Who was the world chess champion in 2018?
World Chess Championship 2018
The World Chess Championship was a match between the reigning world champion since 2013, Magnus Carlsen, and the challenger Fabiano Caruana to determine the World Chess Champion. The 12-game match, organised by FIDE and its commercial partner Agon, was played at The College in Holborn, London, between 9 and 28 November 2018.
Women's World Chess Championship 2019
The 2019 Women's World Chess Championship is an upcoming chess match for the Women's World Chess Championship title. It is contested by Ju Wenjun (winner of the 2018 knock-out championship) and her challenger, the winner of a newly established Candidates Tournament, that is held in 2019.
World Youth Chess Championship
The World Youth Chess Championship is a chess competition for girls and boys under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. Twelve world champions are crowned every year.
Garry Kasparov
On 7 October 2013, Kasparov announced his candidacy for World Chess Federation president during a reception in Tallinn, Estonia, where the 84th FIDE Congress took place. Kasparov's candidacy was supported by his former student, reigning World Chess Champion and FIDE#1 ranked player Magnus Carlsen. At the FIDE General Assembly in August 2014, Kasparov lost the presidential election to incumbent FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, with a vote of 110-61.
Chess World Cup 2015
The winner of the Chess World Cup 2013, Vladimir Kramnik, was defeated by Dmitry Andreikin in the third round.
World Chess Championship 2007
Viswanathan Anand of India won the tournament and the title of World Chess Champion. His winning score was 9 points out of 14, with a total of four wins and 10 draws, and Anand was the only undefeated player in the tournament.
Boris Gelfand
In the Chess World Cup 2009, Gelfand was the top seed, and defeated Judit Polgár, reigning World Junior Champion Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Dmitry Jakovenko, and Sergey Karjakin to reach the final. He then faced former FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov for the championship, and won the match 7–5 in a playoff. By winning the Chess World Cup 2009, Gelfand qualified for the World Chess Championship 2012 Candidates Tournament.
Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Alekhine (, "Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Alekhin"; ; March 24, 1946) was a Russian and French chess player and the fourth World Chess Champion. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest chess players of all time.
Magnus Carlsen
Carlsen faced Anand in the World Chess Championship 2013, at Hyatt Regency in Chennai, India, from 9 to 22 November. Carlsen won the match 6½–3½ by winning games five, six and nine and drawing the remainder. Thus, Carlsen became the new World Chess Champion. Though Carlsen was the challenger, and less experienced than Anand, he handled the pressure with ease. He drew first blood in game 5 by taking advantage of a small mistake made by Anand, and emerged victorious in games 6 and 9, making him the 16th undisputed World Chess Champion.
2018 World Snooker Championship
Eight former world champions participated in the main tournament at the Crucible. They were Ronnie O'Sullivan (five titles: 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013), John Higgins (four titles: 1998, 2007, 2009, 2011), Mark Selby (three titles and two-time defending champion: 2014, 2016, 2017), Mark Williams (two titles: 2000 and 2003), Shaun Murphy (one title: 2005), Graeme Dott (one title: 2006), Neil Robertson (one title: 2010), and Stuart Bingham (one title: 2015). This was O'Sullivan's 26th consecutive appearance in the final stages of the World Championship since his debut in 1993, just one short of Stephen Hendry's record of 27 consecutive appearances, and four short of Steve Davis's record of 30 total appearances. Five other former world championship finalists also competed: Matthew Stevens (twice: 2000 and 2005), Ali Carter (twice: 2008 and 2012), Judd Trump (once: 2011), Barry Hawkins (once: 2013), and Ding Junhui (once: 2016). The youngest player to participate in the main stage of the tournament was Lyu Haotian at 20 years of age, while 43-year-old Joe Perry was the oldest; both players entered the main draw through qualifying. Marco Fu made his return to competition at the World Championship, having missed much of the 2017/2018 season after undergoing surgery to repair retinal degeneration and myodesopsia in his left eye.
2018 World Masters (darts)
Krzysztof Ratajski was the reigning men’s champion after defeating Mark McGeeney in last year’s final by 6 sets to 1, but switched to the PDC straight after last years event meaning he was excluded from taking part. Lorraine Winstanley was the defending women's champion after defeating Corrine Hammond in the final by 5 legs to 2, but she lost 4-0 in the quarter-finals to Casey Gallagher.
European Youth Chess Championship 2018
European Youth Chess Championship 2018 — was a Swiss-system tournaments in Riga, to decide the European Youth individuals chess champions in U8 — U18 age categories.
Open event at the 43rd Chess Olympiad
The tournament featured nine out of the top ten players from the FIDE rating list published in September 2018 with only the current World Champion Magnus Carlsen being absent. Former World Champion Vishwanathan Anand returned to the Chess Olympiads on board one for India following a break of twelve years. Other players who are playing in the open section include the former World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik, the upcoming challenger in the World Chess Championship 2018 Fabiano Caruana, as well as the former challengers Sergey Karjakin and Boris Gelfand. Grandmaster Eugenio Torre, who was in the line-up of the Philippines for a record twenty-three times in the 1970-2016 period and was the highest-scoring player at the 42nd Chess Olympiad, decided not to play and was named coach of the Philippines national team in the open section. Former FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov was not playing because a dispute between chess officials caused de-recognition of the Bulgarian Chess Federation by FIDE.
