2021 in chess explained

The 2021 chess calendar was again disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and because of this many chess OTB tournaments were stopped, but major events that took place included the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, won by Jorden van Foreest.

The Candidates Tournament 2020–21, disrupted by the pandemic, concluded on 27 April 2021. It was won by Ian Nepomniachtchi.^[1]

In November, Nepomniachtchi subsequently faced defending champion Magnus Carlsen for the World Chess Championship title in Dubai, UAE during Expo 2020. Carlsen won the match 7–3 to retain the title with three games to spare and become a five-time world champion.^[2]

The International Chess Federation, FIDE, admitted four new member federations: Dominica, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Niger, and Belize.

2021 tournaments

This is a list of significant 2021 chess tournaments:

Supertournaments

Tournament	System	Dates	Players (2700+)	Winner	Runner-up	Third
Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021	Round robin	15–31 Jan	14 (8)			Andrey Esipenko
Champions Chess Tour Opera Euro Rapid 2021	Hybrid	6–14 Feb	16 (14)	Wesley So	Magnus Carlsen	Teimour Radjabov
Champions Chess Tour Magnus Carlsen Invitational	Hybrid	13–21 Mar	16 (12)	Anish Giri	Ian Nepomniachtchi	Magnus Carlsen
2020–2021 Candidates Tournament	Double round robin	17–25 Mar 2020 and 19–27 Apr	8 (7)	Ian Nepomniachtchi	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	Anish Giri
Champions Chess Tour New In Chess Classic	Hybrid	24 Apr – 2 May	16 (12)	Magnus Carlsen	Hikaru Nakamura	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Chess World Cup 2021	Single-elimination tournament	12 Jul – 6 Aug	206 (25)	Jan-Krzysztof Duda	Sergey Karjakin	Magnus Carlsen
Women's Chess World Cup 2021	Single-elimination tournament	12 Jul – 3 Aug	103 (-)	Alexandra Kosteniuk	Aleksandra Goryachkina	Tan Zhongyi
World Chess Championship 2021	Best-of-14 match, with tie breaks	24 Nov – 16 Dec	2	Magnus Carlsen	Ian Nepomniachtchi	-

FIDE Events

Tournament	City	System	Dates	Players	Winner	Runner-up	Third
		Swiss	27 Oct – 7 Nov	154			Grigoriy Oparin
		Swiss	26–28 Dec	204			Magnus Carlsen
		Swiss	29–30 Dec	206			Alireza Firouzja
		Swiss	26–28 Dec	102			Valentina Gunina
		Swiss	29–30 Dec	105			Valentina Gunina

Team events

Tournament	City	System	Dates	Teams	Winner	Runner-up	Third
		Round robin	26 Sep – 3 Oct	10			Georgia
	Čatež ob Savi	Round robin	11–22 Nov	40			Poland
		Round robin	11–22 Nov	32			Azerbaijan

Rapid & Biltz Tournaments

Tournament	City	System	Dates	Players	Winner	Runner-up	Third
		Round robin	3–15 Jun	10			-
		Round robin	20–24 Jun	10				Alireza Firouzja
		Round robin	7–11 Jul	10						Anish Giri
		Round robin	11–16 Aug	10		Hikaru Nakamura
	St. Louis	Round robin	17–27 Aug	12 (12)					-
		Round robin	17–24 Dec	10 (10)			Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

Deaths

• 14 January – Yrjö Rantanen^[3]
• 15 January – Gildardo García^[4]
• 18 January – Lubomir Kavalek^[5]
• 13 March – Nikola Spiridonov^[6]
• 1 June – Román Hernández Onna^[7]
• 1 July – Yury Dokhoian^[8]
• 28 July – István Csom^[9]
• 18 August – Evgeny Sveshnikov^[10]
• 11 October – Boris Pineda^[11]
• 14 November – Marek Vokáč^[12]
• 19 December – Boško Abramović^[13]
• 31 December – Gábor Kállai^[14]

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2021-04-27. Candidates Tournament 2020-2021: A happy and tired winner. 2021-04-29. Chess News. en.
2. Web site: Magnus Carlsen wins 5th World Championship title . 2021-12-11 . chess24.com . en.
3. Web site: 2021-01-14 . Suurmestari Yrjö Rantanen on kuollut . 2021-02-13 . Suomen Shakkiliitto . fi.
4. Web site: Tiempo . Casa Editorial El . 2021-01-15 . Luto en el ajedrez colombiano: muere el Gran Maestro Gildardo García . 2021-02-13 . El Tiempo . spanish.
5. News: Langer . Emily . Lubomir Kavalek, international chess grandmaster, dies at 77 . 2021-02-13 . Washington Post . en-US.
6. Web site: Nikola Spiridonov nous a quittés. 2021-04-29. www.echecs.asso.fr.
7. Web site: 2021-06-01 . Fallece el Gran Maestro cubano de ajedrez Román Hernández . 2021-08-18 . OnCubaNews . es.
8. Web site: Yuri Dokhoian passes away. www.fide.com.
9. Web site: I . K. T. . 2021-07-28 . Gyász: elhunyt Csom István sakkolimpiai bajnok - NSO . 2021-08-18 . NSO.hu . hu.
10. Web site: Ушел из жизни Евгений Эллинович Свешников (1950-2021) . 2021-08-18 . Федерация шахмат России . ru.
11. Web site: Homenaje a Boris Pineda. Diario Co Latino. es. 15 October 2021. 17 October 2021. Miguel Zometa.
12. Web site: Ve věku 62 let zemřel šachový velmistr Marek Vokáč - Sport.cz . 2021-12-11 . www.sport.cz . cs.
13. Web site: IN MEMORIAM – VELEMAJSTOR BOŠKO ABRAMOVIĆ (1951-2021) - Šahovski savez Srbije . 2022-01-02 . sr-RS.
14. Web site: 2021-12-31 . Meghalt Kállai Gábor nemzetközi sakknagymester . 2022-01-02 . telex . hu.