Chess digest, Oct. 28–31: Sindarov overturns Clutch Chess, three share the lead in Almaty, Istanbul gets the World Rapid and Blitz
Javokhir Sindarov overturns a 2½-point deficit to win Clutch Chess a month before his world title match, three players share the lead at halfway in Almaty, and Istanbul picks up December's World Rapid and Blitz.
Coverage window: after 10:45 Sofia time on October 28 through 10:45 on October 31, 2026.
Javokhir Sindarov won Clutch Chess in Saint Louis, overturning a 2½-point deficit on the last day. Three players share the lead at the halfway point in Almaty, one of them a 16-year-old rated 2474. FIDE also gave December's World Rapid and Blitz Championships a host, and London named its Masters field.
Sindarov wins Clutch Chess from 2½ points back
Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown ran October 27 to 29 at the Saint Louis Chess Club. Caruana, Nakamura, Praggnanandhaa and Sindarov played three double round-robins at 10 minutes plus five seconds, 18 games each. 1
A win was 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 was worth half a point on day one, a full point after that, and the money set aside for drawn games went into a jackpot for the winner. 2
Praggnanandhaa began the last day 2½ points clear. He had gone from last to first on day two with four wins in six games, two of them against Nakamura and one against Caruana. 3
"I was just lucky," Praggnanandhaa said of the first of those wins over Nakamura, "and obviously that kind of carried through the day." 3
Nakamura put his own day two down to one game. "I was completely winning and lost my mind," he said. 3
Sindarov opened day three by drawing and then beating Praggnanandhaa in their mini-match, four points against one. That moved him half a point ahead. 2
Praggnanandhaa answered with two wins over Nakamura, six points from the two games, while Sindarov took four from Caruana. With two games left, Praggnanandhaa led by 1½. 2
Then came the game. Sindarov, with black against Nakamura, sacrificed a bishop out of a King's Indian Defence and later gave up two exchanges. He won. 2
"One of the best King's Indian games I've ever played in my life," Sindarov said afterwards. "Any move was winning, but I was thinking, if I started playing beautifully, let's finish playing beautifully." 1
In the parallel game, Praggnanandhaa nursed an extra pawn against Caruana for much of 100 moves and had to settle for a draw. Sindarov led by half a point. 2
Praggnanandhaa then needed to beat Caruana with black to take the title. He built a Stonewall, found chances, and played 33...Rg7??, which ran into 34.Ng4! and cost him his queen. 1
Sindarov drew the last game against Nakamura from a Berlin Defence and finished on 20½ points, 1½ clear. 1
Standings after the three days, with each day's column scored under that day's rules. 2
| Player | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Javokhir Sindarov | 3½ | 5 | 12 | 20½ |
| Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu | 2 | 9 | 8 | 19 |
| Fabiano Caruana | 2½ | 6 | 8 | 16½ |
| Hikaru Nakamura | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
Sindarov earned $168,000 including bonuses from a $425,000 prize fund. 1
Nakamura blamed the five-second increment. "95 percent of every game, for most games, I played fabulous chess, but then I could not keep it together in the time scrambles," he said. 1
"Knowing how close I was to winning it, it's a little disappointing," Praggnanandhaa said of second place. 1
Caruana and Praggnanandhaa fly from Saint Louis to Budapest for the Total Chess World Championship Tour pilot. Sindarov goes to Geneva, where the first game of his world title match against Gukesh Dommaraju is on November 24. 1
In Almaty, three share the lead at halfway
The KazChess Masters runs October 26 to November 3 in Almaty: ten players, nine rounds, 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30, with a 30-second increment from move one and no draw offers before move 30. 4
