World of chess

The final month of 2025 saw a flurry of national champions being crowned. But they're not always the country's top player. Here we round up who is holding those titles.

The brain-training industry collapsed under its own hype. Chess might actually hold up.

The prodigy industrial complex has an answer. The research says something else entirely.

The highs and lows of chess were laid bare this week as the World Rapid & Blitz ended in Doha, while troubles off the board continue.

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In a dramatic year-end move, former World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik has launched formal legal proceedings against FIDE—not through the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), where chess disputes typically land, but in the Swiss civil court system in Lausanne.

GM Ian Nepomniachtchi is set to fall out of the top 20 in January's FIDE rating list. Has a chess superpower been sidelined at precisely at the moment FIDE's restrictions against it are lifted?

Norway's chess superstar is now targeting the Blitz crown to add to his collection.

The players have arrived, a slightly cringe opening ceremony done, the press conference finished, and we're all set for the big seasonal showdown: the World Rapid & Blitz.

We've picked out five of the top players who've had a stellar year and are ready to kick on.