The Opening: Daily Chess News from First Look Chess

First Look Chess
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Daily chess news in about five minutes: the results, the players and the decisions that matter to American chess, every morning. The Opening is the audio edition of First Look Chess, a daily newsletter for players, organizers, coaches and serious fans. Each episode covers the top five stories of the day — the Olympiad and the world championship cycle, the US Championships and US Chess national events, norms and rating milestones, federation news and the business of chess — drawn from the newsletter's morning edition, with facts checked against sources before they are read. The full edition, with links, games and PGNs to download, is available for subscribers at firstlookchess.com. Read by a synthetic voice. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise. (Note: Some names will be mispronounced at first; we fix each one as we hear it.)

  1. 5h ago

    The Opening, Nov 1: Alice Lee on the November FIDE list

    Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: The November FIDE rating list makes IM Alice Lee the US women's No. 1 at 2474, world No. 14, after her second place in the U.S. Women's Championship, while champion WIM Rachael Li gained 50 points to 2430 and world No. 31, Carissa Yip lost 31 points, and Hans Niemann fell 20 points and ten places to 2697, out of the 2700 group. Alireza Firouzja ended Hikaru Nakamura's run of Bullet Brawl titles on Saturday, scoring 55/73 for 170 points in the 232-player arena, four ahead of Nakamura, with Ediz Gurel third, Matthias Bluebaum fourth and WIM Melika Mohammadi taking the $100 women's prize, chess.com reports. FM Peter Giannatos's Charlotte Chess Center teaches about 500 students a week across its two sites and reaches roughly 2,000 children a week through some 60 school programs, he tells ChessBase's Sagar Shah in an interview conducted during the Naroditsky Memorial. US Chess newly rated 62 events across 22 states, median size 20, led by a 343-player scholastic at Hendricks Elementary in McAllen, Texas, and three ICN team tournaments in New York of 147, 143 and 140 players, while at the Chicago Fall Open FM Artemii Khanbutaev, No. 12 on the US Chess Under 16 list, won his second and third games and Hardy Gu, No. 54 on that list, beat Cuban IM Liordis Quesada Vera (FIDE 2290). Daniil Dubov leads the KazChess Masters in Almaty alone on 4½/6 after wins in rounds five and six, the latter over IM Alua Nurman, half a point ahead of Shamsiddin Vokhidov and Denis Lazavik; in Chennai 10-year-old FM Sarbartho Mani beat GM Dimitris Alexakis in round two of the Chola Chess Open as top seed Aravindh Chithambaram beat Sandipan Chanda; and the Open Bavarian Championship opened at Tegernsee with 551 players and 16 grandmasters. The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.

  2. 1d ago

    The Opening, Oct 31: Rooks and Roots expands to Texas and online

    Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Rooks and Roots, the girls' math-and-chess nonprofit co-founded by WGM Iris Mou and Lisa Sun, used a US Chess Women's Grant this year to stage a free festival for 60 girls in New York City and has since added chapters in Texas and online, US Chess reports. Wadim Rosenstein, who lost September's FIDE presidential runoff to Timur Turlov 110-85, told RBC-Ukraine he does not recognize the result and has filed complaints with the federation's Ethics Commission, alleging a side agreement between Turlov and Malcolm Pein, the deputy-president candidate on Jan Henric Buettner's ticket, and saying he was "blackmailed and threatened with the imposition of Ukrainian sanctions" to make him withdraw. US Chess newly rated 48 events across 21 states, median size 14, led by the 286-player 2026 CPS All-Stars in Chicago, and Brewington Hardaway and Maxim Dlugy, No. 4 on the US Chess Age 50+ list, shared first in the 51-player Marshall FIDE Blitz in New York on 8 points. GM Alexey Sarana won the first of Thursday's three 3 0 Thursday events on 10/11 and GM Arjun Erigaisi the other two, while IM Rose Atwell took the top women's prize in the third on 7 points — and GM Sina Movahed won Friday's Freestyle Friday for the second time in three weeks, chess.com reports. Volodar Murzin (2656) beat Wang Yue (2619) and Yu Yangyi (2704) held Wei Yi (2758) in round 10 of the Chinese Chess League's Division A round robin, and at the KazChess Masters in Almaty Daniil Dubov (2654) beat Denis Makhnev (2581), who had shared the lead after four rounds, while Shamsiddin Vokhidov (2649) beat 14-year-old IM Mark Smirnov (2451) and Mahammad Muradli (2662) beat IM Alua Nurman (2460). The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.