2019 World Snooker Championship
Mark Williams is the defending champion, having beaten John Higgins 18–16 in the 2018 final.
European Youth Chess Championship 2018
At the European Chess Union (ECU) General Assembly during the 42nd Chess Olympiad in Baku in September 2016, the organizational rights to the European Youth Chess Championship 2018 were awarded to Latvia, who held the event in Riga from 19 to 30 August 2018, under the auspices of European Chess Union. The venue for the championship was the International Exhibition Centre "Ķīpsala" (Riga, Ķīpsalas Street 8) near the historical center of Riga. The main organizers from Latvia were the President of the Latvian Chess Federation Āris Ozoliņs and tournament director Egons Lavendelis. The chief arbiter of the tournament was Ashot Vardapetyan (Armenia), the deputy chief arbiters are Andra Cimiņa, Vairis Kurpnieks (both Latvia) and Christos Pilalis (Greece). The championship consisted of 12 separate tournaments: Open (boy) tournaments in the age groups O08, O10, O12, O14, O16, O18 and the Girls' tournaments in the age groups G08, G10, G12, G14, G16, G18, all of which hold on Swiss-system in 9 rounds with time control for each player: 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. The championship was attended by 1072 participants from 47 countries, including 426 paticipants in Girls' tournaments and 646 participants in Open tournaments. In connection with the exclusion of the chess federation of Bulgaria from FIDE, all participants from Bulgaria represented the European Chess Union at the tournament. 194 participants had various international chess titles, including one Grandmaster (GM), 10 International Masters (IM), 6 Women International Masters (WIM) and 76 FIDE masters (FM). Larger delegation have Russia, which one represented 150 players, but second one Latvia was represented by 103 participants, including 29 participants in girls' tournaments and 74 participants in open tournaments. Latvia's representation was the second largest championship behind Russia, represented by 150 members. At the end of the tournament Russia takes home 7 gold, 6 silver and 3 bronze medals. Azerbaijan leaves Riga with 2 gold medals, while Belarus – with 1 gold and 1 silver and 3 bronze medals.
List of men's World Curling champions
"As of 2018 Bronze Medal Game"
Development of the World Chess Championship
FIDE has announced that after that, there will be a championship cycle every two years, beginning with the World Chess Championship 2012. The first stage of 2012 qualification, the FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010, began in April 2008. The final stage of qualification ended in May 2011, with Boris Gelfand emerging as the winner of the Candidates Tournament and the right to challenge Anand for the World Chess Championship 2012. Anand retained his title by beating Gelfand 2½–1½ in a four-game tie-breaker round, after the two ended the 12-game series level. Anand lost his title to Magnus Carlsen in November 2013 in Chennai, India.
Classical World Chess Championship 1995
The match began with eight consecutive draws, a record for the World Chess Championship until the 2018 Carlsen–Caruana match. In game 9 Anand, with white, broke through Kasparov's Sicilian Scheveningen defence to win. Kasparov hit back immediately in game 10, with a novelty in the Ruy Lopez Open Defence.
World Chess Championship 2010
The World Chess Championship 2010 match pitted the defending world champion, Viswanathan Anand, against challenger Veselin Topalov, for the title of World Chess Champion. The match took place in Sofia, Bulgaria from 24 April to 13 May 2010, with a prize fund of million euros (60% to the winner). Anand won the final game to win the match 6½–5½ and retain the title.
Daniil Dubov
Daniil Dmitrievich Dubov (; born 18 April 1996 in Moscow) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He achieved his final norm for the Grandmaster title at the age of 14 years, 11 months, 14 days in 2011.. He is the current world rapid champion, winning the World Rapid Chess Championship held in Saint Petersburg from 26 to 28 December 2018.
Sergey Karjakin
Karjakin won the 2012 World Rapid Chess Championship, and the Norway Chess tournament in 2013 and 2014. He competed at the Candidates Tournament 2014, placing second. He won the Chess World Cup 2015, thus qualifying for the Candidates Tournament 2016. He won the tournament and earned the right to challenge for the World Chess Championship. In November 2016, he lost the championship match to Magnus Carlsen in the rapid tiebreaks after drawing 6–6 in the classical games. He won the 2016 World Blitz Chess Championship. He participated in the candidates tournament again in 2018, placing third.
43rd Chess Olympiad
The tournament featured nine out of the top ten players from the FIDE rating list published in September 2018 with only the current World Champion Magnus Carlsen being absent. Former World Champion Vishwanathan Anand returned to the Chess Olympiads on board one for India following a break of twelve years. Other players who played in the open section include the former World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik, the challenger in the World Chess Championship 2018 Fabiano Caruana, as well as the former challengers Sergey Karjakin and Boris Gelfand. Grandmaster Eugenio Torre, who was in the line-up of the Philippines for a record twenty-three times in the 1970–2016 period and was the highest-scoring player at the 42nd Chess Olympiad, decided not to play and was named coach of the Philippines national team in the open section. Former FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov did not play because a dispute between chess officials caused de-recognition of the Bulgarian Chess Federation by FIDE.
