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2022 Chess Calendar
The 2022 Chess Calendar begins with Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana topping the field for the Tata Steel Masters from January 15th onwards, and, if all goes to plan, it’s a year that’s going to feature another Candidates Tournament and the first over-the-board World Chess Olympiad since 2018. Whatever happens with the pandemic, the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour will be back, with nine high stakes events running from February 19th to November 20th.
Below we’ve gathered together all the info about the major chess events already scheduled for 2022, though we’ll be updating it during the year as more events are announced or plans change. Let us know in the comments below if there’s something we’re missing!
Current and future events:
January 2022
January 15 - 30 | Tata Steel Chess | Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands
Magnus Carlsen has declared reaching 2900 as his new goal in chess, and he’ll get his first chance to close in on it when he tops the field for the 14-player Tata Steel Masters. He faces tough competition from the likes of Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri, while 16-year-old Praggnanandhaa makes his super-tournament debut.
The amateur events again had to be cancelled due to the pandemic, but the Challengers is back alongside the Masters, with Arjun Erigaisi, Volodar Murzin and Marc’Andria Maurizzi among the young stars competing for a place in next year’s Masters.
Links: Official website, chess24: Masters, Challengers, Reports: Preview
January 24 - February 3 | Gibchess Battle of the Sexes | Gibraltar
The Catalan Hotel has closed for ever, to be replaced by a Hilton Hotel, and the pandemic still makes mass Opens problematic, but chess won’t be absent from Gibraltar as teams of 10 top female players and 10 similarly rated male opponents will compete for a £100,000 prize fund in the new venue of the Garrison Library.
Some of the 20 players set to take part in the battle | image: Gibraltar Chess Festival
Links: Official website
February 2022
February 3 - 17 | FIDE Grand Prix 1 | Berlin, Germany
The final two players to compete in the 2022 Candidates Tournament will be decided in the 3-tournament FIDE Grand Prix. 24 players have been invited, including Top 10 stars Ding Liren, Levon Aronian, Anish Giri, Wesley So, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Alexander Grischuk, with Hikaru Nakamura and Daniil Dubov given wildcards.
Last bus to the Candidates | image: World Chess
Each player competes in two of the three events, where 16 players are split into four groups of four. They play each other twice in a round-robin before the group winners advance to the semi-finals.
February 19 - 26 | Meltwater Champions Chess Tour 1 | chess24
The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour is back with Magnus Carlsen looking to defend the title he won in the inaugural $1.6 million tour.
This is the first of six Regular events on the 2022 Tour, which will also feature three Majors. More details soon.
Links: official website
February 28 - March 14 | FIDE Grand Prix 2 | Belgrade, Serbia
The 2nd of three events in the 24-player Grand Prix series that determines the final two places in the 2022 Candidates Tournament.
March 2022
March 3 - June 19 | Chess Bundesliga | Germany
Links: Official website
March 19 - 26 | Meltwater Champions Chess Tour 2 | chess24
The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour is back with Magnus Carlsen looking to defend the title he won in the inaugural $1.6 million tour. This is the second of six Regular events on the 2022 Tour, which will also feature three Majors. More details soon.
Links: official website
March 21 - April 4 | FIDE Grand Prix 3 | Berlin, Germany
The 3rd and final event of the 24-player Grand Prix series, that determines the final two places in the 2022 Candidates Tournament.
March 25 - April 4 | European Individual Chess Championship | Terme Catez, Slovenia
The European Chess Championship is a prestigious title to win, but for many players the event functions mainly as a qualifier for the FIDE World Cup.
Links: official website
April 2022
April 6 - 12 | Reykjavik Open | Reykjavik, Iceland
The Reykjavik Open returns to its traditional Harpa venue | photo: official website
The Reykjavik Open had to be cancelled in 2020, while in 2021 it functioned as the European Championship. In 2022 it’s returning to its old format as an Open tournament and also plans to return to its traditional venue, the Harpa Music and Conference Centre.
Links: official website
April 20 - 28 | Meltwater Champions Chess Tour 3: 1st Major | chess24
The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour is back with Magnus Carlsen looking to defend the title he won in the inaugural $1.6 million tour. This is the first Major on the 2022 Tour, which also features six Regular events and two more Majors. More details soon.
Links: official website
April 27 - May 8 | Mitropa Chess Club Cup | Corte, Corsica, France
The Mitropa Chess Club Cup is an annual team tournament organised by ten chess federations in Central Europe.
April 30 - May 4 | World Youth Rapid and Blitz Championship | Greece
The World Youth Rapid and Blitz Championship will be held in Under 8, U10, U12, U14, U16 and U18 age categories.