  3. 2d ago

    The Opening, Oct 30: Javokhir Sindarov wins Clutch Chess in St. Louis

    Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Javokhir Sindarov won Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown in St. Louis on 20.5 points, overturning a 2½-point deficit on the final day with three wins and three draws — among them a King's Indian against Hikaru Nakamura that chess.com calls the game of the tournament — while Fabiano Caruana finished third on 16.5 after trapping Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu's queen in the last game and Nakamura, Tuesday's leader, was last on 12. US Chess staged a chess exhibition at a National Squash League match in Atlanta on October 24 — blitz, bughouse and a three-board blindfold simul before the Carolina Pirates met the Atlanta Tornados — as a one-match trial after NSL co-founder Timmy Brownell proposed chess at all 16 league matches this season. FIDE named Istanbul the host of the 2026 World Rapid and Blitz Championships on Thursday, with play December 26-30 and Freedom Holding Corp. as title sponsor, and the same day filled out Timur Turlov's new President's Office — Emil Sutovsky as Chief Executive Adviser, Victor Bologan and Dana Reizniece as Special Representatives, and four Representatives including Zhu Chen, who will head a FIDE Shenzhen Office. The XTX Markets London Chess Classic has its ten Masters: last year's winner Nodirbek Abdusattorov heads a field with Levon Aronian and 16-year-old Andy Woodward of the United States, Vasyl Ivanchuk in what the organizers call his Classic debut at 57, Nihal Sarin, Ihor Samunenkov and England's Michael Adams, Gawain Maroroa Jones, Luke McShane and Shreyas Royal, from November 24 at Hammersmith. US Chess newly rated 37 events across 24 states, median size 16, led by a 103-player K-6 scholastic in Chico, California, and Karl Dehmelt, No. 94 on the US Chess Age 50+ list, won the Open section of the 43-player Chaturanga Championship in Hatboro, Pennsylvania, on 6 points. The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.

  4. 3d ago

    The Opening, Oct 29: Praggnanandhaa goes from last to first

    Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu went from last to first at Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown in St. Louis, scoring 9 of the 12 points on offer on day two — two wins over Hikaru Nakamura and one each over Javokhir Sindarov and Fabiano Caruana — to lead on 11 points going into Thursday's final six games, with Sindarov and Caruana on 8.5 and Nakamura, Tuesday's leader, last on 8. FM Jennifer Yu (FIDE 2354), No. 5 on the US Chess Women's list, beat GM Lei Tingjie (2552) of China in round eight of the Chinese Chess League's Division A, a day after her round-seven loss to Jiang Tianyu (2300). US Chess newly rated 44 events across 20 states, median size 18, led by Honolulu's October Scholastic Open and Adult Quads with 123 players in six sections, and West Newsmagazine profiles Devanshi Chowdada, a Missouri player holding a FIDE Candidate Master title who has self-published a graphic novel to draw more girls into competitive chess. 9z Globant won chess.com's October Chess Club Showdown for the second month running, beating Team Liquid 79-21 in a 50-board final in which GM Faustino Oro took the top board 1.5-0.5 from American GM Christopher Yoo, with Liquid missing Magnus Carlsen, who withdrew at the last minute, and Fabiano Caruana and Praggnanandhaa, who were playing in St. Louis. Uzbekistan's second Olympiad gold rests on state money as much as on talent, Eurasianet reports from Samarkand: President Shavkat Mirziyoyev presented the five gold medalists with checks for $200,000, a car and an apartment on September 28, top national team members draw monthly payments of up to $1,500, and chess classes entered many public elementary schools between 2018 and 2025 — the system behind Javokhir Sindarov's challenge in Geneva. The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.