Fedir Bohatyrchuk
Former world champion, GM Boris Spassky, stated in 2017, after reviewing Bohatyrchuk's games, that "if Bohatyrchuk plays chess professionally, he could be the first Soviet world champion."
World Scrabble Championship 2018
Malaysia-based Nigel Richards, who was born in New Zealand, defeated American data-scientist Jesse Day in the best-of-five finals; Richards had previously won the world championship in 2007, 2011, and 2013, as well as the French world championship in 2013 and 2018. Notable plays by Richards included GROUTIER for 64 points, ZONULAR (100) and PHENOLIC (84), while Day managed a 95-pointer MALEDICT. Richards, who was awarded £6,200, described the championship as "closely-fought", while praising Day for being an "impressive opponent".
Yannick Gozzoli
Born in 1983 in Marseille, Gozzoli earned his international master title in 2003 and his grandmaster title in 2012. He is the No. 9 ranked French player as of August 2018. He tied for first in the 2018 French Chess Championship with Tigran Gharamian and Romain Édouard. Gharamian won the playoff.
World Chess Championship 2014
Both Carlsen and Anand appeared in the 2013 Championship, Anand as the reigning world champion and Carlsen as the challenger. This marked the first time the same two opponents met in consecutive World Championship matches since Garry Kasparov played Anatoly Karpov five times between 1984 and 1990.
World Chess Championship 2016
The World Chess Championship 2016 was a chess match between reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen and challenger Sergey Karjakin to determine the World Chess Champion. Carlsen has been world champion since 2013, while Karjakin qualified as challenger by winning the 2016 Candidates Tournament. The best-of-12 match, organized by FIDE and its commercial partner Agon, was played in New York City between 10 and 30 November 2016.
World Chess Championship 2013
With this draw, Carlsen won the World Championship match 6½–3½, becoming the new world chess champion.
There were several changes and controversies in the process for choosing the challenger and hosts for the championship. A timeline is found below.
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov (, ; born Garik Kimovich Weinstein, 13 April 1963) is a Russian chess grandmaster, former world chess champion, writer, and political activist, whom many consider to be the greatest chess player of all time. From 1986 until his retirement in 2005, Kasparov was ranked world No. 1 for 225 out of 228 months. His peak rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by Magnus Carlsen in 2013. Kasparov also holds records for consecutive professional tournament victories (15) and Chess Oscars (11).
Wesley So
Wesley Barbasa So (born October 9, 1993) is a Filipino-American chess grandmaster. He is a three-time Filipino Chess Champion and was U.S. Chess Champion in 2017. On the March 2017 FIDE rating list, he was ranked number two in the world and had an Elo rating of 2822, making him the fifth highest rated player in history.
Sebastian Bogner
Sebastian Bogner (born 17 January 1991) is a German-Swiss chess grandmaster. He represented Germany until transferring to Switzerland in 2013. He won the Swiss Chess Championship in 2018.
World Chess Championship 2018
This game began with the Sveshnikov Variation of the Sicilian Defence, and followed Games 8 and 10 until Carlsen deviated with 8...Ne7. The game entered a complicated middlegame which Carlsen showed better understanding of than Caruana. Former world champions Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik both disapproved of Caruana's 18.f3 and 21.Rh2 idea, thinking that it just created weaknesses for Black to play against. Indeed, Carlsen was able to quickly push his central pawn majority while stalling Caruana's queenside. By move 25 he had a better position. However, Carlsen was unwilling to take risks. He did not play the challenging 25...b5, opting for the more prudent 25...a5 instead. Although White's position remained miserable, after 29...a4? Caruana was able to place his queen on b4 and stop the b5 pawn thrust. Black still had a superior position and a clear plan while White remained passive, but Carlsen offered a draw, opting to go to the tiebreaks.
Icelandic Chess Championship
The current Icelandic chess champion is Helgi Áss Grétarsson (2018).
Women's World Chess Championship
In 2008, the title went to Russian grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk, who, in the final, beat Chinese prodigy Hou Yifan 2–1, then aged 14 (see Women's World Chess Championship 2008).
History of chess
Earlier in 1999, Kasparov as the reigning world champion played a game online against the world team composed of more than 50,000 participants from more than 75 countries. The moves of the world team were decided by plurality vote, and after 62 moves played over four months Kasparov won the game.
Women's World Chess Championship
The following year Tan Zhongyi defeated Anna Muzychuk for the title at the Women's World Chess Championship 2017.
Jan-Krzysztof Duda
In December 2018, Duda finished in second place in the World Blitz Chess Championship in Saint Petersburg scoring 16½/21 (+15–3=3), half a point behind the winner Magnus Carlsen.
2018 World Snooker Championship
Mark Williams won his third world title and 21st ranking title, by beating John Higgins 18–16 in the final. The win came fifteen years after Williams' second world title in 2003; at the age of 43, he became the second oldest winner at the Crucible. Three-time world champion Mark Selby had won the world title for the previous two years, but lost in the first round 4–10 to Joe Perry.
