Chess Calendar 2023 - The Biggest Upcoming OTB Tournaments
Despite the exciting start of the year that introduced a new world champion in classical chess, the second half of the year promises to be as exciting. Find the calendar of the biggest chess events that await us starting from June of 2023.
JUNE
June 3 - 12 | Cairns Cup | Saint Louis, USA
After an enforced 2-year layoff due to the pandemic, Cairns Cup is back in 2023, featuring ten of the best female players from around the world. The event takes place from June 3-13 at the Saint Louis Chess Club. With a total prize fund of $180,000, Cairns Cup is considered the female equivalent of the prestigious Sinquefield Cup.
The participants of this 10-player round-robin tournament include:
- GM Humpy Koneru
- GM Alexandra Kosteniuk
- GM Nana Dzagnidze
- GM Harika Dronavalli
- GM Zhansaya Abdumalik
- GM Elisabeth Paehtz
- GM Bela Khotenashvili
- GM Irina Krush
- IM Gunay Mammadzada
- IM Anna Zatonskih
Links: official website
June 5 - 12 | World Youth U8-18 Rapid and Blitz Championships | Batumi, Georgia
The Youth Rapid and Blitz Championships feature six different age groups for girls and boys: under 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18. The rapid event takes place first with a time control of 15 minutes for the entire game plus a five-second increment starting on move one. Time control for the Blitz championships is 5 minutes plus 3 seconds per move starting from move one. The Championships start on June 5 in Batumi, Georgia.
Links: official website
June 20 - 30 | Prague International Chess Festival | Prague, Czech Republic
The Prague Chess Festival traditionally features a strong field for both the Masters and Challengers tournaments. The 5th edition of the festival also presents several side events, including Futures, Open, Rapid, and Blitz.
Links: official website
June 24 - July 2 | Dortmund International Chess Days | Dortmund, Germany
The 50th International Dortmund Chess Days will take place in the heart of the Ruhr area with three open tournaments and a special event of No Castling Chess. The latter has been the main attraction of the festival for several years and is featuring Vladimir Kramnik, Fabiano Caruana, Pavel Eljanov, and the defending champion Dmitrij Kollars.
Links: official website
JULY
July 4 - 9 | SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia | Zagreb, Croatia
With a $175,000 prize fund, the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia is the third tournament and midway point of the 2023 Grand Chess Tour.
After the dramatic Superbet Warsaw Rapid & Blitz event, Magnus Carlsen will be returning to fight for another GCT trophy.
Links: official website
July 5 - 25 | Women's World Championship Match | Chongqing/Shanghai, China
Early this April, 26-year-old Lei Tingjie won a Candidates' match against former women's world champion Tan Zhongyi with a game to spare to earn her shot at the Women’s World Championship title. She'll challenge Ju Wenjun, who's defending her title for the sixth time.
July 7 - 9 | Leon Masters | Leon, Spain
This year, the Magistral Tournament Ciudad de León celebrates its 36th edition. As always, it is going to feature its traditional format of four strong Grandmasters, alongside the open tournament with 120 players.
The main event of Leon Masters will see Boris Gelfand trying to defend his title against Gukesh D, Nikita Vitiugov, and Jaime Santos Latasa in a 4-player knockout system featuring four 20+10 games.
Links: official website
July 18 - 26 | Biel International Chess Festival | Biel/Bienne, Switzerland
One of the biggest and most popular chess festivals is back in 2023 featuring various events, including the Grandmaster Triathlon, classical, blitz, and rapid events for different levels of chess players. The main event of the festival, the Grandmaster Triathlon will see GMs Yu Yangyi, Liem Le, Arjun Erigaisi, Bogdan-Daniel Deac, Vincent Keymer, Bassem Amin, David Navara, and Jules Moussard compete in classical, blitz, rapid, and Chess960 formats.
Links: official website
AUGUST
August 1 - 11 | Summer Chess Classic | Saint Louis, USA
The Summer Classic 2023 returns to the Saint Louis Chess Club in early August. The second of the Classic Chess series, the Summer Classic features two 10-player Round Robin tournaments. Over the course of 9 days, the participants will compete for a total of $36,000 in prize money.
Links: official webiste
12-Aug-2023 - 19-Aug-2023 | World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad 2023 | Eindhoven, Netherlands
The FIDE World Youth U-16 Chess Olympiad 2023 will be held in Eindhoven, the Netherlands from 12 - 19 August 2023.
Players under the age of 16 will comprise teams of four, including at least 1 boy and at least 1 girl, to fight for the prestigious Olympic title.
