2022 – 2023 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:

November 2022

November 23 – December 17 | Speed Chess Championship | Chess.com

This 16-player blitz knockout tournament has a $100,000 prize fund and features World Champion Magnus Carlsen and the winner for the last four seasons, Hikaru Nakamura. Each match features 90 minutes of 5+1 chess, 60 minutes of 3+1 and finally 30 minutes of 1+1.

Links: official website, chess24: Caruana vs. Erigaisi, Ding vs. Grischuk, Nepo vs. MVL, Aronian vs. Andreikin, Carlsen vs. Gukesh, Nihal vs. Giri, So vs. Abdusattorov, Nakamura vs. Paravyan, QFs: Nihal vs. Ding, Nakamura vs. Aronian, Carlsen vs. Caruana, MVL vs. So

December 2022

December 11 – 14 | Julius Baer Challenger Championship | Tel Aviv, Israel

This is a $10,000 match between 2021 Challengers Chess Tour Champion Praggnanandhaa and 2022 Champion Pranav V

Links: official website, chess24

December 12 – 22 | Chessable Sunway Sitges Chess Festival | Sitges, Spain

Yu Yangyi and Vasyl Ivanchuk are among the players confirmed for this already traditional 10-round open tournament in a coastal town near Barcelona.

Links: official website, chess24

December 16 – 18 | European Rapid and Blitz Championships | Katowice, Poland

The European Blitz Championship takes place on December 16th with 11 double rounds at a time control of 3 minutes for all moves plus a 2-second increment per move. The European Rapid Championship is 11 rounds with a 15+10 time control on December 17-18th.

Links: official website

December 18 – 23 | Gashimov Memoiral | Baku, Azerbaijan

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Richard Rapport, Gukesh, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Paco Vallejo, Sam Shankland, Wang Hao, Rauf Mamedov, Aydin Suleymanli and Abdulla Gadimbayli compete in 3 days of rapid chess and 2 days of blitz in honour of Vugar Gashimov, who died tragically young in 2014.

Links: official website

The World Rapid Championship is a 3-day event with a time control of 15 minutes for all moves, plus a 10-second increment from move 1. In the Open section there are 13 rounds and in the Women’s 11.

The World Blitz Championship is held over the final 2 days, with a time control of 3+2. There are 21 rounds in the Open section and 17 in the Women’s.

The total prize fund is $1 million, with a top prize of $60,000 in the Open events and $40,000 in the Women’s.

Links: Official website

December 27 – January 5 | Rilton Cup | Stockholm, Sweden

This turn-of-the-year 9-round Swiss Open is celebrating its 50th edition.

Links: official website