The Week in Chess

1. Green Hills Resort Masters 2026 - Games and results

   The Green Hills Resort Masters took place 30th-31st August in the Bostanlyk district which is 75km from Tashkent. The event was one day of rapid and one of blitz, the rapid games counted double.

   Nodirbek Yakubboev was something of a surprise winner, in the rapid he scored 6/7, which converted to 12 points, 3 points clear of the field going into the second day of blitz. In spite of finishing only 6th of 8 in the blitz he just hung on to win by half a point from Nodirbek Abdusattorov who beat him in their individual blitz game. Vladislav Artemiev finished in third place and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus finished in fourth; Shakhriyar Mamedyarov had a terrible couple of days finishing last in the rapid and 7th in the blitz.

2. Sofia Cup 2026 - Games and results

   The Sofia Cup, also known as the Balkan Rapid and Blitz Championships took place 29th to 30th August 2026. Players: Alireza Firouzja Rauf Mamedov, Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli, Vojtech Plat, Leon Livaic, Sanan Sjugirov, Ediz Gurel, Ivan Cheparinov etc.

   Rauf Mamedov won the rapid event on tie-break from Alireza Firouzja and Dimitris Alexakis after all finished on 7.5/9. Firouzja was the clear winner of the blitz with 9.5/11 half a point clear of Ediz Gurel and Mamedov .

3. Grand Chess Tour Finals 2026 - Games and results

   The Grand Chess Tour Finals took place in Saint Louis 22nd to 27th August 2026. This was the final event of the tour and a total prize fund of $450,000, was distributed as follows: $200,000 for first place, $125,000 for second, $75,000 for third, and $50,000 for fourth. The top four players with the best results during the tour were in finishing order: No. 1 Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Seed No. 2 Wesley So, Seed No. 3 Fabiano Caruana, and Seed No. 4 Vincent Keymer.

   In the semi-finals Praggnanandhaa beat Vincent Keymer comfortably, winning one of the two classical games and then both rapid games, Keymer won the blitz section but it didn't matter. Fabiano Caruana overcame Wesley So in a close match until the blitz. In the final Caruana led Praggnanandhaa after the Classical games but lost both of the rapid games. The match was tied a couple of games into the blitz but then Praggnanandhaa ran away with it. Very similarly in the 3rd - 4th playoff the match was tied early on in the final blitz but Wesley So won the blitz section 8-0 against Vincent Keymer and that was that, Keymer might be invited back, the other three qualified for next year's tour with these results.

4. 6th Cairns Cup 2026 - Games and Results

   The 6th Cairns Cup 2026 took place Mon 10th to Fri 21st August 2026. Tan Zhongyi won with 6½/9 half a point clear of Alice Lee on 6. She earned her first GM norm in the 2026 Cairns Cup at the age of 16.

5. 13th Sinquefield Cup 2026 - Games and Results

   The 13th Sinquefield Cup took place 10th to 20th August 2026. Players: Fabiano Caruana, Javokhir Sindarov, Vincent Keymer, Wesley So, Anish Giri, Praggnanandhaa R, Jorden Van Foreest, Maxime Vachier-lagrave, Levon Aronian and Samuel Sevian.

   Wesley So took first place from Praggnanandhaa after winning a tie-break match. The players scored 5.5/9 to share first place and then drew two 10 minutes plus 5 seconds a move rapid game, a final Armageddon game was required, Wesley had the black pieces and draw odds, the game finished at King vs King and thus so had the draw he needed.

6. Carlsen wins the Chess event in the Esports World Cup - Final

   Magnus Carlsen convincingly won the lucrative chess final of the Esports World Cup which is being held in Paris, France. The event as a whole has 25 tournaments held over 24 different games and takes place July 6th to August 23rd, a period of 48 days. The claimed total prize fund for the entire event is US$75 million, the total for the chess was $1.5m with $250,000 for the winner, $190,000 for second, $145,000 for third place, and $115,000 fourth place. It might truly be said that the only really serious thing about the chess tournament in the Esports World Cup is the prize money.

   The players also sign up to be part of teams such as Team Liquid, Team Vitality, Karmine Corp, Ninjas in Pyjamas, who are legends in their own right. Games played alongside the chess include Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Counter-Strike 2, EA Sports FC 26, PUBG and Fortnite.

7. Esports World Cup 2026 - Games and Results

   The Esports World Cup chess section took place in Paris Tue 11th Aug to Sat 15th Aug 2026. This Double Elimination KO event featured Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakmura, Alireza Firouzja and Denis Lazavik among many famous names and faces. I have a new table format to show the results (although the introduction of sets in the final I couldn't handle) and all the games are also available. Carlsen was an easy winner of the final winning both sets comfortably and he didn't lose a game. Hikaru Nakamura finished in 3rd place winning his match against Firouzja which was plagued by technical issues and a loss in game 4 led to Firouzja just quitting.

8. 112th British Chess Championships 2026 - Games and Results

   The 112th British Chess Championships took place at the University of Warwick 1st to 9th August 2026. Luke McShane, Michael Adams, Shreyas Royal, Harry Grieve etc. Most interesting is the number of young players with Bodhana Sivanandan being one of those. The event delivered on its promise with 17-year-old Shreyas Royal earning his first title and Bodhana Sivanandan winning a tie-break match against Trisha Kanyamarala to win her first title at a record breaking 11-years-old, the women competed in the main championship and Bodhana's only loss was to the winner. It was only a few years ago that the British was a depressing run down affair making me wonder where all the juniors were, well they were just getting started at that point apparently.