May 2022
May 1 - 10 | Russian Team Championships | Sochi, Russia
The Russian Team Championships in Sochi are traditionally one of the world’s strongest team events, though in 2021 it was notable that the top tournament featured no players at all from outside Russia. That’s likely to change in 2022, if the pandemic allows.
Links: official website
May 4 - 14 | Superbet Chess Classic | Bucharest, Romania
The first event on the 5-event $1.275 million Grand Chess Tour is a 10-player classical round-robin with a $325,000 prize fund.
Mamedyarov beat Aronian and Caruana in consecutive rounds to win the 2021 event | photo: Lennart Ootes, official website
Links: official website
May 5 - 16 | World Senior Team Championship | Acqui Terme, Italy
The World Senior Team Championship for teams in 50+ and 65+ age categories was postponed from 2021 to 2022 due to the pandemic.
May 18 - 23 | Paris Rapid & Blitz | Paris, France
The second tournament of the 5-event $1.275 million Grand Chess Tour is a 10-player event featuring three days of rapid chess (25+10) followed by two days of blitz (3+2), with a $150,000 prize fund.
Links: official website
May 19 - 26 | Meltwater Champions Chess Tour 4 | chess24
The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour is back with Magnus Carlsen looking to defend the title he won in the inaugural $1.6 million tour. This is the third of six Regular events on the 2022 Tour, which will also feature three Majors. More details soon.
Links: official website
May 30 - June 11 | Norway Chess | Stavanger, Norway
Norway Chess is one of the few major international chess events to continue during the pandemic, though with a reduced 6-player field in both 2020 and 2021. If Magnus Carlsen plays he’ll be bidding for a 5th Norway Chess title, and a 4th in a row.
Carlsen's win over Firouza was the 1st of a 4-game streak that gave him overall victory... but also the sign for Firouzja to go on a 4-game spurt that took him to 2nd place, and later the world no. 2 spot! | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess
Links: official website
June 2022
June 7 - 17 | Prague International Chess Festival | Prague, Czech Republic
This will be the 4th edition of the Prague Chess Festival, one of the brightest recent additions to the chess calendar. As well as the Masters, won in 2020 by Alireza Firouzja and in 2021 by Sam Shankland, there’s likely to be a Challengers, Futures and also an Open.
Links: official website
June 16 - July 7 | Candidates Tournament | Madrid, Spain
The Candidates Tournament is an 8-player, 14-round event that will decide who earns the right to face Magnus Carlsen in the 2023 World Chess Championship match. A welcome change this year is that a tie for 1st place will be decided by a playoff and not by mathematical tiebreakers, though it’s worth noting that if Magnus decides not to play the match, then a tie for 2nd place would matter more, since the top two will go on to play the match.
Can Ian Nepomniachtchi win the Candidates for a 2nd year in a row? | photo: Lennart Ootes, official website
The tournament will feature Ian Nepomniachtchi (2021 runner-up), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (World Cup winner), Sergey Karjakin (World Cup runner-up), Alireza Firouzja (Grand Swiss winner), Fabiano Caruana (Grand Swiss runner-up), Teimour Radjabov (wildcard after turning down his chance to play in 2020) and two players from the FIDE Grand Prix.
June 25 - July 6 | Russian Championship Higher League | Bryansk, Russia
The top five Open and Women’s players from this formidable open qualify for the Russian Chess Championship Superfinals later in the year.
Links: official website
July 2022
July 10 - 17 | Meltwater Champions Chess Tour 5 | chess24
The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour is back with Magnus Carlsen looking to defend the title he won in the inaugural $1.6 million tour. This is the fourth of six Regular events on the 2022 Tour, which will also feature three Majors. More details soon.
Links: official website
July 11 - 22 | Biel International Chess Festival | Biel/Bienne, Switzerland
The 55th edition of the Biel International Chess Festival will again have as its centrepiece a grandmaster tournament where the players will compete in classical, rapid and blitz chess, with points combined, while a Chess960 event acts as the tiebreaker.
Links: official website
July 16 - 24 | Dortmund Chess Days | Dortmund, Germany
The traditional Dortmund grandmaster tournament was recently changed to a format featuring different events, such as Opens, a classical tournament with top German players, and even a No Castles match between Vladimir Kramnik and Vishy Anand.
Links: official website
July 19 - 26 | Super United Croatia Grand Chess Tour Rapid & Blitz | Zagreb, Croatia
The third tournament on the 5-event $1.275 million Grand Chess Tour is a 10-player event featuring three days of rapid chess (25+10) followed by two days of blitz (3+2), with a $150,000 prize fund.
