2024 in chess


Gukesh Dommaraju won the World [Chess Championship 2024|2024 World Chess Championship], becoming the youngest undisputed world chess champion at the age of 18.
The Candidates Tournament and Candidates Tournament 2024|Women's Candidates Tournament] were held concurrently for the first time to determine the challengers for the reigning world champions Ding Liren and Ju Wenjun. The winners, Gukesh and Tan Zhongyi, advanced to the World Chess Championship 2024 and Women's [World Chess Championship 2025] respectively.
Fabiano Caruana won the 2024 [FIDE Circuit], encompassing major tournaments held in 2024, and qualified for the 2026 Candidates Tournament. The World Championship runner-up, Ding Liren, will no longer get an automatic Candidates spot in the 2024–2026 cycle. Instead, the World Championship match will be an eligible tournament for the 2025 FIDE Circuit.

Timeline

January

Jan 1 – Alireza Firouzja confirms his position above Wesley So in the January rating list and qualifies for the Candidates Tournament 2024.Jan 5 – Adani Group announces a long term sponsorship agreement with R Praggnanandhaa.Jan 9 – The President of India Droupadi Murmu confers the Arjuna Award on grandmaster-elect R Vaishali and the Dronacharya Award on grandmaster and coach RB Ramesh.Jan 21 – Leonid Ivanovic becomes the youngest player in history to beat a grandmaster in classical chess at the age of 8 years, 11 months, and 7 days.Jan 28 – Wei Yi wins the 2024 Tata Steel Masters after beating Gukesh Dommaraju in the tiebreak final. Leon Luke Mendonca wins the Challengers' section, qualifying to next year's Masters.Jan 30 – 13-year-old Andy Woodward earns his final grandmaster norm and becomes the youngest grandmaster in the world and the tenth youngest in history.
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February

Feb 1 – After the results of Tata Steel, Anish Giri climbs to world number five while Wei Yi debuts in the world's top ten.Feb 2 – FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich posthumously awards the honorary grandmaster title to the late Sultan Khan.Feb 7 – Magnus Carlsen wins the Chessable Masters, the first leg of the Champions Chess Tour, after beating Alireza Firouzja in the Grand Final.Feb 16 – Magnus Carlsen beats Fabiano Caruana in the final to win the inaugural Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge, the first major classical Fischer random chess tournament.Feb 18 – Ashwath Kaushik becomes the youngest player in history to beat a grandmaster in classical chess at the age of 8 years, 6 months, and 11 days.Feb 25 – Daniel Dardha and Hans Niemann tie for first at the Djerba Masters, with Dardha taking first on tiebreaks.
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March

Mar 2 – FIDE makes an urgent appeal to the Canadian government, urging them to expedite the visa process for several players ahead of the Candidates Tournament.
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April

Apr 1 – Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Arjun Erigaisi debut in the world's top ten.Apr 1 – Magnus Carlsen wins his third Grenke Chess Classic after beating Richárd Rapport in the final. Hans Niemann wins the Open section.Apr 1 – Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş becomes the youngest grandmaster in the world and the fourth youngest in history, at the age of 12 years, nine months, and 29 days.Apr 7 – Arjun Erigaisi wins the Menorca Open on tiebreaks.Apr 21 – Gukesh Dommaraju wins the Candidates Tournament 2024, advancing to the World Chess Championship 2024.Apr 21 – Tan Zhongyi wins the Women's Candidates Tournament 2024, advancing to the Women's World Chess Championship 2025.

June

Jun 1 – Ethan Pang becomes the youngest player to surpass a FIDE rating of 2200.

July

Jul 18 – Shama Yisrael becomes the first African-American woman to achieve the rank of National Master.

August

Aug 6 – Jessica Hyatt becomes the second African-American woman to achieve the rank of National Master.

November

Nov 1 – Ethan Pang becomes the youngest player to surpass a FIDE rating of 2300.Nov 1 – Anish Sarkar becomes the youngest FIDE-rated player, with a rating of 1556 at the age of 3 years, 8 months, and 19 days.

Events

World Championship

The World Chess Championship was held in Singapore from 25 November to 12 December. It was played to a best of 14 games, with tiebreaks if required. The match was won by Gukesh 7½–6½ after 14 games.

Deaths