FIDE Excellence Awards: Submission deadline approaching
On June 1, 2026, FIDE launched the FIDE Excellence Awards, a new biennial awards programme established to recognise outstanding achievements, individuals, events, federations, teams, creators, and initiatives across the global chess community. The awards recognise excellence over the previous two-year cycle, beginning after each Chess Olympiad and culminating at the next Olympiad. The inaugural FIDE Excellence Awards ceremony will take place in September 2026 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, during the 46th FIDE Chess Olympiad. Nominations are now open, and members of the global chess community are invited to submit candidates through the official FIDE Excellence Awards website. Award categories Awards will be presented across six regular categories and five discretionary categories, celebrating excellence both on and off the board. Nomination and selection process Nominations must relate to achievements and contributions made during the current Olympiad cycle. Multiple nominations may be submitted across different categories, provided each submission includes supporting information explaining the candidate’s achievements and impact. The selection process includes three stages: Stage one, running from June 1 to June 30, 2026, invites the chess community to submit nominations online. Following this, the FIDE Excellence Awards Working Group will review submissions and compile longlists. During stage two, from July 1 to July 15, 2026, the FIDE Excellence Awards Jury will review the longlists and select the official shortlist in each category. The shortlists, consisting of ten nominees per category, will be published on July 15, 2026. In the final stage, the FIDE Excellence Awards Panel will vote to determine the winners, who will be announced during the official ceremony in Samarkand in September 2026. The FIDE Excellence Awards recognise world-class players, breakthrough creators, outstanding federations, and projects that use chess to create a positive impact in society. The awards celebrate excellence across the global chess community. Submit your nominations here: Nomination deadline: June 30, 2026 Official website: https://excellence.fide.com/
FIDE World Team Rapid and Blitz in Hong Kong preview: Chess elite comes to Asia’s new stage
By Milan Dinic From 16 to 22 June, the crème de la crème of the chess world will gather in Hong Kong for the fourth edition of the FIDE World Team Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships, alongside the inaugural World Team Amateur Rapid Chess Cup, with both events featuring more than 800 participants. Since its launch in 2023, the FIDE WRBT has become one of the most popular global fast chess team events, where top world players, men and women, prodigies and non-professionals, come together in a mixed-team format to compete for two world crowns. After the inaugural edition in Dusseldorf in 2023, where 36 teams played, each year the number has grown – 38 in Astana in 2024 and then London made a leap with nearly 60 teams in 2025. Hong Kong has raised the ceiling higher, with 48 teams with nearly 400 players, as well as the first World Team Amateur Cup which is expected to have more than 400 participants. “The size of this event is not only in numbers. The field includes world champions, elite grandmasters, leading women players, juniors, club players, corporate officials, and recreational players. That mix gives the FIDE WRBT a unique place in chess,” said FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich. This is the first time the WRBT is coming to East Asia, where it will be hosted jointly by FIDE and the Hong Kong China Chess Federation. “Hosting the tournament in Hong Kong is a statement to the capacities and the ambitions of our chess federation, showing that we want to be taken seriously as a chess city,” said Geoffrey Kao, the Honorary President of the Hong Kong China Chess Federation. The timing of the event is strong. Chess power has been shifting towards Asia in recent years, with India, China, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan being central to elite chess. Hong Kong sits naturally between these chess cultures, while still being a global business and travel hub. That fits the WRB Teams well, because this event is not only for national teams. It brings together clubs, sponsors, companies, academies, and private teams. “I am very proud of my team for developing this unique event. This is not only about enjoyment and great chess but also about bringing people of different chess skills as well as different backgrounds and outlooks on life together under one roof. As a result, the event is also a fair where people meet, exchange ideas, and connect on a personal and professional level, leading to new opportunities for everyone. That is exactly what we want to give to the chess community,” Dvorkovich said. Key facts about the 2026 FIDE Team WRB Championships The main competition days are 17 to 21 June at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium. The field has 48 teams and nearly 400 players confirmed. Each team has six to nine players, plus a captain who may play. Each team must include at least one female player and one recreational player. The recreational player is a player who has never reached 2000 Elo in standard, rapid, or blitz or is unrated up to the March 2026 rating lists. Every match is played on six boards, with at least one female player and one recreational