The Opening: Daily Chess News from First Look Chess

First Look Chess
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Games
  • Updated Daily

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. 57m ago

    The Opening, Oct 11: Wesley So and Awonder Liang share the lead

    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: Wesley So and Awonder Liang won again in round two of the U.S. Championship to share the lead on 2/2 and meet each other on Sunday with Liang holding White; Fabiano Caruana beat his second, Grigoriy Oparin, in the last game to finish, after 73 moves, and stands alone on 1.5. Megan Paragua, 13, beat defending champion and top seed Carissa Yip with Black in round two of the U.S. Women's Championship, finishing with a queen sacrifice for mate, and shares the lead on 2/2 with Thalia Cervantes Landeiro — the two lowest-rated players in the field; Alice Lee beat Jennifer Yu and sits on 1.5 with Anna Zatonskih. Hikaru Nakamura won a fifth consecutive Bullet Brawl on Saturday, a streak no player had managed before, for his 70th title in the series; Parham Maghsoodloo won Friday's Freestyle Friday on 9/11, with 13-year-old IM Sergey Sklokin third. SC Viernheim, Bayern München and OSG Baden-Baden lead the Chess Bundesliga on two wins each after Saturday's second round, in which IM Robert Ris beat Faustino Oro for Erkenschwick, Pavel Eljanov beat Kirill Alekseenko on Bayern's top board and Matthias Bluebaum won his Baden-Baden debut over Andrei Volokitin; American GM Kirk Ghazarian drew GM Ivan Saric. National Chess Day weekend brought 117 newly rated events across 33 states into the US Chess system, led by the 348-player CM Maloney Chess Challenge in New York, and a Marshall Chess Club rapid upset in which Armaan Chandragupta Jain, born in 2014, beat GM Maxim Dlugy; abroad, GM Brewington Hardaway beat GM Vignir Vatnar Stefansson in Iceland, and San Diego Chess & Social says it has passed 500 paid members. 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 10: So, Liang and Xiong lead in Saint 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: Wesley So, Awonder Liang and Jeffery Xiong won the three decisive games of round one at the U.S. Championship in Saint Louis, So beating Sam Shankland in 80 moves on his 33rd birthday, Liang beating Hans Niemann and Xiong beating Sam Sevian; Fabiano Caruana drew with Levon Aronian. Four of the six games in round one of the U.S. Women's Championship were decisive: debutant WIM Rachael Li beat GM Irina Krush after Krush dropped her queen in a clearly better position, and IM Anna Zatonskih, FM Thalia Cervantes Landeiro and 13-year-old FM Megan Paragua also won; top seeds IM Carissa Yip and IM Alice Lee drew. The Chess Bundesliga opened Friday with David Navara beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on Solingen's top board, though OSG Baden-Baden, without its first five listed players including Vincent Keymer, still edged the match; champion SC Viernheim beat promoted Erkenschwick 7:1, and American GM Kirk Ghazarian drew GM Maxim Rodshtein. Christian Gloeckler has his second GM norm in hand at Fagernes after eight rounds, ChessBase's German site reports: a draw with Vitaly Sivuk leaves him on a 2697 performance against opponents averaging 2446 once Krishnan Sasikiran, his round-nine opponent, is counted, and the norm stands whatever happens in that game provided it is played. FIDE has set the game schedule for the Gukesh–Sindarov world championship match in Geneva: game one on November 24 at the Fondation Martin Bodmer in Cologny, 14 classical games through December 11 with rapid and blitz tiebreaks on December 12 if the score is 7-7, and a 3:00 PM CET start for each game. 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 9: Caruana and Yip defend titles in Saint 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: The U.S. Championship and U.S. Women's Championship begin today at the Saint Louis Chess Club with every member of both Olympiad teams in the fields: Fabiano Caruana, aiming for a fifth title in a row, and Carissa Yip, seeking a fourth in a row, head 12-player round robins that run through round 11 on October 21. The FIDE World Amateur Championship, set for November 4-13 in Klang, Malaysia, is closed to Israelis under Malaysia's entry ban, The Jerusalem Post reports, and an Israeli campaigner is pressing FIDE to relocate it, citing the federation's 2019 commitment not to hold events in countries that refuse entry to any member federation's players. Andrey Esipenko beat Vadim Zvjaginsev in 34 moves to extend his lead at the Russian Superfinal to 5.5/7, with Evgeniy Najer, who beat defending champion Arseniy Nesterov, sharing second with David Paravyan on 4; among the women, Leya Garifullina beat Margarita Potapova to reach 6/7, half a point ahead of Anastasia Bodnaruk. Levon Aronian and Andy Woodward will play the 2026 London Chess Classic Masters alongside Nihal Sarin and defending champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov; RookReview says eight of the ten places are filled for the November 24 to December 7 round robin at the Novotel London West in Hammersmith. Christian Gloeckler beat IM Lukas Dotzer in round seven at Fagernes to lead the GM group outright on 6/7 at a performance ChessBase's German site puts at 2750, saying his second GM norm can hardly be denied him now; both Americans lost, Neeraj Harish to Arushi Severin Helen D Silva and Miransh Purven Vyas to FM Jaidambareesh N R. 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 8: Ukraine’s federation seeks treason case against Podolyak