Five Kazakhs face five grandmasters from abroad, all of them rated above 2600. Mahammad Muradli of Azerbaijan is the top seed at 2662. 5
Edgar Mamedov, 16, is level with Daniil Dubov and Denis Lazavik on 3½ after five rounds. Mamedov won his first two games and has drawn the last three, against Muradli, Dubov and Lazavik. 6
Mamedov is the lowest-rated grandmaster in the field, at 2474. 5
Dubov took his third win in round five, beating Denis Makhnev with black. Lazavik beat Shamsiddin Vokhidov in round four and drew Mamedov a day later. 6
Vokhidov and Makhnev sit half a point back on 3. Vokhidov beat Mark Smirnov with white on Friday. 6
Muradli lost his first two games, then took two points from three, beating Alua Nurman in round five. 6
Smirnov, 14, is on 2½. He beat Sauat Nurgaliyev in round four and lost to Vokhidov in round five. 6
Standings after round five. Players level on score are ordered by rating. 6
| Player | Fed | Rating | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daniil Dubov | FID | 2654 | 3½ |
| Denis Lazavik | BLR | 2636 | 3½ |
| Edgar Mamedov | KAZ | 2474 | 3½ |
| Shamsiddin Vokhidov | UZB | 2649 | 3 |
| Denis Makhnev | KAZ | 2581 | 3 |
| Mark Smirnov | KAZ | 2451 | 2½ |
| Mahammad Muradli | AZE | 2662 | 2 |
| Aram Hakobyan | ARM | 2638 | 2 |
| Sauat Nurgaliyev | KAZ | 2526 | 1½ |
| Alua Nurman | KAZ | 2460 | ½ |
Round six is today at 12:00 Sofia time. Mamedov plays Vokhidov, Dubov plays Nurman, and Lazavik meets Makhnev. 6
Istanbul takes the World Rapid and Blitz
FIDE announced on October 29 that Istanbul will host the 2026 World Rapid and Blitz Championships, from December 25, when players arrive, to December 30. 7
Four titles are at stake: open and women's rapid, open and women's blitz. Freedom Holding Corp., a FIDE partner since 2023, is the title sponsor. 7
Magnus Carlsen won both open titles in 2025. Aleksandra Goryachkina defends the women's rapid title and Bibisara Assaubayeva the women's blitz. 7
The venue, the regulations and registration details are still to come. 7
Istanbul hosted the 40th Chess Olympiad in 2012, and Türkiye staged the World Youth Rapid and Blitz championships at the end of 2025. 7
"We are delighted to bring the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships to Istanbul," FIDE president Timur Turlov said. 7
London's Masters field arrives, with Abdusattorov defending
The 16th XTX Markets London Chess Classic announced its ten-player Masters field on October 29. The tournament runs November 24 to December 7, with a £100,000 prize fund and £50,000 for first. 8
Nodirbek Abdusattorov, 22, returns as defending champion. He won the 2025 Classic with a round to spare, on 7½/9. A second straight title would be the first since Magnus Carlsen in 2010. 8
| Player | Country | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Nodirbek Abdusattorov | UZB | 2780 |
| Levon Aronian | USA | 2725 |
| Nihal Sarin | IND | 2709 |
| Gawain Maroroa Jones | ENG | 2630 |
| Vasyl Ivanchuk | UKR | 2628 |
| Andy Woodward | USA | 2619 |
| Luke McShane | ENG | 2607 |
| Ihor Samunenkov | UKR | 2607 |
| Michael Adams | ENG | 2597 |
| Shreyas Royal | ENG | 2533 |
Ratings as published in the tournament's own player announcement. 8
Vasyl Ivanchuk, 57, plays the Classic for the first time. Michael Adams has appeared at every edition since 2009 and won in 2023. 8
Four Englishmen are in the field, among them Shreyas Royal, 17, the newly crowned British champion. 8
Ihor Samunenkov, also 17, arrives from the Olympiad in Samarkand with an individual gold for Ukraine. 8
Bodhana Sivanandan, 11, plays the nine-round FIDE-rated Swiss. The festival opens with a blindfold tournament at the Tower of London and runs at the Novotel London West in Hammersmith. 8
The Masters begins on November 24, the day of the first classical game in Geneva. 2
FIDE fills the posts under its new structure
FIDE published a new organisational structure on October 26. On October 29 it named the advisers and representatives who will staff the President's Office under Adil Kozhikhov. 9