player in the lineup. They must be two different players. Rapid championship The World Team Rapid takes place on the 17, 18 and 19 June. It will feature a 12-round Swiss system. Scoring will be based on match points: two for a win, one for a draw, and zero for a loss. The time control for the World Team Rapid is 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move from move one. Four rounds will be played each day, starting from 2 PM local time. Blitz championship The World Team Blitz takes place on 20 and 21 June. Unlike the rapid, the blitz competition features two stages:1) a pool stage featuring round robins2) a 16-team knockout for the qualification to the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and the final The time control is three minutes plus two seconds per move, from move one. The blitz pool stage starts on 20 June at 2:00 pm. The round of 16 starts the same evening at 7:00 pm. The quarter-finals begin on 21 June at 2:00 pm, with the final scheduled for 7:00 pm. Key facts about the Amateur Cup The inaugural FIDE World Team Amateur Rapid Chess Cup 2026 runs alongside the main championship. It is for teams of six players who have never reached 2000 Elo in standard, rapid, or blitz, or are unrated, up to the March 2026 rating lists. The system is based on two pools – A and B, with a nine-round Swiss tournament in each. The time control will be 15 minutes plus 10 seconds, starting from move one. The Amateur Cup starts with its opening ceremony on 18 June at 8:45 am. Rounds are played at 9:00 am, 10:00 am, and 11:00 am on 18, 19 and 20 June. The final stage begins on 21 June at 12:30 pm. Prize funds The main World Team Rapid and Blitz prize fund is €500,000. The Rapid championship has €310,000, while the Blitz championship has €190,000. The winner of the Rapid will receive €110,000, while the winning team in the Blitz will receive €75,000. The Amateur Cup prize fund is €25,000, with €10,000 for first place. Biggest teams and lineups The headline teams are WR Chess, Hexamind, Team MGD1, Dragon Chilling, Kazchess, Uzbekistan, Chessgurukul, Chess United, and Endgame.AI. WR Chess are the main favourites, with Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Wesley So, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, and Alexandra Kosteniuk. Hexamind brings Levon Aronian, Anish Giri, Alireza Firouzja, Vidit Gujrathi, Kateryna Lagno and Volodar Murzin. Team MGD1, the defending rapid champions, include Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin, Pranav V, Leon Luke Mendonca, and Harika Dronavalli. Dragon Chilling are led by Ding Liren, Wei Yi, Yu Yangyi, Ju Wenjun and Lei Tingjie. Kazchess include Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Alexander Grischuk, Richard Rapport, Wang Hao, Bibisara Assaubayeva and Kazybek Nogerbek. Uzbekistan have built a
Andrew Hong wins Aktobe Open 2026 – Vladimir Dvorkovich Memorial
American Grandmaster Andrew Hong emerged as the outright winner of the Aktobe Open 2026 – Vladimir Dvorkovich Memorial (Masters) finishing with an excellent score of 7/9. The event brought together 210 participants from 21 countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Norway, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Organized by the International Chess Federation (FIDE), the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Kazakhstan, the Kazakhstan Chess Federation, and the Akimat of the Aktobe Region, the tournament was held at the ACE Tennis Centre. The event was supported by general partners Freedom Holding Corp. and the Aktobe Copper Company, alongside tournament partners Herbalife and the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation. The festival featured two separate nine-round Swiss-system tournaments, both played with a classical time control of 90 minutes plus a 30-second increment per move. The Masters section, which is part of the FIDE Circuit 2026–27, attracted 81 players rated 2400 and above, while the Open section drew 129 participants rated under 2400. The total prize fund stood at ₸50,000,000 (approximately $102,000), with the Masters winner taking home ₸9,000,000 (around $18,400) and the Open champion – ₸1,350,000 (around $2,750). The Masters tournament, an official event of the 2026-2027 FIDE Circuit, was a tightly contested affair, with several players sharing the top position for most of the competition. Heading into the final round, three players – GMs Wang Hao (China), Alexey Sarana (Serbia), and Hong – were tied for first place with 6/8 each. In the decisive matchups Sarana faced Hong with the white pieces, while Wang Hao took on local GM Denis Makhnev with Black. Hong pulled off a crucial victory over Sarana to clinch the title as Wang Hao fell to Makhnev. Meanwhile, three players – IM Daniyal Sapenov (Kazakhstan), GMs Daniil Dubov (FIDE), and Mahdi Gholami Orimi (Iran) – all won their final-round games to tie for second place on 6.5/9. Based on the Buchholz tiebreak, Sapenov placed second, while Dubov rounded out the podium. Polina Shuvalova (FIDE) was the top-performing female player, followed by Liya Kurmangaliyeva (Kazakhstan) and Harika Dronavalli (India). Final standings Masters The Open event podium was swept by Kazakhstani players, who shared the top position with 7.5/9. Tiebreaks favored 17-year-old Aktobe native FM Alan Petukhov, who claimed his second consecutive title. His fellow townsman Kair Beristenov from Astana, took second place, while Arlen Abdrashev finished third. Final standings Open Photos: KazChess