List of female chess players
By the 19th century, however, the chess world had become dominated by male chess players. During the 20th century, female players made significant progress in breaking male dominance on the game, and a few female players (such as Vera Menchik) could compete successfully with men. However, the only female player who managed to defeat the best male players of the world was Judit Polgar. She is the only female player to compete in a World Chess Championship, in the 2005 edition. She is also the only female player to have defeated the reigning world number one in a game, when she beat Garry Kasparov in 2002. For perspective, the current female world number one, Hou Yifan, is rated 166 points below the male world number one, Magnus Carlsen. Hou is also the only female player among the world's top hundred players.
Leinier Domínguez
Leinier Domínguez Pérez (born September 23, 1983) is a Cuban-American chess grandmaster who represents the United States. He competed in the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2002 and 2004, and the FIDE World Cup in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015. Domínguez Pérez was world champion in blitz chess in 2008.
World Blitz Chess Championship
The World Blitz Chess Championship is a chess tournament held to determine the world champion in chess played under blitz time controls. Since 2012, FIDE has held an annual joint rapid and blitz chess tournament and billed it as the World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships. The current world blitz champion is Magnus Carlsen.
World Chess Championship 2006
After Garry Kasparov split from FIDE in 1993, there were two world chess champions. There was the 'Classical' world champion, the title that only passes on to a player when he defeats the previous world champion. This was held by Kasparov, until he was defeated by Kramnik in the Classical World Chess Championship 2000. There was also the 'Official' FIDE world champion, determined by various tournament formats, held since the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005 by Topalov.
Vålerengens IF
Vålerenga Sjakklubb, also known as "Vålerenga Sjakk", is the chess department of the club. In March 2018, the current world champion, Magnus Carlsen, joined the club. Vålerenga Sjakklubb will participate in the 2018 European Chess Club Cup..
Sergey Karjakin
Karjakin won the 2016 World Blitz Chess Championship, which took place over 29 and 30 December 2016. Before the last round, Carlsen was leading with 16.0/20 while Karjakin was half a point behind. In the last round Carlsen drew with Peter Leko while Karjakin won against Baadur Jobava. Thus, they both finished the tournament with 16½/21. The tie-break (the Elo average of the opponents) was used to decide the winner, and as Karjakin's opponents had the better average, Karjakin was crowned 2016 World Blitz Champion. The extent of their domination in the event is shown by the fact that their closest rivals, Daniil Dubov, Hikaru Nakamura and Alexander Grischuk (three-time world blitz champion), were full two points behind.
Tigran Gharamian
Tigran Gharamian (, born 24 July 1984) is an Armenian-French chess grandmaster. He won the French Chess Championship in 2018.
Magnus Carlsen
In September, he took part in the Chess World Cup 2017. His participation in the event as World Champion was unusual as the World Cup is part of the cycle to challenge the World Champion in 2018. He defeated Oluwafemi Balogun +2–0=0 in the first round to advance to the second round, where he defeated Aleksey Dreev +2–0=0. He was then defeated in the third round by Bu Xiangzhi +0–1=1 and eliminated from the tournament.
Magnus Carlsen
Carlsen faced Anand in a match for the title of World Chess Champion in 2014. Anand qualified by winning the 2014 Candidates Tournament. The rematch was held from 7 to 23 November in Sochi, Russia. After 11 of 12 games, Carlsen led 6½–4½, thereby defending his World Champion title.
Women's World Chess Championship 2018 (May)
Ju Wenjun advanced to the quarter-finals, where she was knocked-out. Had she won, challenger would have been the Grand Prix runner-up Koneru Humpy.
Classical World Chess Championship 2004
Garry Kasparov's split from FIDE in 1993 resulted in two lines of world chess champions. There was the 'Classical' world champion, the title that only passes on to a player when he beats the previous world champion. This was held by Kasparov, until he was defeated by Kramnik in the Classical World Chess Championship 2000. There was also the "Official" FIDE world champion who, at the time of this match, was Rustam Kasimdzhanov.
Kateryna Lagno
In November 2018, Lagno lost to world champion Ju Wenjun in the finals of the Women's World Championship. In December 2018, Lagno won the World Blitz Chess Championship held in St. Petersburg without losing any games.
Jan-Krzysztof Duda
Jan-Krzysztof Duda (born 26 April 1998) is a Polish chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he achieved his grandmaster title in 2013 at the age of 15 years and 21 days. He won the Polish Chess Championship in 2018. As of December 2018, he is the No. 1 ranked Polish player.
2018 in chess
Major chess events taking place in 2018.
Ju Wenjun
In February 2016, Ju Wenjun won the Tehran leg of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2015–16. By also winning the last tournament of the Grand Prix in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, she finished first in the overall standings and earned the challenger spot in the Women's World Chess Championship Match 2018, which she won, and, in the Women's World Chess Championship Tournament of November 2018 in Khanty-Mansiysk, retained her title. In December 2017, Ju won the Women's World Rapid Chess Championship in Riyadh, and won in the same championship held in St. Petersburg in December 2018, scoring 11½/15 (+8=7) and 10/12 (+8=4), respectively.
2016 in chess
Major chess events that took place in 2016 included the Women's World Chess Championship 2016 between Mariya Muzychuk and Hou Yifan, won by Hou Yifan, and the Candidates Tournament, won by Sergey Karjakin, who challenged Magnus Carlsen in the World Chess Championship 2016. Magnus Carlsen won the match on tiebreaks and retained the title of World Chess Champion.