Emil Sutovsky becomes chief executive adviser, handling strategic partners and special assignments. Victor Bologan takes global development and Dana Reizniece social development. 9
Mohamed Al-Mudahka covers international relations, Akaki Iashvili special projects, Willy Iclicki chess participation. Zhu Chen will head a FIDE office in Shenzhen. 9
The administration followed on October 30 under Secretary General Alina Dvoretskaya. Marat Umutpayev takes legal, Nadezhda Kravchuk external relations and communications, Anton Zhuravlev events. 10
Grandmaster Pavel Tregubov, a former European champion, takes sport: competition regulations and work with FIDE's sporting bodies. 10
FIDE said further appointments would follow. Delegates meet at the online Extraordinary General Assembly on December 27, with the agenda due by November 27. 11
Also this window
- Lhamsuren Myagmarsuren, 1938–2026. The four-time Mongolian champion died on October 26 at 88. He won board-four gold at the 1960 Olympiad in Leipzig, played ten Olympiads, and reached the 1967 Interzonal in Sousse, where he lost the game against Bobby Fischer that is still reprinted. 12
- Sarana wins 10/11, then Arjun twice. Alexey Sarana took the first of October 29's three 3 0 Thursday tournaments with 10/11. Arjun Erigaisi won the second on tiebreak over Jan-Krzysztof Duda, both on 9, and the third by 1½ from Parham Maghsoodloo. It was the second time this year Arjun has won two of the three in one day. 13
- Movahed's second in three weeks. Sina Movahed won Freestyle Friday on October 30 with 9½, from 1.5/3, on an eight-game run that included Nodirbek Yakubboev in round 10. Yakubboev finished second on 9, Faustino Oro third on 8½. 14
- Rozman in Munich. Levy Rozman played chess with Harry Kane and Michael Olise at Bayern Munich, two days after Kane won the Ballon d'Or. 15
What to watch next
| Date (Europe/Sofia) | Event and location | Checkpoint |
|---|---|---|
| October 31 – November 3 | KazChess Masters, Almaty | Rounds six to nine, with Mamedov against Vokhidov today at 12:00. 6 |
| October 31 | Bullet Brawl, online | 18:00 Sofia; Nakamura goes for an eighth straight week after a 23-game streak. 16 |
| November 7 | The 100-0 Project, online | Daniil Dubov plays 100 games of 1+0 against Josh Smith, an amateur rated in the 1800s; Dubov is guaranteed $10,000 and doubles it only with a 100-0 sweep. 17 |
| November 10–20 | Total Chess World Championship Tour pilot, Budapest | Twenty-four players, Carlsen among them; Caruana and Praggnanandhaa arrive from Saint Louis. 1 |
| November 22 – December 13 | Salesforce FIDE World Championship match, Cologny, Geneva | Gukesh Dommaraju defends against Sindarov; the first classical game is November 24. 18 |
| November 24 – December 7 | XTX Markets London Chess Classic, London | The Masters with Abdusattorov, Aronian and Ivanchuk; £100,000, £50,000 to the winner. 8 |
| December 25–30 | World Rapid and Blitz Championships, Istanbul | Four titles; venue and regulations still to be published. 7 |
| December 27 | FIDE Extraordinary General Assembly, online | 15:30 Sofia time; the agenda and papers are due by November 27. 11 |
References
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4ChessBase: KazChess Masters Almaty 2026 — Live!
en.chessbase.com
- 5ChessBase: KazChess Masters — Mamedov and Makhnev set the pace
en.chessbase.com
- 6Chess-Results: KazChess Masters Almaty 2026, pairings and results
s1.chess-results.com
- 7
- 8ChessBase: Stellar line-up for 2026 XTX London Chess Classic
en.chessbase.com
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12ChessBase: Lhamsuren Myagmarsuren (1938-2026)
en.chessbase.com
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16Chess.com: Bullet Brawl, October 24\
chess.com
- 17
- 18ChessBase: Salesforce FIDE World Championship Match 2026\
en.chessbase.com
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