July 16, 2025 by rangeelaraja

[Gollum]

@Mariyam, an entire generation took up chess as a career only after Anand's sucess in early 90s. Indians in general aren't risk takers, and chess wasn't seen as a career till 20-30 years back. My father worked in SAIL and he told me SAIL started putting up chess teams (has many plants across India), and hiring players to the company (earlier had cricket, football, athletics, hockey quotas) only in the 90s....maybe Corus (earlier sponsors of Wijk aan Zee) tie up with SAIL influenced the decision? Point is if India hadn't tasted success in chess, nobody would have cared. Today every Indian knows about javelin because of Neeraj. 

 

Coach Ramesh keeps telling how he took up chess only because of Anand. The guy probably runs 50 camps across Chennai, so many collaborations with schools. You really think those kids would have online chess activity because of some comedian streamer. 

 

Even assuming a certain demographic took up chess because of Samay, you think they are chess fans today, either playing games regularly or following events? People did all sorts of things to ease lockdown boredom, how many followed through on those hobbies?

Edited July 16, 2025 by Gollum