  5. 4d ago

    The Opening, Oct 28: Hikaru Nakamura leads Clutch Chess after day one

    Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Hikaru Nakamura leads Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown in St. Louis after day one on 4/6, half a point ahead of Javokhir Sindarov on 3.5, with Fabiano Caruana on 2.5 and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu on 2, after beating Caruana and Praggnanandhaa with White in his return to the board — "I seem to be the sharpest player," he told the broadcast's Maurice Ashley, as ChessBase reports. GM Andy Woodward won his first Titled Tuesday, taking the October 27 event on tiebreak from Arjun Erigaisi after losing his opening game — a mate in one blundered while two pawns up — and going unbeaten afterward, with rook sacrifices against Dmitry Andreikin in round nine that impressed commentator Hess, chess.com reports. US Chess newly rated 44 events across 21 states, with a median size of 15, led by Tuesday club nights in Denver and Charlotte of 111 and 110 players, and Jacorey Bynum, No. 89 on the US Chess Under 21 list, shared first in the Open section of the 64-player Gator Chess Club Classic in Gainesville, Florida, on 4 points with Raghav Venkat. Roman Shogdzhiev, 11, earned a second grandmaster norm with 6/9 on Partizan Belgrade's top board at the Serbian Super League, leaving him one norm and the 2500 rating threshold short of a title that would break Abhimanyu Mishra's age record — 12 years, 4 months and 25 days in June 2021 — if he completes it before late June 2027, ChessBase reports. Al Ain's organizers expect 150 players from 40 countries at the World Junior U20 Rapid and Blitz Championships from November 1 to 7, with a prize fund tripled from the previous edition and new prizes for the best Arab players, Gulf Today reports from Tuesday's press conference — where Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Bin Sultan Bin Shakhboot Al Nahyan, president of the Asian Chess Federation, said "we look forward to hosting the Chess Olympiad in 2028." The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.

  6. 5d ago

    The Opening, Oct 27: Timur Turlov unveils a new FIDE structure

    Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: FIDE President Timur Turlov unveiled a new organizational structure for the federation on Monday — a Governance Secretariat to serve the Council and commissions, a President's Office under Adil Kozhikhov, an Advisory Board chaired by Kazakh GM Darmen Sadvakasov and a Secretary General, Alina Dvoretskaya, to run the administration — and the same day convened an Extraordinary General Assembly online for December 27 to settle the business left unfinished at Samarkand. Three in four women and girls in chess report at least one form of discrimination or harassment, and 44 percent have thought about leaving the game, FIDE's Commission for Women's Chess finds in the federation's first global survey of women in chess — 672 responses from 127 federations — with reported gender bias highest among respondents who compete in North America, at 83 percent. Affiliates ran 40 rated tournaments with 1,791 players under the National Chess Day name on Saturday, October 10, by US Chess's count of events carrying the title on MUIR — leaving out dozens more that weekend and the unrated exhibitions and meet-ups — and the federation's wrap-up gathers organizers' reports from Princeton to the New Orleans French Quarter. GM Vasyl Ivanchuk has been inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis, the Ukrainian Chess Federation announced, one of five players in this year's class — with Boris Gelfand, Ulf Andersson, Nana Ioseliani and Alexandra Kosteniuk — honored across the U.S. Championships' October 8 opening ceremony and the Saint Louis Chess Conference's October 24 closing, the Saint Louis Chess Club's wrap-up release says. TWIC #1668 arrived overnight with 7,159 games from 51 events — the U.S. Championship's 18 games and its two-game tiebreak, the European Club Cup, Titled Tuesday and the three 3 0 Thursday events among them — and names the winners of events our broadcasts never carried: Lalit Babu M R at Münsterland, Li Min Peng at Annemasse, Christian Bauer with 9/9 at Perpignan, V S Rathanvel at Chefchaouen, Mladen Palac at Hvar and Murad Ibrahimli at Shirvan. The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.