World Chess Championship 2013
The World Chess Championship 2013 was a match between reigning world champion Viswanathan Anand and challenger Magnus Carlsen, to determine the 2013 World Chess Champion. It was held from 9 to 22 November 2013 in Chennai, India, under the auspices of FIDE (the World Chess Federation).
World Chess Championship 2018
The Chief arbiter was Stéphane Escafre from France, and deputy arbiter was Nana Alexandria from Georgia. The appeal committee was composed of International Grandmasters and was chaired by Alexander Beliavsky (Slovenia) with Nigel Short (England) and Jóhann Hjartarson (Iceland) also present. The FIDE Supervisor was Ashot Vardapetyan, an International Arbiter from Armenia.
Tan Zhongyi
She lost the Women's World Champion title to Ju Wenjun at the Women's World Chess Championship Match 2018.
World Chess Championship 2018
The game began with the English Opening as with Games 4 and 9, with Carlsen deviating with 3.g3, entering the Bremen, Smyslov system. Carlsen offered the c4-pawn for more active queenside play, and, by move 12, had compromised Black's queenside pawn structure. By Black's 25th move, Carlsen was able to regain the sacrificed pawn and trade into an endgame with an extra pawn. However, the position was still not winning until Caruana's 37...Kxe4 mistake allowed Carlsen to create two connected passed pawns on the kingside and win the game.
Chess
Contemporary chess is an organized sport with structured international and national leagues, tournaments, and congresses. Chess's international governing body is FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs). Most countries have a national chess organization as well (such as the US Chess Federation and English Chess Federation) which in turn is a member of FIDE. FIDE is a member of the International Olympic Committee, but the game of chess has never been part of the Olympic Games; chess does have its own Olympiad, held every two years as a team event.
The current World Chess Champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway. The reigning Women's World Champion is Hou Yifan from China. The world's highest rated female player, Judit Polgár, has never participated in the Women's World Chess Championship, instead preferring to compete with the leading men and maintaining a ranking among the top male players.
FIDE World Chess Championship 1998
The FIDE World Chess Championship 1998 was contested in a match between the FIDE World Champion Anatoly Karpov and the challenger Viswanathan Anand. The match took place between 2 January and 9 January 1998 in Lausanne, Switzerland. The challenger was determined in a tournament held in Groningen, Netherlands, between 9 December and 30 December 1997. After the championship match ended in a draw, Karpov won the rapid playoff, becoming the 1998 FIDE World Chess Champion.
Women's World Chess Championship
After Hou declined to defend her title at the Women's World Chess Championship 2015, the title was won by Mariya Muzychuk, who defeated Natalia Pogonina in the final.
Nana Dzagnidze
In 2017, she won the European Women's Championship in Riga and the Women's World Blitz Chess Championship in Riyadh.
The Winner of the honorary FIDE award of Caissa as the best female player of the year (2017). Chess Award of Caissa, designed and executed by artisans of the Lobortas Classic Jewelry House, was solemnly presented on December 31, 2018 during the closing ceremony of the 2018 World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship in Saint Petersburg.
World Chess Championship 2008
The World Chess Championship 2008 was a best-of-twelve-games match between the incumbent World Chess Champion, Viswanathan Anand, and the previous World Champion, Vladimir Kramnik. Kramnik had been granted a match after not winning the World Chess Championship 2007 tournament.
Sergey Karjakin
In March 2016, Karjakin won the 2016 Candidates Tournament in Moscow and qualified to play a match against Magnus Carlsen for the title of World Chess Champion. He defeated Fabiano Caruana in the last round of the tournament to finish with 8½ out of 14, one point ahead of Caruana and Anand.
United States Chess Federation
The U.S. Championship, an invitational event, has been held since 1936. (For many years before that, the national championship had been decided by head-to-head match play.) Noteworthy past winners include Samuel Reshevsky and Bobby Fischer, eight times each; Walter Browne, six times; and Larry Evans and Gata Kamsky, five times each. The 2018 tournament was won by Sam Shankland.
Woody Harrelson
Harrelson is a fan of the game of chess. He is considered an amateur player with a basic knowledge of the game. In November 2018, Harrelson attended the first game of the World Chess Championship in London, played between the Norwegian champion, Magnus Carlsen, and the American contender, Fabiano Caruana. Harrelson made the ceremonial "first move" for that game. Harrelson also played the ceremonial first move for the previous World Chess Championship that was held in New York in 2016.
Development of the World Chess Championship
Subsequent world championship matches returned to the format of a match between the champion and a challenger. The World Chess Championship 2008 was a 12-game match between the current champion Viswanathan Anand and 2006 champion Vladimir Kramnik. Anand convincingly defended his title in 11 games with 6½–4½. The World Chess Championship 2010 took place in April and May 2010, where Anand defeated 2005 FIDE champion Veselin Topalov (who defeated Chess World Cup 2007 winner Gata Kamsky in a match in February 2009 to determine Anand's challenger) to defend the title for the second time.
Maili-Jade Ouellet
In 2017, she won Women's Canadian Chess Championship which also was Women's World Chess Championship American Zonal 2.1 tournament, and qualified for the Women's World Chess Championship 2018.
