The Week in Chess

The German Championships were essentially decided when Vincent Keymer beat Matthias Bluebaum in Round 7 and moved two points clear with two rounds to go.

Magnus Carlsen beat Nodirbek Abdusattorov 3-1 and Hikaru Nakamura also 3-1 to win the Winners final of the online Chess.com Classic. The Carlsen-Nakamura match ended extraordinarily with Nakamura resigning in a won position with about three minutes on the clock. It's hard not to think this is an indication of the psychological grip Carlsen has over many of his rivals. It's double elimination so Carlsen waits a day to play the Grand Final.

There was just one decisive game in round 2 of the 30th Tepe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament. 13 year old Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus beat Tan Zhongyi in 62 moves. Vasyl Ivanchuk played 100 moves for the second day running. Rapport, Erdogmus and Sindarov lead on 1.5/2.

Anatoly Karpov was awarded the World Championship title in April 1975 after Bobby Fischer didn't defend his title. There is a rapid tournament in Moscow commemorating the 50th Anniversary. Nepomniachtchi, Grischuk, Dubov and Artemiev all started with 2/3. It's a 10 player Round Robin over three days.

The leaders Anish Giri and Aleksandar Indjic drew in 22 moves in Round 5 of the Sharjah Masters allowing Dai Changren to catch them on 4/5.

Even though this is a busy time, there's more coming, the French Team Championships Top 16 start tomorrow in Belfort, with many strong players, there are 7 preliminary rounds, and then 4 final stage rounds. The 18th American Continental also starts tomorrow taking place in Foz do Iguacu, Brazil Fri 23rd to Sat 31st May 2025 with Sam Shankland and Grigoriy Oparin being the top two seeds. The 13th Norway Chess tournament which will be one of the strongest events of the year starts Monday and the 25th Dubai Open Tuesday.