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The Sparkassen Chess Trophy 2026 is once again highlighting women’s elite chess with its International Women’s Tournament, which takes place from August 2 to August 9 as part of the 53rd International Dortmund Chess Days. The four-player round-robin event will be staged at the Kulturzentrum Alte Schmiede alongside the prestigious A-Open and B-Open.

The Scheldemond Chess Tournament 2026 has officially begun in Vlissingen, Netherlands, attracting an impressive field of 214 participants for this year’s international open. Running from August 1–8, the tournament is played over nine Swiss-system rounds with the classical time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment from move one.

Chinese GM Zeng Chongsheng (CHN, 2565) took first place in the Classic Open A section of the 7th Paul Keres Memorial Festival, held July 27 – August 1, 2026 at the Estonia Resort Hotel & Spa in Pärnu, Estonia. He finished the 9-round Swiss with 8/9, a full point clear of the field.

More Paul Keres news: Euro coin to mark 100 years since the birth of Paul Keres

The 2026 Spanish Chess Championship U18 is set to bring together one of the largest and most competitive fields in recent years, with 150 players registered for the national event. The tournament features a strong mix of experienced titled players, rising juniors, and ambitious regional champions competing for one of Spain’s most prestigious chess titles.

The 2026 British Chess Championship gets underway on August 1 at the University of Warwick, bringing together more than 100 players for England’s premier national championship. More than 1,000 chess players from across the UK, including the best of Britain’s grandmasters and child prodigies, are expected to descend on the city to take part in a series of tournaments and wider chess events.

With less than four months remaining until the 2026 FIDE World Chess Championship, betting markets have made challenger Javokhir Sindarov the clear favorite to dethrone reigning champion Gukesh Dommaraju. Most major bookmakers currently price Sindarov at 1.36 (decimal), while Gukesh is available at 3.00, implying the Uzbek grandmaster has around a 73% chance of claiming the title.

The 53rd Sparkassen Chess Trophy gets underway on August 1 in Dortmund, Germany, continuing one of Europe’s longest-running and most prestigious chess traditions. Organized as part of the International Dortmund Chess Days, the 2026 edition brings together ambitious grandmasters, experienced professionals, rising talents, and club players from around the world for nine days of competitive action.

The 2026 European Youth Team Chess Championship is being held in Pardubice, Czech Republic, from 26 July to 1 August, organised by the Czech Chess Federation together with the European Chess Union (ECU). This year’s edition set a new participation record, with 66 teams and 218 players competing across four categories: Open U12, Open U18, Girls U12 and Girls U18. Each section is played as a 7-round Swiss-system team event, with a time control of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds per move.

FIDE Interim President Viswanathan Anand welcomed the announcement of Geneva as the host of the FIDE World Championship Match 2026: “Several countries expressed a strong interest in hosting the FIDE World Championship Match, including India, the United States and Cyprus. After carefully considering all the proposals, FIDE has decided to stage the match on neutral soil and bring it to Geneva, a city with a historic tradition of bringing nations and cultures together. We look forward to welcoming the global chess community to Switzerland.

The 2026 World Championship Match will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, from November 25 to December 15, pitting reigning champion Gukesh D (India) against challenger Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan). Sindarov qualified by winning the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament in Cyprus with a round to spare, on top of already having won the 2025 FIDE World Cup. Gukesh is defending the title he won at 18 in Singapore in December 2024, when he beat Ding Liren in the final classical game to become the youngest World Champion in history.