Links: official website
July 26 - August 8 | World Chess Olympiad | Moscow, Russia
The World Chess Olympiad has been a biennial event since 1950, but the pandemic prevented it being held over-the-board in 2020 or 2021, so that the 2022 Olympiad in Moscow will be the first since 2018 in Batumi, Georgia. Between the Open and Women’s events there are likely to be over 300 teams and more than 1500 players involved.
2018 Champions China are the team to beat, although the pandemic has drastically reduced the opportunities for their players in the last two years | photo: official website
China are the defending champions in both the Open and the Women’s sections, but the addition of Levon Aronian will give the USA a boost, France now have both Alireza Firouzja and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, while Russia will as always be one of the teams to beat.
August 2022
August 12 - 20 | Meltwater Champions Chess Tour 6: 2nd Major | chess24
The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour is back with Magnus Carlsen looking to defend the title he won in the inaugural $1.6 million tour. This is the second Major on the 2022 Tour, which will also feature six Regular events and another Major. More details soon.
Links: official website
August 13 - 21 | British Championship | Torquay, England
The 118th British Chess Championship is taking place at the seaside resort of Torquay.
Links: official website
August 20 - 31 | European Women’s Chess Championship | Prague, Czech Republic
The European Women’s Individual Chess Championship both decides the European Women’s Champion and acts as a qualifying event for the FIDE Women’s World Cup.
August 24 - 30 | Superbet Warsaw Rapid & Blitz | Warsaw, Poland
The fourth tournament on the 5-event $1.275 million Grand Chess Tour is a 10-player event featuring three days of rapid chess (25+10) followed by two days of blitz (3+2), with a $150,000 prize fund.
Links: official website
September 2022
September 1 - 15 | Sinquefield Cup | St. Louis, USA
The fifth and final event on the $1.275 million Grand Chess Tour is the Sinquefield Cup, a 10-player classical round-robin with a $325,000 prize fund.
Links: official website
September 5 - 18 | World Youth (U14-18) Championship | Mamaia, Romania
These will be the first World Youth Championships held over-the-board since 2019, after the pandemic pushed the 2020 and 2021 events online.
September 10 - 25 | Asian Games | Hangzhou, China
Chess will feature as one of the mind sports in this major Asian sporting event held once every four years.
Links: official website
September 18 - 25 | Meltwater Champions Chess Tour 7 | chess24
The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour is back with Magnus Carlsen looking to defend the title he won in the inaugural $1.6 million tour. This is the fifth of six Regular events on the 2022 Tour, which will also feature three Majors. More details soon.
Links: official website
October 2022
October 2 - 10 | European Chess Club Cup | Mayrhofen, Austria
The annual European Chess Club Cup, which in 2018 and 2021 was the last classical event Magnus Carlsen played before a World Championship match, is a 7-round event for teams that have previously competed in European national leagues.
October 13 - 20 | Russian Rapid and Blitz Championships | Sochi, Russia
Russian players compete for rapid and blitz titles both individually and in team competitions.
Links: official website
October 14 - 21 | Meltwater Champions Chess Tour 8 | chess24
The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour is back with Magnus Carlsen looking to defend the title he won in the inaugural $1.6 million tour. This is the sixth and final Regular event on the 2022 Tour, which also features three Majors. More details soon.
Links: official website
October 23 - 26 | European Women’s Rapid & Blitz Championship | Kyiv, Ukraine
Female players from European Chess Federations compete in rapid and blitz chess.
November 2022
November 11 - 20 | Meltwater Champions Chess Tour 9: 3rd Major | chess24
The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour is back with Magnus Carlsen looking to defend the title he won in the inaugural $1.6 million tour. This is the 3rd and final Major and will bring an end to the 2022 Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. More details soon.
Magnus Carlsen won an amazing game against Anish Giri on the way to winning the Meltwater Championship Chess Tour — both players were in the studio, a scenario we're likely to see more of in 2022!
Links: official website
November 15 - 28 | World Senior Championship | Assisi, Italy
The World Senior Chess Championship for 50+ and 65+ players are planned to be held for the first time since 2019.
November 30 - December 4 | Russian Rapid Grand Prix Final | Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia
A knockout tournament among the best performing players in the Russian Rapid Grand Prix series of events.
Links: official website
December 2022
December 4 - 13 | Russian Cup Final | Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia
Open and Women’s knockout tournaments featuring the top players in the Russian Cup series of events.
Links: official website
Please let us know in the comments if there are any major events announced for 2022 that we’re currently missing. We’ll be keeping this calendar updated throughout the year.
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