The Week in Chess

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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...

4. Djerba Chess Festival 2025 - Games and Results

   The Djerba Chess Festival took place 16th to 23rd February 2025. Marc'Andria Maurizzi ran away with the masters event scoring 7.5/9 a point and a half clear of Daniel Dardha. The open was won by Paul Velten on tie-break from Bator Sambuev, they too scored 7.5/9. Daniel Dardha edged out 11 year old Faustino Oro (who finished last in the masters) on tie-break in the blitz after both scored 8/9.

5. Chessable Masters 2025 - Games and Results

   The Chessable Masters took place Tue 18th Feb to Fri 21st Feb 2025. Players: Grischuk, Firouzja, Esipenko, Giri, Erigaisi, Caruana, Nakamura, Nepomniachtchi, Duda, Carlsen, Praggnanandhaa, Sevian, Artemiev, Wei Yi, Wesley So and Yu Yangyi. 10 minutes per game. Double Elimination KO.

   Magnus Carlsen made very light work of winning the event beating Hikaru Nakamura in the Winners and Grand Final, there was no need for a final reset final.

6. Monaco FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2025 - Games and Results

   The Monaco FIDE Women's Grand Prix takes place Mon 17th Feb to Fri 28th Feb 2025. Players: Zhongyi Tan, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Humpy Koneru, Kateryna Lagno, Bibisara Assaubayeva, Harika Dronavalli, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, Elisabeth Paehtz and Batkhuyag Munguntuul.

7. Freestyle Grand Slam Weissenhaus 2025 - Games and Results

   The Freestyle Grand Slam Weissenhaus was the first in a series of events aimed at promoting the chess variant also known as Chess960, 9LX or Fischer Random Chess. The event is financed by German entrepreneur Jan Henric Buettner and backed by former World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen. The remaining events of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour are: Paris April 8–15, New York July 17–24 New Delhi September 17–24 and Cape Town December 5–12.

   The first event of the series took place in a resort owned by Buettner in Wangels, Germany 7th to 14th February 2025. Players: Carlsen, Caruana, Nakamura, Gukesh, Abdusattorov, Firouzja, Aronian, Keymer, Fedoseev and Sindarov. A rapid round robin is followed by a classical KO later stage. I don't have the ability to display this chess variant but do have the games available for download.

   The surprise winner was Vincent Keymer who beat Fabiano Caruana in the final. In the semi-final he beat Magnus Carlsen, the game he won was one of the most favorable...