Chess digest, Oct. 24–28: Nakamura takes the Clutch lead, Almaty's top seed falls to zero, FIDE publishes a new structure
Hikaru Nakamura leads the Clutch Chess showdown after day one, a 2474-rated Kazakh tops the table in Almaty while the top seed sits on zero, and FIDE's president has published a new structure for the federation.
Coverage window: after 10:45 Sofia time on October 24 through 10:45 on October 28, 2026.
Hikaru Nakamura leads Clutch Chess in Saint Louis after the first of its three days, half a point ahead of Javokhir Sindarov. In Almaty, a grandmaster rated 2474 leads a ten-player round robin in which both top seeds have lost both of their games. FIDE's new president has also published an organizational chart for the federation, and booked an Extraordinary General Assembly for December 27.
Nakamura takes day one, with the points doubling from tonight
Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown is in its second edition at the Saint Louis Chess Club, October 27 to 29. Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Javokhir Sindarov play three double round-robins at 10 minutes plus a five-second increment, 18 games each. 1
The scoring system, devised by Maurice Ashley, makes each game worth more than the one before. A win is worth one point and $1,000 on day one, two points and $2,000 on day two, three points and $3,000 on day three. A draw is worth half a point on day one and a full point afterwards. 2
The prize fund is $425,000, and the money set aside for drawn games goes into a jackpot for the winner. Day one produced five decisive games and seven draws, so $7,000 has gone into that pot. 1
Nakamura scored two wins and four draws for 4/6. He beat Caruana with white in their second game. Caruana chose the sounder 5...Qe7 in a line from So–Caruana at the U.S. Championship, and 44...Nf7? left a knight hanging. 1
In their first game Nakamura had a winning rook endgame and let Caruana escape with perpetual check. He then beat Praggnanandhaa with white, out of an opening Pragg had already been in trouble with. 2
Sindarov is second on 3½, with one win and five draws. The win came against Praggnanandhaa, who gave up a pawn with 47.g4?? while down to 11 seconds. 1
In the last game of the day Sindarov had a winning position against Nakamura and played 63.Bd4? instead of 63.c6!, with about 20 seconds left. The game ran to 117 moves and was drawn. 2
Caruana is third on 2½ and Praggnanandhaa last on 2. Caruana won one game from a lost position after 32.Qf3?? allowed 32...c2, and lost the return game in a same-colour bishop ending. 2
"I was kind of saving all the losing positions and losing all the dead-drawn positions!" Caruana said afterwards. 1
Standings after day one, with wins worth one point and draws half a point. 2
| Player | Points | W-D-L |
|---|---|---|
| Hikaru Nakamura | 4 | 2-4-0 |
| Javokhir Sindarov | 3½ | 1-5-0 |
| Fabiano Caruana | 2½ | 1-3-2 |
| Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu | 2 | 1-2-3 |
Day two starts tonight at 19:00 Sofia time, with every win now worth two points. For Sindarov it is the last tournament before he plays Gukesh Dommaraju for the world title in Cologny from November 22. 1
In Almaty, a 2474-rated local leads and both top seeds are on zero
The KazChess Masters began on October 26 and runs to November 3 in Almaty: ten players, nine rounds. The time control is 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30, with a 30-second increment from move one and no draw offers before move 30. 3
Five grandmasters from abroad face five Kazakhs. Mahammad Muradli of Azerbaijan is the top seed at 2662, ahead of Daniil Dubov on 2654. The field runs down to Mark Smirnov, a 14-year-old two-time world youth champion, on 2451. 3 Alua Nurman, on 2460, is the only woman in the field. 4
Muradli has lost both of his games, to Denis Lazavik in round one and to Shamsiddin Vokhidov in round two. 4
Edgar Mamedov, a Kazakh grandmaster rated 2474, is the only player on 2/2. He beat Sauat Nurgaliyev in round one, then beat Aram Hakobyan with black in round two. 4
Smirnov lost his first game to Dubov and won his second against Nurman. Dubov opened with a win and then drew with Lazavik. 4
Round three is today, and the pairings include Vokhidov–Dubov and Mamedov–Muradli. 4
Standings after round two. Players level on score are ordered by rating. 4
| Player | Fed | Rating | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edgar Mamedov | KAZ | 2474 | 2 |
| Daniil Dubov | RUS | 2654 | 1½ |
| Shamsiddin Vokhidov | UZB | 2649 | 1½ |
| Denis Lazavik | BLR | 2636 | 1½ |
| Denis Makhnev | KAZ | 2581 | 1½ |
| Mark Smirnov | KAZ | 2451 | 1 |
| Aram Hakobyan | ARM | 2638 | ½ |
| Sauat Nurgaliyev | KAZ | 2526 | ½ |
| Mahammad Muradli | AZE | 2662 | 0 |
| Alua Nurman | KAZ | 2460 | 0 |
Harvey wins the English Rapidplay on an Armageddon game
The English Rapidplay Championship was an 11-round Swiss at 15 minutes plus 10 seconds a move, played October 24 and 25 in Peterborough. It sits inside the English Chess Championships, which run to November 1. 5
