4/20/25 Update

 Below are some recent happenings from the chess world:

• Wenjun, Ju made fairly quick work in the WWCC against Zhongyi, Tan by winning 6.5 – 2.5 (5 wins, 3 draws, and 1 loss) and retains her FIFTH (!) title.

• The Grenke Open is a Chess960 event but an Open tournament. This tournament includes Carlsen, Erigaisi, Caruana, etc…. There are 16 players rated over 2700! Niemann is also playing so we may see another match-up for the chess drama enthusiasts. In Round 6 young American Awonder Liang faced Carlsen and lost. Before Round 5 the standings showed he had 4.5/5 points despite not being paired in the first four rounds. Turns out he transferred from the classical chess section to the Freestyle Open event and keep his 3.5 points from the first four games scored in the regular section! Doesn’t seem fair to those in the Freestyle section! This tournament is like an Open in the US in that they are playing two games a day at normal time controls (90 min. + 30 seconds per move).

grenke Chess Festival 2025 | Freestyle Chess Open • Round 5 • lichess.org

• If you enjoy Chess960 (Freestyle Chess) the next leg (following the recently concluded Paris event) will be nearby in Las Vegas from 7/15/25 – 7/19/25. Not sure who will play but likely to be many of the top players in the world.

• In the Pune, India stop of The Women’s FIDE Grand Prix, GM Zhiner, Ju leads with 5/6. The next 4 positions are at 4.5, 4, 3.5, and 3 points.

FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024/25 | Pune • Round 6 • lichess.org