    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: Ukraine's chess federation has asked the country's security service to open a treason case against Mykhailo Podolyak, the presidential adviser who became a FIDE vice president alongside former Russian sports minister Pavel Kolobkov, LIGA.net reports; Podolyak calls the position absurd. Kazakhstan's president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev received Timur Turlov in Astana and set priorities for the national federation the new FIDE president still chairs, while Knews lays out Turlov's four-year, €30 million plan for FIDE and DKNews details the conflict-of-interest rules under which he will abstain on Freedom sponsorship deals and Kazakh hosting bids. Christian Gloeckler held top seed Elham Amar to a draw with Black in round six at Fagernes and leads the GM group alone on 5/6 at a 2709 performance; he meets IM Lukas Dotzer, an Austrian born in 2010 with two GM norms, today. Of the two Americans, Miransh Purven Vyas beat Angada H P and Neeraj Harish lost to IM Senthil Maran K. The Chess Bundesliga opens Friday with Fabiano Caruana still on OSG Baden-Baden's list after the departures of Levon Aronian, Anish Giri and Alireza Firouzja, Magnus Carlsen atop FC St. Pauli's roster and Vasyl Ivanchuk on board one for promoted Remagen Sinzig, on a calendar cut from seven weekends to five; the German federation has signed Ströer as media partner for its 150th anniversary year. Roman Shogdzhiev, born in 2015 and rated 2445, beat GM Ivan Cheparinov in round four of the Serbian Super League, where GM Tin Jingyao beat GM Murali Karthikeyan a day after Karthikeyan's win over Alexandr Predke; in Romania, WGM Sabina-Francesca Foisor drew her second game of the women's Super League. 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 7: Three Afghan Olympiad players held in Kabul

    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 is pursuing "very discreet diplomatic actions" for the three Afghan Olympiad players held under house arrest in Kabul, a source close to president Timur Turlov tells EL PAÍS, and Spain's sports minister has written to Turlov and the IOC about the case. Hikaru Nakamura lifted his chess.com blitz record to 3503 while streaming Titled Tuesday from Greece, then lost the final round to Vladislav Artemiev, who won the event on 9.5/11; Awonder Liang was among 17 players on 4/4 and, with Sina Movahed, ended the perfect starts of Wesley So and Artemiev in round five. Christian Gloeckler, the German born in November 2011, beat GM Frode Olav Olsen Urkedal in round five at Fagernes to lead the GM group alone on 4.5/5, and both Americans in the field scored in Tuesday's double round, Neeraj Harish beating Angada H P after drawing Rishabh Kumar. Registration opens October 10 for the 2027 FIDE World Senior Team Championships in Magdeburg, Germany, March 31 to April 11, with no limit on the number of teams a federation may enter; the deadline is January 31, 2027. Thomas Bartell, No. 93 on the US Chess overall list, won the 2nd Autumn Open in Exton, PA, on 5 points, one of 31 newly rated US events led in size by a 155-player Championship at Bryant Park in New York, and IM Elliott Winslow, No. 95 on the Age 50+ list, beat Jimmy Heiserman at the Fall Tuesday Night Marathon. 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 6: Hikaru Nakamura sets a blitz rating record