August 25 - 29 | World Rapid Team Championship | Dusseldorf, Germany
A new FIDE-endorsed team tournament taking place at the Rheinterrasse – right in the heart of Düsseldorf, directly on the Rhine.
Due to the limited capacity of the playing venue, only 45 teams will be granted participation. The teams should be composed of 6-9 players, including at least one female player and one player who never achieved a FIDE Standard, Rapid, or Blitz rating of 2000 Elo by April 2023.
Links: official website
SEPTEMBER
September 4 - 15 | European Youth Chess Championship | Mamaia, Romania
As always, the European Youth Chess Championship 2023 will be played in 6 age categories U8, U10, U12, U14, U16, and U18, open and girls sections separately. The time control of this 9-round Swiss tournament will be 90 minutes + 30 seconds per move, starting from move one.
Links: official website
September 7 - 10 | Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX | Saint Louis, USA
Excitingly, the Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX tournament will be held over the board in 2023. This highly anticipated event, played in Chess 960 style, also known as Fischer Random, will feature the world's top grandmasters including the reigning Fischer Random Chess champion Hikaru Nakamura, the former champion Wesley So, 2-time classical chess championship challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi, and legendary Garry Kasparov! The total prize fund is $150,000.
Links: official website
September 23 – October 8 | Asian Games | Hangzhou, China
The 19th Asian Games were initially planned for 2022 but due to the pandemic, they were postponed until September 2023. This huge event features chess among its 24 disciplines.
Links: official website
OCTOBER
October 1 - 8 | European Club Cup | Durres, Albania
The 2023 edition of the European Chess Club Cups features the 38th event for the open and the 27th event for the women's section. Both tournaments will be played in 7 rounds with a time control of 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. This short event is pretty popular and usually features World No. 1, Magnus Carlsen.
October 5 - 17 | U.S. Championships | Saint Louis, USA
The strongest national championship features several world-class grandmasters competing for the US Championship title.
Super GMs Levon Aronian, Wesley So, Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, and Leinier Dominguez will be facing off against ambitious youngsters in the open section, while the women's section will feature
Irina Krush trying to win her 9th U.S. Women's Champion title.
Links: official website
October 10 - 20 | Qatar Masters | Doha, Qatar
The 2023 Qatar Masters presents an impressive prize fund of $110,000 and a strong field of 2300+ rated players led by Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, and Anish Giri. Alongside the standard prizes, the best Woman and the best Arabic players will also be awarded.
October 23 - November 5 | FIDE Grand Swiss | Douglas, Isle of Man
The FIDE Grand Swiss and Women's Grand Swiss are set to make a grand return to Douglas, as part of the next World Championship Cycle. Topping the open section as the lead seed is Chessify's brand ambassador, Fabiano Caruana. The women's division will be spearheaded by Aleksandra Goryachkina.
Alongside Caruana, Chessify is proudly represented by two other elite grandmasters, Anish Giri and Levon Aronian, both of whom are among the top seeds of this prestigious event. With an impressive roster featuring 22 grandmasters rated above 2700 in the open section alone, the Grand Swiss stands out as one of the strongest open chess tournaments globally.
The stakes in Grand Swiss are high with the first 2 finishers from each section earning spots in their respective Candidates' tournaments of the next year. Adding to the allure is the increased prize fund for this 11-round Swiss tournament, set at $600,000.
Links: official website
NOVEMBER
November 10 - 21 | European Team Chess Championship | Budva, Montenegro
The European Team Chess Championship will be held in Budva. Over the course of 9 rounds, the national teams of eligible federations will compete over the title of the new European champion in women's and open sections.
November 13 - 18 | Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz | Saint Louis, USA
The penultimate of five events on the 2023 Grand Chess Tour, the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz features a $175,000 prize fund and some of the world's biggest chess stars.
Links: official website
November 20 - December 2 | Sinquefield Cup | Saint Louis, USA
Right after the STL Rapid and Blitz, the 2023 Grand Chess Tour will see its final event of the year: the Sinquefield Cup. This fifth GCT event is a 10-player classical tournament with a $175,000 prize fund. The top 3 overall finishers on the Tour will be awarded with an additional $175,000.
Links: official website
DECEMBER
December 1 - 11 | Winter Chess Classic | Saint Louis, USA
The Winter Classic 2023 is the final event of the Classic Chess series, It will feature a strong 10-player field with a total of $36,000 in prize money.
Links: official website
December 26 - 30 | World Rapid and Blitz Championships
A real Christmas gift for chess fans. As usual, the year will be concluded with the World Championships of rapid and blitz chess. Three days of rapid (15+10) followed by two days of the blitz (3+2) will determine the new winners of the prestigious championship title in the Open and Women's sections.