Women's World Chess Championship 2018 (May)
The final was played between Tan Zhongyi and Anna Muzychuk as a four game match. After a calm draw in game 1, Tan Zhongyi won game 2 with the white pieces.
Chess960
In 2018, a Chess960 match between reigning classical World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen and the unofficial Chess960 world champion Hikaru Nakamura was held in Oslo. The match consisted of 8 rapid and 8 blitz games, with the rapid games counting double. Each position was used in two games, with colors reversed. Carlsen prevailed with a score of 14–10.
Aleksander Śliwka
On September 30, 2018 Poland achieved title of the 2018 World Champion. Poland beat Brazil in the finale 3-0 and defended the title from 2014.
World Chess Championship 2018
Carlsen opened with e4 for the second time in the match, with Caruana once again playing Petrov's Defence. Caruana was very well prepared, and Carlsen was unable to get an opening advantage, despite the fact the variation with 9...Nf6 being visible in the leaked opening preparation video. After an early queen trade, Caruana forced an opposite-coloured bishops endgame with 18...Ne5! After further liquidating the d6-pawn, his only weakness, Caruana even had the liberty to give up a pawn. Carlsen kept playing, but his only chance to win was for Caruana to blunder, which he did not. The game was drawn in 55 moves.
Ferenc Berkes
Ferenc Berkes (born 8 August 1985) is a Hungarian chess grandmaster. He is an eight-time Hungarian Chess Champion, winning in 2004, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2018. In 2002, he was World Under 18 Champion. In 2004 he tied for 4th–16th in the 3rd Aeroflot Open in Moscow. He took part in the Chess World Cup 2011, but was eliminated in the second round by Zahar Efimenko.
Fabiano Caruana
In January, Caruana finished 11th with a score of 5/13 at the Tata Steel Masters tournament. In March he won the Candidates Tournament 2018 with a score of 9/14, thus winning the right to challenge Magnus Carlsen in the World Chess Championship 2018 in London in November 2018.
From 31 March to 9 April, Caruana competed in the 5th Grenke Chess Classic. He won the event with a score of 6½/9 (+4–0=5), a point ahead of runner-up Carlsen. With this result he moved to No. 2 in the live world rankings. From 17 to 30 April, he competed in 2018 U.S. Chess Championship, placing second with 8/11 (+6–1=4), half a point behind champion Sam Shankland. In June, he won the sixth edition of Norway Chess, finishing clear first with a score of 5/8 (+3–1=4), despite having lost to Carlsen in the first round. In August, he jointly won the 6th Sinquefield Cup with Carlsen and Aronian. He also defeated So in a playoff for a place at the London Chess Classic being held in December.
Women's World Chess Championship 2018 (November)
Three semi-finalists, except the tournament winner, Ju Wenjun, qualified to a new 2019 Candidates Tournament, while the format is not yet determined it will decide the challenger for the 2019 World Championship.
Aryan Tari
Aryan Tari (born 4 June 1999) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster. He was Norwegian Chess Champion in 2015 and won the World Junior Chess Championship in 2017.
Oluwafemi Balogun
In 2016 he won the Africa Zone 4.4 Individual Chess Championship, and qualified to play in the 2017 Chess World Cup in Georgia. He was defeated by World Champion Magnus Carlsen in the first round, becoming the first African to play against a reigning World Champion in a competitive match.
Ivan Šarić (chess player)
In 2018 he won the European Individual Chess Championship in Batumi with a score of 8.5/11 points and became the second player from Croatia who managed to achieve this title after Zdenko Kožul, who won it in 2006.
World Chess Championship 1972
The World Chess Championship 1972 was a match for the World Chess Championship between challenger Bobby Fischer of the United States and defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. The match took place in the Laugardalshöll arena in Reykjavík, Iceland, and has been dubbed the Match of the Century. Fischer became the first American born in the United States to win the world title, and the second American overall (Wilhelm Steinitz, the first world champion, became a naturalized American citizen in 1888). Fischer's win also ended, for a short time, 24 years of Soviet domination of the World Championship.
World Chess Championship 2018
The classical time-control portion of the match ended with 12 consecutive draws, the only time in the history of the world chess championship that all classical games have been drawn. On 28 November, rapid chess was used as a tie-breaker; Carlsen won three consecutive games to retain his title.
Viswanathan Anand
Anand won the 2017 World Rapid Chess Championship by defeating Vladimir Fedoseev 2-0 in the final tiebreak after he, Fedoseev and Ian Nepomniachtchi tied for first with 10.5/15 points. He won the tournament ahead of reigning Classical World Champion Magnus Carlsen and this was his first victory in a world championship since losing the classical championship to Carlsen in 2013.
