4/6/25 Update

 Below are some recent happenings from the chess world:

• The Women’s World Chess Championship match Wenjun, Ju vs. Zhongyi, Tan)  is even at 1.5 -1.5 following a Game 1 draw then separate victories. To watch live you can see the FIDE Youtube channel. Games start at midnight CA time. The image above is from the FIDE page and shows the start of Game 1.

• In another sign the youngsters are dominating the chess world, the European Women’s Chess Championship is being led by a 15 year old with 5.5/7 who started ranked #70 out of 136 players!

     Games: 25th European Women's Chess Championship 2025 • Round 6 • lichess.org

• The next round of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam (better known as Chess960) starts tomorrow in Paris. This one starts at 4:00 am CA time. To watch check chess.com website. The recent news I’ve seen are that in the last week both Firouzja and Niemann opted to not play and were replaced.

Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour

• Indian GM Vidit Gujrathi got married recently. Wedding attendees I read included Anand and Giri as well as World Champion Gukesh (likely numerous other strong players as well). Given that Indian weddings may take like three days there was probably some chess played!

• Magnus Carlsen is playing a Chess960 game against “The World”. However, the make a move vote for The World Team one must be a chess.com member (unsure if free memberships count). This may result in more chess drama since the Freestyle Chess CEO Jan Henrick Buettner’s in declining to comment (speculate) on Niemann’s reasons did say “We have put the most serious anti-cheating measures in place at this tournament that have ever been applied to any chess tournament.” According to the chess.com story.

Announcing Magnus Carlsen vs. The World - Chess.com