    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's chess.com blitz rating has reached 3500, a record for the platform, RookReview reports; the previous mark of 3488 was his own, set last week. Christopher Woojin Yoo, No. 3 on the US Chess Under 21 list, won the 43rd Annual Reno Western States Open on 5.5 points, the largest of 64 newly rated US events, and Clara Mcgrew, No. 40 on the US Chess women's list, won the 2026 Michigan Womens Championship. Wesley So and Hans Niemann have confirmed for the Jerusalem Masters, a rapid event on November 23-26 whose $101,000 first prize is the largest ever offered at a chess tournament in Israel, Ynetnews reports. TWIC #1665 arrives with final tables that put Praveen Balakrishnan first in both Challenge events at the Pall Mall Masters, Wesley So first in the September 29 Titled Tuesday on 9.5/11, and FM Avi Harrison Kaplan first in the Chicago Fall IM group on 7/9. FIDE has opened nominations for every non-elected post on its commissions and committees, with applications due October 20; national federations may propose candidates, and individuals may apply directly if their federation will back an appointment. 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 5: Wesley So backs Pacquiao’s new federation

    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: Wesley So has given his "full support" to the National United Chess Federation of the Philippines, the new body chaired by Manny Pacquiao, in a statement released by NUCFP officials to Manila media. Court records date Russia's suit against FIDE president Timur Turlov to September 24, two days before his election, World Chess reports, and the General Assembly that followed rejected bids to readmit the Chess Federation of Russia. Brewington Hardaway shared first in the 458-player Packer October tournament in Brooklyn, the largest of 62 newly rated US events, and Andrew Jiang shared first at the Charlotte Fall Open. Avi Kaplan won the IM-norm group of the Chicago Fall GM/IM Norm Invitational with 7 points from 9, unbeaten, and Steven Zierk and Bogdan Bilovil shared first in the GM-norm group on 5.5 as both ten-player round robins played their final round. Jules Moussard beat Gawain Maroroa Jones, Benjamin Bok and Luke McShane on day two of the Army and Navy Club Pall Mall Masters, Praveen Balakrishnan beat GM Stuart Conquest in the Challengers Blitz, and Anna Zatonskih won again in the Frauenbundesliga. 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 4

    The Opening, Oct 4: Awonder Liang wins the Seirawan Chess Championship again

    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: Awonder Liang won all 12 of his games to take the 2026 Seirawan Chess Championship for a second time, and Hikaru Nakamura's fourth straight Bullet Brawl set a record for wins in a single year. Aditeya Das, born 2011, beat GM Steven Zierk in round six of the Chicago Fall GM/IM Norm Invitational 2026, and two more Americans beat titled opponents in the IM-norm group. US Chess membership stood at 115,979 through September, up 2142 on August and 3144 on a year earlier, with youth memberships accounting for most of the annual gain. Manny Pacquiao has been installed as chairman of the newly formed National United Chess Federation of the Philippines, and Wesley So has offered the group his support, The Manila Times reports. Praveen Balakrishnan beat GMs Ameet Ghasi and Shreyas Royal at the 2026 Army and Navy Club Pall Mall Masters, where Sergei Tiviakov lost three Super Blitz games in a day, and Anna Zatonskih opened her Frauenbundesliga season with a win as Elisabeth Pähtz led Baden-Baden past Hamburger SK. 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.

See All (25)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

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.)

Information

You Might Also Like