In 2012, Viswanathan Anand participated in several high level tournaments, including the London Chess Classic and the Bilbao Masters Grand Slam. Earlier in 2012, he also played a World Championship match against Boris Gelfand in Moscow, Russia.Anand participated in several high-level tournaments in 2013, including the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, Grenke Chess Classic, Zurich Chess Challenge, Alekhine Memorial, Tal Memorial, the 1st Norway Chess Tournament, and the London Chess Classic. He also participated in the 2013 World Chess Championship match against Magnus Carlsen.Viswanathan Anand won the World Chess Championship Candidates Tournament, which earned him a rematch against Magnus Carlsen for the World Championship. He also participated in the Dubai World Rapid and Blitz Championships, Zurich Chess Challenge, Bilbao Masters, and London Chess Classic.In 2015, Viswanathan Anand was a participant in the inaugural 2015 Grand Chess Tour, a series of 3 supertournaments featuring the world's elite players. The three tournaments that Anand participated in were Norway Chess, Sinquefield Cup, and London Chess Classic. Among these tournaments, Anand also participated in the Berlin World Rapid and Blitz Championships, GRENKE Chess, Zurich Chess Challenge, Bilbao Chess Masters Final, and Shamkir Chess.Overall, because of his performances in the Sinquefield Cup and the London Chess Classic, Anand finished 8th out of the main 9 Grand Chess Tour main participants - 14 Grand Chess tour points out of 39 maximum.
Chess
Karpov defended his title twice against Viktor Korchnoi and dominated the 1970s and early 1980s with a string of tournament successes. Karpov's reign finally ended in 1985 at the hands of Garry Kasparov, another Soviet player from Baku, Azerbaijan. Kasparov and Karpov contested five world title matches between 1984 and 1990; Karpov never won his title back. In 1993, Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short broke with FIDE to organize their own match for the title and formed a competing Professional Chess Association (PCA). From then until 2006, there were two simultaneous World Champions and World Championships: the PCA or Classical champion extending the Steinitzian tradition in which the current champion plays a challenger in a series of many games, and the other following FIDE's new format of many players competing in a tournament to determine the champion. Kasparov lost his Classical title in 2000 to Vladimir Kramnik of Russia. The World Chess Championship 2006, in which Kramnik beat the FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov, reunified the titles and made Kramnik the undisputed World Chess Champion. In September 2007, he lost the title to Viswanathan Anand of India, who won the championship tournament in Mexico City. Anand defended his title in the revenge match of 2008, 2010 and 2012. In 2013, Magnus Carlsen beat Anand in the 2013 World Chess Championship. He defended his title the following year, again against Anand. Carlsen confirmed his title in 2016 against the Russian Sergey Karjakin and in 2018 against the American Fabiano Caruana , in both occasions by a rapid tiebreaker match after equality in 12 games of classical time control, and is the reigning world champion.
Wilhelm Steinitz
There is a long-running debate among chess writers about whether Steinitz's reign as World Chess Champion began in 1866, when he beat Anderssen, or in 1886, when he beat Zukertort. In April 1894 the "British Chess Magazine" described Steinitz as holding "the chess championship of the world for 28 years". However, there is no evidence that he claimed the title for himself in 1866, although in the 1880s he claimed to have been the champion since his win over Anderssen. It has been suggested that Steinitz could not make such a claim while Paul Morphy was alive. Morphy had defeated Anderssen by a far wider margin, 8–3, in 1858, but retired from chess competition soon after he returned to the US in 1859, and died in 1884. The 1886 Steinitz vs. Zukertort match was the first that was explicitly described as being for the World Championship, but Howard Staunton and Paul Morphy had been unofficially described as "World Chess Champion" around the middle of the 19th century. In fact one of the organizers of the 1851 London International tournament had said the contest was for "the baton of the World's Chess Champion", and in mid-1840s Ludwig Bledow wrote a letter to Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa suggesting they should organize a world championship tournament in Germany. Some commentators described Steinitz as "the champion" in the years following his 1872 match victory against Zukertort. In the late 1870s and early 1880s some regarded Steinitz as the champion and others supported Johannes Zukertort, and the 1886 match was not regarded as creating the title of World Champion, but as resolving conflicting claims to the title. On the other hand George Alcock MacDonnell hailed Joseph Blackburne as "World Champion" for his win in the 1881 Berlin Tournament, George Henry Mackenzie as having "won the Chess Championship of the World" in 1887, and Isidore Gunsberg as "among the champions of the world" following his win at "Bradford Place" in 1888. However, Steinitz regarded G.A. MacDonnell as "one of my bitterest and most untruthful persecutors".
World Chess Championship 2012
Anand was the defending champion, having gained the title in 2007 and defended it in 2008 (against Vladimir Kramnik) and in 2010 (against Veselin Topalov). Boris Gelfand became the challenger in 2012 after winning the eight-player 2011 Candidates Tournament. Anand's subsequent victory, therefore, was his third consecutive title defence.
2018 World Series of Poker
2009 World Champion Joe Cada made the final table, finishing 5th, making him the first former champion to do so since Dan Harrington finished 4th in 2004. The final table bubble which saw Yueqi Zhu eliminated saw both him and then second place Antoine Labat turn over pocket Kings (Zhu , Labat ) while Nicolas Manion turned over . The board ran out , and Zhu was eliminated in 10th, while Labat was left crippled and Manion was propelled to the chip lead.
FIDE Grand Prix 2017
The FIDE Grand Prix 2017 was a series of four chess tournaments that formed part of the qualification cycle for the World Chess Championship 2018. The top two finishers, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Alexander Grischuk, qualified to the 2018 Candidates Tournament.
2018 World Seniors Championship
The Championship was won by Aaron Canavan, who beat Patrick Wallace 4–3 in the final.
