The Week in Chess

• Five way tie for the lead in the Sigeman & Co tournament after three rounds - 3

  The top two seeds met in Round 3 when Magnus Carlsen drew against Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Carlsen tried a quiet Exchange Slav with white but Abdusattorov was precise and they drew in 44 moves. The other draw was between Andy Woodward and Jorden Van Foreest in a Philidor where black was a tiny bit better for a while.

  Nils Grandelius took the battle to Arjun Erigaisi in a Dragon Sicilian. They castled on opposite sides but then transposed into an endgame where both sides had running pawns. The endgame was very difficult but Erigaisi was always at least equal, in the end he was the one to Queen first. Zhu Jiner played a Reti against Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus and went wrong with 10.Nd4?! and 11.g4? the trouble was she ended up with an extremely difficult position to play, in particular her King had nowhere safe to go and her position eventually just fell apart.

  Round 3 Standings: 1st= Woodward, Carlsen, Erigaisi, Abdusattorov, Erdogmus 2pts, 6th Van Foreest 1.5pts, 7th Zhu Jiner 0.5pts, 8th...

• Carlsen impresses in beating Grandelius in Sigeman Round 2 - 2

  Magnus Carlsen joined the leaders Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Andy Woodward on 1.5 points after two rounds of the 31st Sigeman & Co tournament in Malmo. Carlsen was the only winner but all four games could easily have finished decisively.

  Carlsen was the only winner when he defeated Nils Grandelius using the Modern Benoni as black. Once Carlsen assumed the initiative, he quickly overpowered his opponent.

  Nodirbek Abdusattorov seemed to be heading for a win against Andy Woodward first just before first time control 39.g6! would have won and 40.Nd4? was almost equal. Abdusattorov was then soon winning again but couldn't land the final blow and 60.Rxf7? was the move that ended the winning chances. Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus drew against Arjun Erigaisi in 78 moves of a Ruy Lopez where both players stood better at one stage or another, Erigaisi was winning in a Queen endgame but only drew. Jorden Van Foreest messed up a winning position against Zhu Jiner who took her chance to equalise well 47.Nc4?...

• Abdusattorov and Woodward take an early lead in the Sigeman & Co Chess tournament - 1

  There were two decisive games in the first round of the Sigeman & Co Chess tournament, Andy Woodward beat Nils Grandelius after 26...Rd8? blundered an important pawn and the game. Zhu Jiner was starting to be worse against Nodirbek Abdusattorov when she made an incomprehensible blunder 23.Nd4? which was met by the absolutely obvious Rc8 and her position collapsed.

  Magnus Carlsen faced Arjun Erigaisi's Petroff, an opening that proved successful in the Candidates, a couple of times it seemed like Carlsen was getting somewhere but he had to settle for a draw. Jorden van Foreest also looked like he might have something but after 20.Re1 it was dead equal.

  Round 1 Standings: 1st= Abdusattorov, Woodward 1pt 3rd= Carlsen, Erigaisi, Van Foreest, Erdogmus ½pt 7th= Grandelius, Jiner Zhu 0pts

  Round 2 2pm BST 2nd May 2026: Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus-Arjun Erigaisi, Nils Grandelius-Magnus Carlsen, Nodirbek Abdusattorov-Andy Woodward and Jorden van Foreest-Jiner Zhu.

• 31st Tepe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2026 - Games and Results

  The 31st Tepe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament takes place Fri 1st May to Thu 7th May 2026. Players: Magnus, Carlsen, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Arjun Erigaisi, van Foreest Jorden, Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, Nils Grandelius, Andy Woodward and Jiner Zhu.

• Chess.com Open Playoffs 2026 - Games and Results

  The Chess.com Open Playoffs took Thu 23rd to Sun 26th Apr 2026. This offered two places in the Esports World Cup. Players: Magnus Carlsen, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Denis Lazavik, Sam Sevian, Javokhir Sindarov, Arjun Erigaisi, Vincent Keymer, Qualified through Play-Ins, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Pranesh M, Yu Yangyi, Sina Movahed, Daniil Dubov, Nihal Sarin and Shant Sargsyan. The event is a Double Elimination KO. Magnus Carlsen beat Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the Final, lost the Grand Final and then finally won again in the reset final. Both players qualified for the Esports World Cup.

• 26th European Individual Championship 2026 - Games and Results

  The 26th European Individual Championship took place 6th (arrival day) to 20th April 2026. In an astonishing result 17 year-old Roman Dehtiarov who started as 126th seed and has had travel limited by the war won with 9/11. There is a reworked game file now.

• Vaishali wins the Women's Candidates Tournament - 14

  Vaishali Rameshbabu took her opportunities in the final round of the Women's Candidates tournament to beat Kateryna Lagno and combined with Bibisara Assaubayeva's draw with Divya Deshmukh meant she took clear first place. Vaishali's win means she will play the champion since 2018, Ju Wenjun. Vaishali is the elder sister of Praggnanandhaa. Anna Muzychuk drew with Zhu Jiner and Aleksandra Goryachkina beat Tan Zhongyi in the remaining games.

  Javokhir Sindarov had already sewn up the Candidates in Round 13 and he engineered a very quick draw against Wei Yi to finish on +6 undefeated. Matthias Bluebaum came in a fighting mood against Anish Giri but it's not really his style and Giri impressively refuted his ideas. Fabiano Caruana also won his final game against Andrey Esipenko. Praggnanandhaa-Nakamura was a quiet draw.

  Both events have been super, Sindarov seems to have taken huge strides and the rest of the year watching him should be very exciting. Anish Giri was probably the only

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