Michael Adams, the top seed at 2614, went into the last round sharing the lead with Marcus Harvey and Jonah Willow on 8/10. Harvey beat Gawain Maroroa Jones, and Willow beat 13-year-old Oleg Verbytski. 5
Adams was held to a draw by Livio Cancedda-Dupuis, an untitled player, and finished third on 8½, half a point behind the tie at the top. 5
Harvey and Willow finished level on 9/11, so the title went to a five-game playoff. They split two rapid games, split two blitz games, and Harvey won the Armageddon with white. 5
Woodward's first Titled Tuesday, Nakamura's seventh straight Bullet Brawl
Andy Woodward won Titled Tuesday on October 27 with 9½/11, taking it on the second tiebreak ahead of Arjun Erigaisi, who also scored 9½. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was third on 9½ as well. 6
Woodward lost his first-round game, blundering mate in one while two pawns up. Nineteen players reached 4/4, and the perfect-score bounty of $5,500 went unclaimed again. 6
Nakamura skipped Titled Tuesday for Clutch Chess. Denis Lazavik finished seventh while also playing in Almaty, and Polina Shuvalova took the top women's prize in 46th. 6
On Saturday, Nakamura won Bullet Brawl for the seventh week in a row, scoring 178 points. A 23-game winning streak early in the two-hour arena settled it, against 218 titled players. 7
Oleksandr Bortnyk was second on 146 and Yoseph Taher third on 145. Aleksandr Usov, 16, came fourth on 134 after starting 17.5/18. It was Nakamura's 72nd career Bullet Brawl win and his 23rd of 2026. 7
FIDE publishes a new structure and books a December assembly
Timur Turlov, elected FIDE president on September 26, published a new organizational structure for the federation on October 26. The General Assembly remains the supreme body, and the FIDE Council is given a larger role in setting strategy and overseeing it. 8
Beside the president sit a Governance Secretariat, a President's Office and a new Advisory Board. Adil Kozhikhov heads the President's Office, Alina Dvoretskaya is Secretary General, and Darmen Sadvakasov chairs the Advisory Board. Viswanathan Anand remains deputy president. 8
Turlov framed the change as "the next stage of development", and called the institution he wants to build "New FIDE". 9
FIDE also invited delegates to an Extraordinary General Assembly, held online on December 27 at 14:30 CET, which is 15:30 Sofia time. The agenda and papers are due by November 27. 10
Also this window
- A 2000-rated club player wins the Deizisau Autumn Open. Julius Lücke, playing for the host club SF Deizisau, scored 6/7 in the seven rounds of October 23 to 26, ahead of IM Adrian Gschnitzer on tiebreak. 11
- A fourth-tier German club played the European Club Cup. Bundesliga clubs confirm by early August whether they take their places, and clubs from below may apply for what they leave. That is how SK Weisse Dame Hamburg, from the Landesliga, reached Budva. René Mandelbaum's account of the week found players rated between 1800 and 2000 on the bottom boards of a European championship. 12
- FIDE's chess-in-education conference goes to Almaty. The fourth edition runs November 12–13 at Narxoz University, with Turlov opening it and speakers from South Africa, Syria, Catalonia and Webster University. 13
What to watch next
| Date (Europe/Sofia) | Event and location | Checkpoint |
|---|---|---|
| October 28 | Clutch Chess, day two, Saint Louis | Wins are worth two points from tonight; first games 19:00 Sofia. 1 |
| October 29 | Clutch Chess, day three, Saint Louis | Wins are worth three points, and the $425,000 event ends that evening. 2 |
| October 28 – November 3 | KazChess Masters, Almaty | Rounds three to nine, with Dubov, Vokhidov and Mamedov at the top of the table. 3 |
| October 31 | Bullet Brawl, online | 18:00 Sofia; Nakamura has won seven in a row. 7 |
| November 7 | The 100-0 Project, online | Daniil Dubov plays 100 games of 1+0 against Josh Smith, an amateur in the 1800s; Dubov is guaranteed $10,000 and doubles it only with a 100-0 sweep. 14 |
| November 10–20 | Total Chess World Championship Tour pilot, Budapest | 24 players, Carlsen and Caruana among them, with Fast Classic, rapid and blitz in one event. 15 |
| November 22 – December 13 | Salesforce FIDE World Championship match, Cologny, Geneva | Gukesh Dommaraju defends against Javokhir Sindarov; the first classical game is November 24. 16 |
| December 27 | FIDE Extraordinary General Assembly, online | 15:30 Sofia time; the agenda and documents are due by November 27. 10 |
References
- 1
- 2
- 3ChessBase: KazChess Masters Almaty 2026 — Live!
en.chessbase.com
- 4Chess-Results: KazChess Masters Almaty 2026, pairings and results
s1.chess-results.com
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8ChessBase: Timur Turlov outlines plans to restructure FIDE
en.chessbase.com
- 9
- 10
- 11Chess-Results: 20th Deizisau Autumn Open 2026, final ranking
s3.chess-results.com
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16ChessBase: Salesforce FIDE World Championship Match 2026\
en.chessbase.com
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