The Week in Chess

1. GCT Super Chess Classic Romania 2026 - Games and Results

   The Grand Chess Tour Super Chess Classic Romania took place Thu 14th May to Sat 23rd May 2026. Players: Caruana, Sindarov, Giri, Firouzja, Keymer, Wesley So, Jorden Van Foreest, Praggnanandhaa, MVL and Deac. Vincent Keymer emerged as the clear winner with 6/9 half a point clear of Fabiano Caruana on 5.5, Javokhir Sindarov and Wesley So were half a point further back on 5 points. Alireza Firouzja withdrew after five rounds after badly hurting his ankle, he had tried to carry on for a couple of rounds after round 3.

2. Faustino Oro earns his final GM norm in Sardinia - 9

   Argentinian chess player Faustino Oro finally has become a Grandmaster after a six points from nine games performance at the Sardinia World Chess Festival. Oro had previous norms at the Legends and Prodigies tournament in September 2025 and the Magistral Szmetan-Giardelli in December 2025. Oro had been chasing the third and final mark since then but couldn't break Abhimanyu Mishra's record of 12 years, 4 months, 25 days. Oro finally got his title at age of 12 years, 6 months, 26 days, the second youngest in history beating third place Sergey Karjakin by a few days.

   Oro earned the title after a win over Bartlomiej Niedbala in round 8 but his tournament ended on a bit of a whimper with a loss to Ian Nepomniachtchi in the final round. None of this matter very much, it's clear Oro has the talent to go very far and he will no doubt be just relieved to get this landmark out of the way.

3. Sardinia World Chess Festival 2026 -

   The Sardinia World Chess Festival took place Sun 3rd May 2026 to Sun 10th May 2026 in Orosei, Italy. Frederik Svane took clear first place with 7.5/9 half a point clear of Haik M. Martirosyan, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Mamikon Gharibyan. Tied for 25th place on 6/9 was Faustino Oro who in spite of a loss to Nepomniachtchi in the final round earned his final GM norm at 12 years, 6 months, 26 days, the second youngest in history, a couple of months behind Abhimanyu Mishra.

4. GCT Super Rapid & Blitz Poland 2026 - Games and Results

   The GCT Super Rapid & Blitz Poland took place Tue 5th May to Thu 7th May 2026. 9 rounds of rapid and 18 rounds of blitz. Players: Wesley So, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, D Gukesh, Hans Moke Niemann, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Alireza Firouzja, Vladimir Fedoseev, Fabiano Caruana, Javokhir Sindarov and Jan Krzysztof Duda.

   Hans Moke Niemann held off a fabulous Caruana challenge on the final day to win by half a point. Wesley So was a point further back. World Championship rivals Gukesh and Sindarov met and Gukesh won the rapid game and Sindarov both blitz. The rapid games scored double the blitz game in the combined standing.

5. Magnus Carlsen wins the 31st Sigeman & Co tournament after tie-break win over Erigaisi - 7

   The final day of the 31st Sigeman & Co tournament saw a number of twists and turns before Magnus Carlsen emerged as the winner.

   The leader Arjun Erigaisi went full blooded for a win against Andy Woodward and it really was too much when he pushed his g and h pawns with no development. Erigaisi was losing but somehow managed to escape with a draw.

   In the meantime Magnus Carlsen was meeting 14-year-old Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus for the first time. Carlsen played it relatively safe and went into a technical endgame that Erdogmus reacted sharply and well, but still Carlsen could continue to press and eventually created problems that Erdogmus couldn't solve in time trouble.

   Meanwhile Abdusattorov-Van Foreest and Grandelius-Zhu Jiner both finished in draws just after the first time control.

   It came down to a blitz tie-break, a pair of 3m+2spm games were played, Carlsen winning the first and Erigaisi before sudden death games, Black got more time and they would alternate colours until the first decisive result, Carlsen won Erigaisi's Queen and the tournament in that first sudden death game. Carlsen seemed to enjoy the event and looked to have shaken off quite a bit of rust ahead of the Norway Chess tournament later this month. He won the event for the first time.

