2021 in chess

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 71⁄2–31⁄2 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.^[3]

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)	Jorden van Foreest	Anish Giri	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[2]	Ian Nepomniachtchi	-

FIDE Events

Tournament	City	System	Dates	Players	Winner	Runner-up	Third
FIDE Grand Swiss	Riga	Swiss	27 Oct – 7 Nov	154	Alireza Firouzja	Fabiano Caruana	Grigoriy Oparin
World Rapid Chess Championship	Warsaw	Swiss	26–28 Dec	204	Nodirbek Abdusattorov	Ian Nepomniachtchi	Magnus Carlsen
World Blitz Chess Championship	Warsaw	Swiss	29–30 Dec	206	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	Jan-Krzysztof Duda	Alireza Firouzja
Womens World Rapid Chess Championship	Warsaw	Swiss	26–28 Dec	102	Alexandra Kosteniuk	Bibisara Assaubayeva	Valentina Gunina
Womens World Blitz Chess Championship	Warsaw	Swiss	29–30 Dec	105	Bibisara Assaubayeva	Alexandra Kosteniuk	Valentina Gunina

Team events

Tournament	City	System	Dates	Teams	Winner	Runner-up	Third
Women's World Team Chess Championship	Sitges	Round robin	26 Sep – 3 Oct	10	Russia	India	Georgia
European Team Chess Championship	Čatež ob Savi	Round robin	11–22 Nov	40	Ukraine	France	Poland
Women's European Team Chess Championship	Čatež ob Savi	Round robin	11–22 Nov	32	Russia	Georgia	Azerbaijan

Rapid & Biltz Tournaments

Tournament	City	System	Dates	Players	Winner	Runner-up	Third
Superbet Rapid & Blitz	Bucharest	Round robin	3–15 Jun	10	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	Alexander Grischuk Wesley So Levon Aronian	-
Paris Rapid & Blitz	Paris	Round robin	20–24 Jun	10	Wesley So	Ian Nepomniachtchi	Alireza Firouzja
Croatia Rapid & Blitz	Zagreb	Round robin	7–11 Jul	10	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	Viswanathan Anand	Anish Giri
Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz	St. Louis	Round robin	11–16 Aug	10	Hikaru Nakamura	Fabiano Caruana	Richard Rapport
Sinquefield Cup	St. Louis	Round robin	17–27 Aug	12 (12)	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	Fabiano Caruana Leinier Domínguez Wesley So	-
Shamkir Chess	Shamkir	Round robin	17–24 Dec	10 (10)	Fabiano Caruana	Richard Rapport	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

Deaths

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