The Week in Chess

1. 25th European Women's Championship 2025 - Games and Results

   The 25th European Women's Championship takes place in Rhodes, Greece, Mon 31st Mar to Sat 12th Apr 2025. Leading players: Nino Batsiashvili, Teodora Injac, Meri Arabidze, Stavroula Tsolakidou etc.

2. 25th European Individual Championship 2025 - Games and Results

   The 25th European Individual Championship took place Sat 15th to Wed 26th Mar 2025 in Eforie Nord, Romania. Matthias Bluebaum won the title on tie-break from Frederick Svane and Maxim Rodshtein. Bluebaum is the first player to win the event twice having won previously in 2022.

3. Nicosia FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2025 - Games and Results

   The Nicosia FIDE Women's Grand Prix took place Sat 15th to Mon 24th Mar 2025. Goryachkina, Anna and Mariya Muzychuk, Zhu Jiner, Dzagnidze, Dronavalli, Divya, Tsolakidou, Badelka and Paehtz. Anna Muzychuk edged out Jiner Zhu on tie-break after both scored 6/9.

4. American Cup 2025 -

   The American Cup took place Sat 15th Mar to Mon 24th Mar 2025. Double Elimination event with open and women's sections. Hikaru Nakamura beat Fabiano Caruana both in the winners final and the grand final to win the event. Similarly Alice Lee beat Tatev Abrahamyan twice in the two women's finals so a grand final reset was not required. Hikaru Nakamura won the blitz on the final day,

5. Champions Showdown The Kings 2025 - Games and Results

   The Champions Showdown The Kings was a three day event where 6 players play three matches of three games at different time controls, one blitz 3m+2spm, one rapid 15m+10spm and finally one fast classical 60m+15spm. The players earned so much money per game depending on the result. Fabiano Caruana won the most with $51,625.

6. 7th Prague International Chess Festival - Games and Results

   The 7th Prague International Chess Festival takes place Wed 26th Feb to Fri 7th Mar 2025. The main event is the Masters with Chithambaram VR. Aravindh, R Praggnanandhaa, Vincent Keymer, David Navara, Le Quang Liem, Anish Giri, Sam Shankland, Thai Dai Van Nguyen, Ediz Gurel and Wei Yi. The Challengers is also very strong and there's a Futures group and a number of opens.

7. Boris Spassky 1937-2025 - 1937-2025

   Boris Vasilievich Spassky was born in Leningrad January 30th 1937 and has died in Moscow February 27th 2025 at the age of 88. The former World Chess Champion played two championship matches against Tigran Petrosian, winning the second one in 1969 to become the 10th holder of the title. Spassky lost his only defence against Bobby Fischer in a match in Reykjavik in 1972.

   This match gave him worldwide fame in the midst of a media frenzy at the height of the Cold War. Spassky was one of the leading players in the world from 1956 until the early 1980s. In 1992 he played Bobby Fischer in a rematch in Yugoslavia which briefly made them both famous again. In September 2010 he had a serious stroke, most of this obituary was written at that time, it does seem that he eventually made a near full recovery. Spassky had problems with his personal circumstances around this time which concluded with him moving from France, where he had lived for many years, back to Russia where he remained for the rest of his...