   Final Standings: 1st Magnus Carlsen (after tie-break) 2nd Arjun Erigaisi, 5/7. 3rd-4th Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, 4. 5th Jorden Van Foreest, 3½. 6th Andy Woodward, 3. 7th Jiner Zhu, 2. 8th Nils Grandelius, 1½. 8 players.

6. Erigaisi leads the Sigeman tournament alone with one round to go - 6

   The final round of the Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament in Malmo promises to be very tense after an interesting round 6. Arjun Erigaisi beat Zhu Jiner in an endgame where the Chinese player had a tricky defence in a holdable position. Magnus Carlsen chose the King's Indian against Andy Woodward which led to double edged play and eventually Carlsen brought home the full point. Carlsen will have white against Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus in what will be a must win game for both of them and their first classical meeting. Jorden Van Foreest was winning against Nils Grandelius but missed his chance and had to settle for a draw.

   Round 6 Standings: 1st Erigaisi 4.5pts 2nd= Carlsen, Erdogmus 4pts, 4th Abdusattorov, 3.5pts, 5th Van Foreest, Jorden 3pts, 6th Woodward 2.5pts, 7th Zhu Jiner 1.5pts 8th Grandelius 1pt.

   Final Round 7 pairings 11am 7th May: Carlsen vs Erdogmus, Erigaisi vs Woodward, Grandelius vs Zhu Jiner and Abdusattorov vs Van Foreest.

7. Gukesh beats Sindarov in the GCT Poland Super Rapid - 5

   The first event in the Grand Chess Tour 2026 is the Super Rapid & Blitz Poland in Warsaw. This is a category 20 field. The players meet once in a rapid game and twice in the blitz.

   Of major interest was the first meeting of Javokhir Sindarov and World Champion Gukesh in the rapid. It turned out to be a little disappointing. In a balanced position Sindarov sacrificed a piece and there was just never enough for it. There were three games on day 2 and Sindarov lost all three.

   Hans Moke Niemann and Wesley So lead the rapid on 4.5/6 with the last day tomorrow followed by two days of blitz.

   Round 6 of 9 standings: 1st= Niemann, So 4½pts, 3rd Fedoseev 4pts, 4th= Caruana, Gukesh, Duda 3pts, 7th MVL 2½pts 8th= Firouzja, Sindaro 2pts, 10th Wojtaszek 1½pts

8. Erigaisi and Erdogmus lead the Sigeman & Co tournament after five rounds - 5

   Arjun Erigaisi beat Jorden van Foreest in the fifth round of the 31st Sigeman & Co tournament in Malmo. van Foreest will probably be disappointed with his play and especially 25...e5 which directly led to his loss.

   Magnus Carlsen said that his play was shaky against Zhu Jiner and that he'd been outplayed in a key middlegame sequence. Zhu had the upper hand sometimes and Carlsen then got the advantage but let it go. The strange 33...Kf8 would have been equal and only with 36...Nxg3? was Carlsen winning.

   Andy Woodward was briefly winning against Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, the game lasted 104 moves but the position remained stubbornly equal after he failed to find 37.h5!

   Absolutely no-one can blame Nils Grandelius' decision to hack off all the pieces against Nodirbek Abdusattorov and end his losing run.

   Round 5 Standings: 1st= Erigaisi, Erdogmus 3.5pts, 3rd= Carlsen, Abdusattorov 3pts, 5th= Van Foreest, Woodward 2.5pts, 7th Zhu Jiner 1.5pts 8th Grandelius 0.5pts.

   Round 6 Wednesday 6th May 2026. Erdogmus-Abdusattorov, Van Foreest-Grandelius, Zhu Jiner-Erigaisi, Woodward-Carlsen.