  7. 6d ago

    The Opening, Oct 26: Andrew Tang shares first at Eastern Chess Congress

    Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: GM Andrew Tang, No. 21 on the US Chess overall list, shared first in the Premier section of the 30th Annual Eastern Chess Congress in Princeton, New Jersey, on 4.5 points with Jianchao Zhou and Viktor Matviishen, in a 432-player event that led a weekend in which US Chess newly rated 102 events across 29 states. GM Alexander Ivanov (FIDE 2365), No. 17 on the US Chess Age 50+ list, shared first in the Greater Boston Open's Premier section on 3 points with Jerry Chen and Hrishikesh Sai Vedula, who beat WIM Kateryna Odnorozhenko (2084) of Ukraine along the way; at the 54th Capps Memorial, GM Christopher Yoo (2588), No. 3 on the Under 21 list, beat Vivaan Pavuluri and FM Andrew Boekhoff on Sunday to stay perfect. Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown opens Tuesday in St. Louis with Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Javokhir Sindarov playing 18 rapid games over three days for $425,000, under rules that bar draw offers before Black's 60th move and make a last-day win worth three first-day ones — Sindarov's final event before the world championship match, ChessBase India notes; the outlets split on the clock, 10 minutes plus 5 seconds a move at ChessBase, 15 plus 10 at ChessBase India. Asked by the Times of India to size up the Geneva match a month out, Ian Nepomniachtchi called Sindarov "of course a clear favourite" and said Gukesh's progress over the past couple of years has been negative, while Magnus Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian and Wei Yi each argued against writing the champion off. The English Chess Federation, which supports Bodhana Sivanandan, names the full grandmaster title as her next target after her International Master qualification in Budva at 11 years and seven months, with international director Malcolm Pein crediting Rishi Sunak and Rachel Reeves for government support of chess through the DCMS and setting the FIDE Swiss at the 16th London Chess Classic as her next event; across the table, Luxembourg's Gambit Bonnevoie calls its women's silver "a historic first" for the country's sport. The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.

  8. Oct 25

    The Opening, Oct 25: Hikaru Nakamura takes a seventh straight Bullet Brawl

    Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Hikaru Nakamura won Bullet Brawl for a seventh consecutive Saturday, scoring 178 points to finish ahead of 218 titled players after a 23-game winning streak early in the arena — his 72nd win in the event by chess.com's count — while runner-up Oleksandr Bortnyk, in an interview with Chess with Mustreader, said Magnus Carlsen remains the best online blitz player and placed Nakamura no higher than second or third. US Chess newly rated 90 events across 28 states, with a median size of 19, led by Saturday scholastics of 269 players in La Feria, Texas, and 264 at CIS Bronx Chess Day in New York; in California, San Diego Chess & Social's Chula Vista chapter draws 30 to 40 players to a brewery every Wednesday and the club's paid membership has passed 500, the Star-News reports; and GM Christopher Yoo won both of his opening games at the 54th Capps Memorial. FIDE's final report on the European Club Cup, won Friday by Bayegan Pendik over Novy Bor on tiebreak as reported here Saturday, puts the Budva field at a record 130 teams, 108 open and 22 women's, against 122 in Rhodes in 2025, and names the board winners: Marc-Andria Maurizzi, Nihal Sarin, FM Lennert Lenaerts, Benjamin Gledura, Ihor Samunenkov and Volodar Murzin on boards one to six of the open, and Aleksandra Goryachkina, Humpy Koneru, Nurgyul Salimova and Gulnar Mammadova in the women's event. The outlets' numbers for Bodhana Sivanandan, who completed the requirements for the International Master title in Budva on Friday as reported here Saturday, split two ways — a rating of 2406 at the Daily Jagran against a live 2413 at ChessBase's German site, a 2465 performance at Newsband and Vietnam.vn against 2504 at the German site — and the Daily Jagran's table of the 10 youngest IMs of either sex ranks America's Abhimanyu Mishra third, at 10 years, 9 months and 3 days in 2019, behind Roman Shogdzhiev and Faustino Oro, with Sivanandan seventh. Al Ain will host the fourth World Junior U20 Rapid & Blitz Championships from November 1 to 7 — four world titles across rapid and blitz, open and girls — organized by the Al Ain Chess and Mind Games Club together with FIDE and the UAE Chess Federation, GulfToday reports; the organizers hold a press conference at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium on Tuesday, October 27, the day FIDE's extended registration and payment deadline, carried here, expires. The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.

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About

Daily chess news in about five minutes: the results, the players and the decisions that matter to American chess, every morning. The Opening is the audio edition of First Look Chess, a daily newsletter for players, organizers, coaches and serious fans. Each episode covers the top five stories of the day — the Olympiad and the world championship cycle, the US Championships and US Chess national events, norms and rating milestones, federation news and the business of chess — drawn from the newsletter's morning edition, with facts checked against sources before they are read. The full edition, with links, games and PGNs to download, is available for subscribers at firstlookchess.com. Read by a synthetic voice. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise. (Note: Some names will be mispronounced at first; we fix each one as we hear it.)

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