Kathryn Hardegen
After Timergazi withdrew from her qualification spot, Hardegen replaced her for the Women's World Chess Championship 2018 in Khanty Mansiysk. In the first round of this knockout format, she was eliminated by the reigning Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun.
World Junior Chess Championship
As of 2018 (57 Men + 36 Women)
World Chess Championship 2008
The chess world title was split between 1993 and 2006. In early 2006, FIDE had already announced the conditions for the World Chess Championship 2007: an eight-player tournament which included FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov, but not "Classical" World Champion Vladimir Kramnik. FIDE later organized a reunification match between Kramnik and Topalov (the World Chess Championship 2006), with Kramnik to take Topalov's place in the 2007 tournament if he was to win the match. Kramnik did win the match and the reunified World Chess Championship, and so Topalov was excluded from the 2007 World Championship.
Women's World Chess Championship 2018 (May)
Colors were drawn at the opening ceremony. Colors are also reversed after game 4 to even out an advantage of first playing white. The time control is set at 90 minutes for the first 40 moves with addition of 30 minutes for the rest of the game. There is an increment of 30 seconds per move from move 1.
Due to various hosting and timing issues, the championships had varied from their intended annual calendar, pushing the 2017 event into early 2018. FIDE's plan is to get back on schedule by holding a second Women's World Chess Championship 2018 (tournament), with the full 64 player knock-out in November, culminating with the final two players competing for the championship title. The event was held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. Ju Wenjun entered the tournament as top rated player.
World Chess Championship 1978
Karpov won, retaining his title.
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (; born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster and the current World Chess Champion. He is a two-time World Rapid Chess Champion and four-time World Blitz Chess Champion. His peak rating of 2882, achieved in 2014, is the highest in history, and his 104 total months at number one in the FIDE world rankings is the second longest of all-time.
Women's World Chess Championship 2017
The Women's World Chess Championship 2017 was a 64-player knock-out tournament, to decide the women's world chess champion. The final was won by Tan Zhongyi over Anna Muzychuk in the rapid tie-breaks.
2019 PDC World Darts Championship
The tournament also saw two tournaments to qualify female players for the tournament. This followed the wildcard invitations of Gayl King to the 2001 tournament and Anastasia Dobromyslova to the 2009 tournament, and also came in the wake of the qualification of China's Momo Zhou for the 2018 PDC World Cup of Darts. Dobromyslova, three times BDO women's world champion, returned to the PDC championship after winning the rest of the world tournament, while the UK tournament was won by four time women's world champion, and reigning 2018 champion, Lisa Ashton.
Women's World Chess Championship 2018 (May)
The 2018 Women's World Chess Championship Match was a match held between Tan Zhongyi, the 2017 Women's World Chess champion, and her challenger Ju Wenjun to determine the new women's world chess champion. Ju Wenjun qualified by winning the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2015–16.
World Chess Championship 2013
Carlsen won the match 6½–3½ after ten of the twelve scheduled games, becoming the new world chess champion.
This was heralded by Garry Kasparov and others as the start of a new era in chess, with Carlsen being the first champion to have developed his game in the age of super-strong chess computers.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
A gold medalist at the 2012 Chess Olympiad on the third board, he is a three-time European Team Champion (2009, 2013, 2017) with Azerbaijan. He is also a two-time winner at Tal Memorial (2010 joint and 2014 Blitz) and Shamkir Chess (2016 and 2017), as well as the winner of 2018 Biel Chess Festival where he beat reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen.
2018 PDC World Darts Championship
In the final, held on New Year's Day 2018, Phil Taylor won the bull-off, but opted to allow Cross to throw first. Rob Cross held the first set 3–1, and broke in the second set by the same scoreline, before winning the third set 3–0. Taylor scored his first set with a 3–0 win in the fourth, before missing a dart at double twelve for a potential perfect nine-dart leg in the first leg of the fifth set. 
Cross won that leg and the next two to restore his three set lead, before breaking Taylor in the first leg of the sixth set, and the fourth leg of the seventh, taking a 6–1 lead in the best-of-thirteen match. 
Taylor held the eighth set 3–0, but Cross held the first leg in the ninth set, before hitting double-eight to break and go one leg away from the championship, and in the final leg, hit a 140 finish, treble-18, treble-18, double-16 to win the world championship.
History of chess
The FIDE World Chess Championship 2006 reunified the titles, when Kramnik beat the FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov and became the undisputed World Chess Champion. In September 2007, Viswanathan Anand from India became the next champion by winning a championship tournament. In October 2008, Anand retained his title, decisively winning the rematch against Kramnik. Anand retained his title until 2013, when he lost it to Magnus Carlsen from Norway, the current World Chess Champion.
Rob Cross (darts player)
Cross made his World Championship debut in 2018 as the 20th seed, reaching the final against Phil Taylor following wins over Seigo Asada, Michael Smith (in which Cross survived two match darts), John Henderson, Dimitri Van den Bergh and Michael van Gerwen (in which Cross survived six match darts). In the final he defeated Taylor, who had previously announced that he would retire after the tournament, 7–2 in sets. He is the only player to have survived match darts in two different rounds and then go on to win the World title. He became the 10th player to win the World Championship at the first attempt. Winning the World Championship meant that he finished at number 3 in the PDC Order of Merit and earned automatic qualification for the 2018 Premier League Darts.